RE: India - From Chaos to Tranquility
Nice post! I can relate to quite a lot of this. I especially liked the part about feeling like a celebrity with all the young guys taking selfies with you. I had this experience a number of times in Indonesia when I got away from the well-traveled parts. It's quite surreal.
I once had a group of school children sing a song for me at a temple. It got a bit awkward when they asked me to sing one in return. I had to refuse, since my singing voice has the special ability of causing young children to flee in terror!
Also, Indian food is second to none! I grew up in a city in Canada where there are more Indians than Caucasians (literally), so I've had the good fortune of eating it regularly. I even learned to cook a half-decent curry. Still, I envy you a bit for getting to the source. Living in Germany now, good Indian food is one thing that I miss!
Hampi does seem like a weird and interesting place.
That would have been a pretty awesome experience - one of those ones where you can't really believe it's happening, I'm sure.
Indian food is amazing indeed. But I also love Turkish, Thai and Mexican cuisine (I'm in Mexico right now). I found that the stuff I ate in India was a lot different to any I'd tried while living in Australia or the UK, which is famous for its curry scene.
When I reached Berlin and finished my journey, I found a place that did a chicken biryani. I thought it would be a nice symbolic way to finish the journey by eating the signature dish of Hyderabad where I'd started the journey. It definitely wasn't as good!