These three men were chatting, laughing, debating and apparently enjoying life, outside a tiny temple dedicated to Hanuman, the monkey God. The temple was perched on the highest hill for miles around, a few miles from Hampi. They are Hindu priests, and have foresworn family for religion. We sat with them for a couple of hours, joined by a friendly young software engineer from Bangalore, Sandeep Moonka, who had come up to Hampi for the weekend: he is a temple architecture fanatic. The youngest priest, Swamy Sharnanand, is from Rishikesh, up in the north of India. The priests shared their coconuts, oranges, apples and bananas with us, and we discussed religion, tourism, India, our jobs, their lives. Coconuts were ten a penny, laughed the priest in the foreground, as devotees who climb to the temple bring them as offerings. Well, someone has to eat them....
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