“Can we plan for Tirupati Balaji Mandir on 17th ?”
An unexpected noon phone call from Hubby.
“I may, if you want to go…." I was quick to reply, but, added one "But" to it....
"But I won’t guarantee whether I would
go inside the temple or not….if it’s too much of crowd, I may give up half the
way too…” I clarified.
So, a quick plan was made with two other families, Hubby’s
colleagues, Basav and Silky with their families.
It’s been long time, though I felt like visiting this - one of the
richest temples in the world, it was not in my wish-list as I heard it is one
of the most crowded temples too. On an average 50,000 to 100,000 devotees visit
the Tirupati Balaji temple at Tirumala every day. Sandip, Nabami, Mittal,
so many friends of mine shared their experience with me that it’s just for 5
-10 seconds, one get a glimpse of the Idol of Lord Balaji. The pushing crowd
and security personals would push you forward automatically.
On 16th, the day was too hectic for me. Work, dizziness
and the tension of facing huge crowd at the temple made me so exhausted that
sleeping queen refused to come to my eyes even for a minute, though I tried to
bring her in at least for 4 hours.
We started at 1:57 AM from Bangalore on 17th, while I
vomited on the way twice, because of my uneasiness. I just recalled my
pregnancy time that moment. We reached Tirupati town at 7:30 AM. We already had
booked one hotel. This time, sleeping queen attacked me badly and took me to a deep
sleep for at least one hour.
Somehow, I managed to get up from Bed at 8:30 AM, quickly took
bath and tried my level best to be positive in attitude. We were out from the
hotel by 9 AM.
In the first entrance of the Temple campus, we had a proper security
check; every individual, the luggage, and the vehicle, all were scanned.
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| First entry on the way to hilltop |
Beautiful view, cleanliness of the town, stunning curvy roads made
us fresh and positive. There was a special instruction on speed limit while driving up the Tirumala hill, 25 kilometer of ascent is to be completed not earlier than 28 minutes. In case, any vehicle reaches there early, it will be penalized for driving fast.
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| Beautiful Rock- view |
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| Don't drive fast, soak the scenic beauty and click few memories... |
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| Mailar family with lovely smiles... |
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| Silky, utilizing all features of iPhone.... |
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| Beautiful curvy roads... |
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| No Rush on the way.... |
Basav shaved his hair, and during that time, rest of us just had
some quick breakfast in one of the roadside stalls. I was just amazed to see
the cleanliness all around. Some people were sitting in the middle of the road
even, to eat food.
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| Basav after shaving hair.....The Chanakya Look!!! :) |
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| People eating food sitting in the middle of the Road |
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| Yum, Yum Badam Milk |
For darshan, the available tickets are free
tickets (10-12hrs), Rs. 50 tickets Sudarshan (6-8hrs), Rs. 300 tickets Shegra
darshan (3-4hrs). We had booked the Rs. 300 ones online and went to catch the
queue at around 11 AM. But, we all were shocked to see that there was no rush,
no as such queue, not many people even. We wondered if it was closed, but was
not, Thank God! For Basav’s family, it was second visit and their eye-brows
rose with a Big question mark. Probably, it was just because of Ganesh
Chaturthi, and the start of Brahmoutsav.
We covered the whole queue area in 20 mins. No electronic
items are allowed, such as camera, mobile phones, but they allow wallets.
Everyone has to wear traditional dresses, for man, dhoti or kurta were
mandatory and for woman, Saree, Salwar suit etc. There was a strict security check just before entering
the main temple area. There were drinking water tanks in every 100
mtrs distance. And free food items were offered to the people while in the queue.
On the way, we saw many waiting rooms which were
locked. Other days, the devotees are released from these rooms slot by slot, to
make queues. The most important entrance of the place, where the statue of Lord
Balaji is kept, aadat se majbur people were pushing forward for no reason,
though there were not lots many people. Basav, from his previous experience suggested
us to keep ourselves extreme right so that we could see the statue without any
distraction. Luckily, I managed to keep some gap in the last moment, while
hubby picked son on his shoulders and the divine moment stayed with me for at least 15 seconds while I kept my
eyes on the most desired statue at sanctum sanctorum.
While coming out from that space, there is
another chamber where one can write his/her wish with a coin and drop that coin
there itself. When the secret wish accomplishes, the person has to come back to
say “Thanks”.
Prasad in the form of Ladoo is available outside
the temple premise. Two free ladoos which are
very tasty, prepared with ghee and dry fruits are given per Sheegra darshan
ticket. Each extra ladoo costs Rs 25. There is free food service also, but we
were so tired that we could not eat it.
So, coming out from the main temple, there is
another temple of Hanumanji. One can break a coconut and devote there. One
thing, I noticed is that, you won’t hesitate to sit on the floor anywhere inside the campus, as it was very clean.
There are many food stalls, and lines of shops,
where the stuff were not so costly, be it home décor, idols, devotional items
or cloth.
Lovely experience it was…..Lucky was me as I did
not have to give up half the way, not had to face crowd, and above all, had a longer glimpse
of Lord Balaji!
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| Beautiful View while coming down from the hill.... |
While coming back, we had a great
family time inside the vehicle, tired, but satisfied minds and souls.
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| Kids.....Tired but fresh.... |
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| Grabbed Tasty food in the Dhaba on our Way back... |
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| At last, posing for a pic...... |
