It is one of the anomalies in my life that I have never been to Tirupathi. We had planned a trip to Tirupathi several times; however it never happened due to different reasons. There is a saying that unless and until Lord Venkateshwara beckons you; a trip to Tirupathi can never be realized. I think I did not get that divine invitation in the twenty nine years of my life. However, all the celestial configurations fell into place in early October. Four of my colleagues and me started planning for this trip around that time. Even though two people backed out; we finalized the trip. The start date was October 10th and return on October 12th. So, the group comprised of Govind; a veteran of many Tirupathi trips and who knew the place like the back of his hand; Jagan; a first timer and myself. We went to the TTD office in Malleshwaram and purchased Rs. 50 darshan tickets for October 11. The darshan time was given as 3:00 p.m.
Jagan and Govind
And the Driver ( Yours Truly)As my house was near K.R puram; everyone decided to start from my place. We started around 1:00 p.m on October 10th. From my house; we took the route to Battarahalli and touched Old Madras Road. The traffic was quite heavy for a Saturday afternoon. We stopped at Kamat Upachar for lunch which was some where between Hosakote and Narasapura approximately 50 km from Bangalore. The route taken was Old Mardas Road - Mulbagal – Palamner – Chithoor – Tirupathi. We reached Tirupathi around 7:00 p.m and checked into a hotel. We visited Alamelu Mankamma temple around 7:30 p.m. We had dinner at Bhimas near the railway station and had spicy Andhra meals for dinner the effect of which I was to know the next day.
The Starting Point of our 3500 step climb....The idea was to climb up to the temple. So, we needed to cover around 3500 steps spread around 17 km. We started from our hotel at around 6:00 a.m and took an auto to Alipiri. We started climbing the steps and after half an hour I realized that I am in trouble and the heavy spicy Andhra meal was churning inside my stomach. I knew I had to throw up immediately otherwise I am not going to reach the top walking the 17 k.m. So, I stopped and Jagan also stopped along with me. Govind continued walking unaware of all these happenings. After throwing up; it was as if a fresh lease of life was bestowed upon me. We walked quickly and caught up with Govind who was waiting for us at Gali Gopuram. We came to know that Tirupathi Tirumala Devasthanam (TTD) was offering special privileges to pedestrian pilgrims. All pedestrians can get a free Darshan ticket at Gali Gopuram and get head tonsured free and also get two laddus. The advantage with this ticket is that there is no time of entry and whenever you reach the top; one can go to the Vaikuntam II complex and get in with the pedestrian queue. We reached the top around 11:00 a.m and joined the people in the waiting room at around 11: 45 a.m. The gates were not opened till 2:45 p.m as some VIP was visiting the temple. We watched the Kalyanotsvam and Dolotsvam on television provided in the waiting room. Finally, the gates were opened and we were on our way. The roller coaster ride from there to inside the temple took approximately an hour. We had a very good darshan and couple of greased palms ensured that we were back for another darshan and this time we were able to stay there for close to a minute. Our next destination was the Sri Vari hundi and there was a separate queue for that. As the officials were replacing the hundi; it took us time. However, we could give our offerings very quickly after that. We got the customary two laddus per person. Govind with his local expertise requested the officials to give another pair of laddus for the Rs. 50 tickets purchased from Malleshwaram. The officials obliged and we got four laddus per person. We took a jeep back to our hotel and reached there by 6:30 p.m. We had dinner again at Bhimas and this time I was wise enough to order soup and a dosa.
We started at 6:00 a.m on the next day to Kalahasti. The route was the Nellore-Vijayawada route (The route which connects the South India to the Eastern part of India). We reached the outskirts of the temple and found a board on the left side giving directions to the temple. However, Govind was skeptical about that and he told that we had to cross a bridge to reach the temple. We took the shorter route and found to our dismay that they charge Rs. 50 to use the route and reached thhe South entrance. My advice to all the people who are planning to visit Sri Kalahasti is to take the longer route. Anyway, there was no big rush at the temple and we were able to have a very good darshan of Shiva and Amman.
Entrance to SriKalaHastiWe started back by around 7:30 a.m. We decided to give Kanipakkam Vinayakar temple a skip as 12th were a working day and wanted to reach office by mid day. The journey was uneventful. We had breakfast at a Reliance A1 plaza (They had rechristened it to Nandi Plaza) near Chithoor. We reached my place by around 12:30 p.m. Govind and Jagan decided to give office a miss that day because of logistical issue. I for my part reached office at around 1:30 p.m and it was business as usual from there onwards. So, my last line teaser for all of you is that I will update you about my Rock fort and Palani trip in my next post…
