Tirupati Darshan.... Not so planned and unexpected visit.... (2nd May 2010)

It was Saturday morning and I came after completing my night shift. While sleeping at 8am,I didn’t even imagine that I would be preparing for my spiritual visit. I woke up at 4pm and one of my friend and I started discussing about weekend plan. On every weekend, we used to hunt for some nearby places to visit on my Yamaha Fazer.. Suddenly thought of tirupati struck in my mind. We are in Chennai since over 18 months and we had never been to tirupati,the place where people come from places. We started to search for information on internet and some of our living tamil sources ;)

We got a fair idea about how should we plan. We did it and started in the morning exactly at 5am from Tidel Park. Tirupati is just 152km from Chennai and the main temple is on the hills called Tirumala located around 27 km from Tirupati. Uptil now I never heard about Tirumala. Upto the time we went to Alipiri toll gate which is the toll gate for Tirumala Hills,we thought that the main temple is in Tirupati and Tirumala is the place where wehad to collect the 300/- token required for Shighra-Darshan.

We followed the path as Chennai – Poonamalli – Tiruvallur – Thiruttani – Puttur – Tirupati. It was a bumpy ride for first 60-70 km but after that Road was good. It was going parallel to a railway track for few kms. It was a very good experience for me because I never did driving for more than 100 km on my new bike at a stretch. I was on 11^th sky you can say. We reached in Turupati after 2 and half hours. The first thing that we had to do after reaching in Tirupati was to collect a token for Darshanam. There are four types of ways available for Darshanam. SarvaDarshanam i.e. free of cost, SuDarshanam i.e. with 50/- token, ShighraDarshanam i.e. with 300/- token and last one is for VIPs.

The first place to get tokens was RTC bus stand where we came to know that the tokens for SuDarshanam were finished. We didn’t need to search for other places to search for tokens. People told that we can get 300/- tokens on hills. For SuDarshanam, they provide 7500 tokens. 2500 token are distributed as free of cost and remaining 5000 are sold at 50/-

We proceeded to our journey to Tirumala hills. As the place comes in AP,you can find people speaking Hindi so we could get some help. At the toll gate,security was very tight. Scanning of each and every baggage, car, bikes and people. The road was so smooth that I haven’t seen such a wonderful road in hill sections anywhere. I was feeling so good to ride in those curves.

We reached to Tirumala hills,parked bike somewhere and proceeded to get into the queue after a little enquiry. The place was so awesome and clean. 2 floor cottages for the people who come for Darshanam, required shops and well maintained roads. The queues were developed on the footpath along the roads and they were having proper roof and water arrangements in between. They were the longest queues that I have ever seen. For free darshanam,I heard,it takes around 20 hrs,for ShighraDarshanam, it takes around 3-4 hrs. As it was Sunday, it took much more time than expected. We were at the end of the queue at 9am. It was moving pretty fast and the surrounding conditions were so good that we didn’t feel tired even after standing in the queue for around 3 hrs. After 4 hrs,we got to the token counter where we deposited our mobiles and cameras and took our token and the queue continued into the temple surrounding for another 2 hrs. After the counter,we started feeling tired and we had only tea after reaching the hills.

We decided that we would take our lunch only after getting Darshanam. It was getting more and more crowdy as we were going closer into the main temple. Everyone was enchanting Govinda Govinda.... and we were getting that spiritual feel. Our souls were becoming calm even in that crowd and we were feeling very delighted. We heard that we get Darshanam only when God want us to take it otherwise we will not get it. Eventhough we got it for around 4-5 secs,we were feeling very lucky to get it. The temple was totally golden as if it is gold plated (I am not sure about the whole temple to be golden but atleast all the temple tops are pure golden). After coming out of temple,we couldn’t even remind how the statue was exactly.It is said that after going to Tirupati,something good will happen to you and because of only that, people come again and again over there.

TTD (Tirupati-Tirumala Devsthanam) claims that it is the richest temple in the world. After seeing the Hundi (a big golden jar),I had to believe it. Everyone was pouring the money into it as if they are pouring water. We came out of the temple and got into the queue for Prasadam, the laddus. The place is so crowdy that you will find queues for each and everything over there. But everything is very systematic and strict.Before entering main temple,you have get through 3 security scans.

Before entering the queue,we didn’t have any idea that we had to take out our shoes and keep them in some lockers.We had to keep them to the security counter from where we couldn’t get them back.They said that tey threw all the shoes into jungle. As it is a temple place, there was not a single shoe shop. We had to drive back from there into tirupati barefooted. It was looking so much funny to ride a lovely bike barefooted that people from overtaking buses used to laugh at us. As it was Sunday,we hardly found a shoe shop opened and bought one as quick as possible. It was 5pm and we planned to return before it gets too dark. We took a fast lunch at some hotel and started our return journey to Chennai. We reached at 9pm exactly on room. Everything went as per plan and we were back safely. We were so tired because of queue thing and bike riding that we slept in no time.

It was an awesome experience. I will recommend to go on bike if possible if you are in Chennai. Eventhought we had digicam,we couldn;t capture much images. Some of the images are attached below.


Websites for reference : 


TTD online ticket booking : http://www.ttdsevaonline.com/
TTD official website : http://www.tirumala.org/

Planning the path with google maps

Starting from Tidel Park at 5am...

Sunrise on the way....

Tirumala Hills......captured in the curves...

Visit To Kerala : God's Own Country

Hello Everyone,I have written this review on my mobile on the trip as and when I used to get time.Just copying the same to this blog...


"Today is 24th jan 2010.. 


Yesterday night we started from thiruvanmiyur,chennai..
We took MTC city bus from thiruvanmiyur.. It took around 1hr to reach central railway
stn. I was so irritated with the people of south at the time when I was sitting on last
seat in the bus.. I was feeling like leaving chennai right then and never return to
south india for my lifetime.. I had same feelings and irritation until we had worst
IRCTC dinner.. After that somehow I managed to sleep..


We got down on Ernakulam town railway station around 6:30 am..
We took an ordinary bus from KSRTC bus stand to Vikom that is 35 km away.. 
Vikom,the place where I got too see what one aspire to earn in life.. We stayed at one Homestay,The Vembanad Lake Villas.. 

Villa that we booked ------------------>

Kerala is very famous for three things,first is Backwaters , second Houseboats and third Homestays.. We booked a villa on the lake side.. We didn't even imagine what we are getting in return of the money we spent.. It costed us as much as we spend in buying a
shirt,just 1500/-. I was so impressed that I started thinking that the life that I have always aspired is actually nothing in front of this.. The city life,shopping malls,costly restaurants,bikes,stylish cars,sophisticated bunglow or flat,everything..

After freshin'up, i rested on the wooden comfortable chair.. In front of my eyes was
the Vembanad Lake,as much big as a sea,as much tranquil as water in well,as
pleasent n silent as temple,just 100ft away from me..

<--- Vembanad Lake view from our villa


Vembanad Lake or Vembanad Kol is the longest lake in India and one of the largest lakes in India. It is 14 km wide at its widest end.This lake with few rivers (names of which are impossible to remember) forms the Backwaters and the Wetlands of area around 1500 sq.km.
The environment was so calm and pleasent that I could hear sounds of chirping of
birds and some pet animals.. Not a single horn blow or shouting.. The place was
like the world is still 1000 years behind..


Now the time of breakfast,typical keralian style.. Appam (idli that bends like roti,you
can say),mutter curry (best mutter item I have ever eaten in south india), toast,
jam, tea and most different sweet dish in breakfast named Banana Karamas (Banana pieces prepared by appying special type of sauce and sugar)..
Then we went for boating with paddle boat that they provided (for free). Special
water tracks were designed like Formula One!!!
Few coconut trees were there in front of villa and hammocks were tied to them.. Some
trees bent on the lake and swings were tied to branches. Resting in that,we
enjoyed lake view,hanging above the lake..

Kayakas ------>


It was around 12:30 pm by now,some fishermen with their kayakas and some motor
boats started wondering in the lake.. Kayakas are long narrow boats that are mainly
used for fishing purpose. Kayakas are driven by a long stick like bambu which
extends upto lake's bottom.. In the lunch,we made up our mind to eat keralian food like rice and some curry but
we were wrong. In homestays,mostly we get homely food and you will not have menu card to choose from.They served Unpolished rice,ladies figer,one more veg curry,fruit
salad,papad,curd, and a fried fish. Fish was a malyalam speciality Poomeen. After
that we were served with kheer..Everything was so perfect..
Food was so awesome that we couldn't resist a nap but we didn't want to waste our
time in sleeping on such a lovely place. We planned to have experience of
countryside boating but lake tides were increasing so they adviced us not to go for it.

<---- Sunset


So postponing that we spent the later part of the day on the lakeside and also
enjoyed the sunset.. After having dinner we went to sleep.


In that wooden world,we were so fast asleep that alarm also took around an hour to
wake us up. We started our day with countryside Lake Safari on Kayakam. Water
was so calm again and level was also increased. Fishermen started on their way to
earn bread n butter. We also grabbed a view of large boat carrying few people and
couple of vans. The wallpapers,screesavers that we used on computer screens
were in front of our eyes. After picturing them on our mobile,we returned to our
villas after an hour. 

Lake View Grabbed on morning safari

Another View of fishing net in the lake


It was the time to say good bye to that lovely place. After
checking out from hotel,we reached to Viakom bus stand to catch bus to our next
destination,Kumarakom..We faced the common problem of south india there also,Language. All the buses were named in mallyalam with few exceptions.
I got a little headache so I was little down. Useless waiting of about an hour was the
added disadvantage. But a very wonderful hearted person helped us to catch a
direct bus instead of the connecting one on which we almost started. That was a
little booster to my mood. After 45min of boring journey,we got down at Kumarakom
with little expectations.
Kumarakom bird sanctuary is the prime attraction over there. But that turned out to
be a big bubble. We got to see the most famous bird of india,Crows.. Moderately
cool atmosphere and shelter from the burning sunshine were the only plus points.
We were happy that we spent only Rs.5/- for wandering in sanctuary..

Kettuvallams --------->


We had to catch return train at 8 pm from Kottatam,15 km away from there. We
thought to try Houseboating on Kettuvallams. Kettuvallam is a large kayakam with a little 
house on the boat. But the deal was quite costly and time consuming.
Rs.1000/- per hour and minimum 5 hours. So we had distant view of houseboat and
few pictures.


Around 6 pm, we started to Kottayam. Tourism and transport is very admirable in
south india. Well spread road networks,availability of buses,cheaper tickets and
skilled driving,these can be hilighted. We reached in time and started on the return
journey.
This is 10 pm now and I am converting my experiences on the mobile notepad..


One thing is there that I strictly want to mention,people of south india. People in
kerala are very good,simple,helpful and almost 98% people were able to speak
hindi. After living in Coimbatore and Chennai, I was totally in oppose to the
statement that "Hindi is our national language and it is spoken in all parts of india". I
used to think that South India is different country with their own language. But now
onwards,I will limit this statement upto Tamilnadu only..
Date 26-01-2010 13:37:56"