Pepsi was created by Caleb Bradham, a North Carolina pharmacist who named it Pepsi-Cola in 1898 and registered his recipe in 1903. Sugar rationing during World War I and a volatile sugar market hurt the company badly, and Bradham declared bankruptcy in 1923. The trademark and secret recipe were sold that year, and in 1931 a Wall Street broker, Roy Megargel, bought the brand with Charles Guth, president of the candy maker Loft. Guth used Loft's chemists to reformulate the syrup and pushed Loft's shops to replace Coca-Cola with Pepsi, using company resources to promote it. Loft's shareholders sued in the landmark Guth v. Loft case, which Loft won, and in 1941 Pepsi was absorbed into Loft. In 1965 the company merged with Frito-Lay to become PepsiCo.

Hampi is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Karnataka, India, with more than 1,600 surviving remains spread over 4,100 hectares. It was the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire from 1336 to 1565. Travellers from Persia and Portugal described it as a prosperous, wealthy and grand city with temples, markets and farms along the Tungabhadra River. By 1500 it was estimated to be the world's second-largest city after Beijing, and probably India's richest at the time. In 1565 a coalition of Muslim sultanates defeated the Vijayanagara Empire, its capital was conquered and destroyed, and the city was left in ruins. Hampi remains a religious centre, with the active Virupaksha Temple at its heart.