Samuel and Daniele who conducted the workshops in Hampi -all pics here by Uma L.
In the workshop hut 
rock carving Hampi recedes into the background every day as the Bombay fog takes over, accompanied by the usual din. I didn’t get to visit the old temple town though those who did swear that it was the most impressive thing. For me those ancient hillsides were enough, the gigantic rocks piled on other rocks, which when you stared at them revealed faces of monsters and kings and whales and all kinds of creatures leaving you gaping open mouthed as you kept staring.
Hampi, the site of the ancient kingdom of Vijaynagara seems imbued with awesome energy. A whole lot of people I know had really weird dreams, most of them violent. At least three people told me they dreamt of murders. One said she had dreamt of war. Peter, with whom I spent a night, woke up suddenly and woke me up too in the bargain, shouting, “Shit!” I just held him for a while until he went back to sleep and he told me that he had dreamt he saw me teetering on the edge of an abyss and was attempting to save me from falling over! I too had my share of visions of violence, both during the meditation we took part in in the second workshop and at times, at night and it was quite something integrating it all. Phew!
Peter and Franziska’s place was really beautiful – surrounded by hills. They have greened it too, and planted many flowering bushes and trees in the vicinity of the houses. It was ideal for the workshop – remote, quiet and somehow intense. Hope to carry some of the strangeness and wonder of that experience with me through the next months, if not years!
group website: www.basicindia.net
