Tirupathi Visit - March 2010

Tirupathi is not something new to many of you and me too. I had been there many times right from my childhood but always with my family.

This time, it was a different experience since I went with my UG friends. We were 10 in number (8 UG friends Ajith, Ilayathulasidharan, Karthik Raja, Manikandan, Raghu, Sathish, Yuvaraj, Myself and 2 friends of friends Gopi and Dhinakar).

The other reasons this Tirumala trip being different was that this was the first time I climbed up by footpath and most importantly this was the first time I went to Tirumala after I started a blog :P


We planned for a weekend trip, Mar 6 and 7' 2010.

3 of us started from Bangalore, 6 from Chennai and 1 was already working in Tirupathi. We all reached Tirupathi by 3:30AM. We started climbing by 4AM. After taking many breaks (including a long tiffin break at 5:30AM on the way), we reached Tirumala by 9AM. All of us were sweating a lot and very tired.

Rooms were already booked. We had rest in the room till 1PM. Meanwhile, 2 of us inquired for dharshan tickets. Yeah, tickets are given in the footpath. But we didn't collect it since there was a long queue.We got to know about 'Sheekra Dharisanam' for which we have to pay Rs.300/- per head. There were specific timings for it, like 4AM to 6AM, 7AM to 6PM, 9PM to 11PM on Friday, Saturday, Sunday and some other timings on other weekdays. The queue was appearing like a fast moving one. So we decided to go by that on Sunday, 7AM.

We planned for a local sight seeing on saturday afternoon. After a bargain, we settled with a Jeep wala for Rs.800/- to show 7 places in Tirumala.


Those 7 places were

1. Srivaari Paadalu
2. Rock Garden (Silathoranam)
3. Temple behind Rock Garden
4. Sri Venugopalaswami Temple
5. Aakasha Ganga
6. Paapavinasam &
7. Jabbaali


This number 7 has nothing to do with 7 people in the photograph put above :)

Among the 7, Jabali was the only place we found it very pleasant and enjoyable. After a 15 min walk from road, we reached an Anjaneyar temple and a pond bounded completely by forest with tall trees. The temple was very nice. Some North Indian saints are staying there permanently. If we had been there during night, we might have got some 'Sivabhaanam' :P

We had a good sleep on Saturday night. Sunday morning, we woke up early and reached near Vaikuntam complex by 7:30AM after having breakfast. To our surprise, the 300Rs queue was heavy that time, unlike the day before. We had no other go than to find the tail of queue and make it even more bigger.

It took 3 hrs to reach the Deity but we had a wonderful time waiting in the queue, making fun of each other, discussing a lot about many things etc. There few more things we did which are censored ;)

We collected the Laddu, vacated the room and came down by bus. We reached Keezh Tirupathi by 2PM. Chennai guys had a bus reserved at 3PM. We had a good lunch. It was very hot down in Tirupathi. We couldn't tolerate the heat. We Bangloreans had a tough time in catching a Bangalore bus. As you all know, there is always a Black ticket option. We payed extra Rs.80/- per ticket and got seat in KSRTC bus. Bus reached Majestic by 10PM.

Every time I visit Tirupathi, I admire the wonderful administration of TTDevastanam. With such a crowd, how cleanly they maintain the premises, the clean toilets being a good example to mention. Though I am not a firm believer of God, I believe in the divinity in Tirumala. That 4 mada streets, speakers always chanting some songs/slokas/Bhagavad Geetha recital... Such a wonderful ambience!!

It is always an enjoyable experience to go with friends. Divinity+Enjoyment. This Tirupathi trip is one of the trips which will reside permanently in my heart! :)