As I sat in IISc chewing the cud of my failed project with Naik, we hit upon the idea of travelling to North Karnataka. Though I'm writing about it now, after a gap of a good six months, in my mind it is as clear as daylight, the people I met, the places, the sights and the sounds.

We left by the 9 o clock Airavat to Bijapur. The bus was speedy,as Airavat's tend to be. We arrived at Bijapur at around nine in the morning. My first impression was that it was a sleepy town, a misconception that would slap me in the face later on in the day. We reached Naik's place, had breakfast and hung around for a bit. We headed towards Gol Gumbaz in what was a rather hot December morning. Made me think what the summer's would be like. What struck me was the sheer number of pigs that seemed to be lounging about everywhere,not the cute, pink nosed ones with curly tails that one might be used to from cartoons. These were hideous(sorry PETA), immersed in shit, smelling shit or just watching contentedly the world rush madly on from their outposts in the gutter.

The Gol Gumbaz confronts you with sheer size. The pictures from History text books don't do justice to this giant mausoleum. The views from the top were brilliant, a panorama of a city where minarets of mosque's or domes compete with the modern(read ugly) structures. We could see for miles out. Around the city is a thick wall, at places brutally broken down to make way for roads. What they say about a whisper being heard across diametrically opposite corners of the tomb is true. This was demonstrated to us by an enthusiastic guide who rendered "After a few pictures and a guided tour, we headed back down.