Travel Diary: Tirumala Tirupati Balaji Darshan... Sept'08

Tirumala Venkateswara (Balaji) Temple situated in Venkatachalam hill and about 10KM from Tirupati Railway Station is the richest and the most visited place of worship in the world. There are two kinds of Darshan (meaning "a glimpse of the Lord") at the temple. One is Dharma Darshanam - free, and usually taking 10 hours from the time you enter the Queue Complex - and the other is Sudarshanam - costing Rs. 50, and taking about 3-4 hours. This time varies with different time of the year.

It was our age old wish to pay a visit to tirupati, but somehow it was not happening for a long time, sometimes due to fear to the mercury soaring in the summer and sometimes due to the potential exodus of people. In September'o8 we could finally make it.....

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We booked a package tour of ITDC for Rs. 1550/person by AC Volvo from Bangalore.

There is another package of ITDC but that’s not available in the weekends. While the former is a 2 day Package with Accommodation and sightseeing, the later is a one day package without accommodation but includes Darshana Ticket and special darshana.

Day 1

The bus was scheduled to depart at 8.00 PM from Race Course Road from some Travel Agency. Few of the passengers came in late so it started one hour late at 9.00 PM. The bus was VOLVO A/C with good seats, and it was a house full :-)

At around 11 PM they stopped somewhere for dinner. We reached Tirupati at sharp 2AM (yes you read it right!!!!) and they asked us to stand in a queue immediately for Darshana Ticket. We were half asleep that time and somehow managed to alight from the bus and got into the queue. There were already lots of people sleeping in the queue, not knowing when their wait is going to be over! The queue was almost on the road, and looked like we will be having a tough time ahead, waiting.

Day 2

Finally at 5.30 AM someone opened the door of the Ticket Office and people stood up and started rushing in. But alas, after few mins the crowd was again stagnant, we overheard that the counter will open after a while. Finally the queue started moving, and by the time we got our tickets it was 7 AM. They took a ticket fee of Rs. 50 each along with our photo, finger print, and gave us the Ticket with Darshana Time 10AM. (The Ticket Amount was later refunded by the Travel Agency).

We went back to the bus again, tired after a long and tiresome night. Then they took us to a hotel (Hotel Grand) adjacent to the Tirupati main bus stand. To our surprise, it was 3 star hotel. Everyone was allotted rooms (twin sharing), and it was an excellent and spacious one. We had a nice shower, then had breakfast in the hotel restaurant, and were ready by 9 AM for the Darshana in Tirumala which was about 10KM from the Hotel. Since private buses are not allowed we were asked to board a local bus which they had arranged to take us to the temple.

Though it was September end, the temperature was very high and it was very Humid. So make sure you carry enough drinking water to prevent dehydration.

On the way to Tirumala our bus had a minor accident. That was a much tensed situation as the local crowd and police surrounded the bus and had a heated argument with driver. Somehow it got resolved, and we managed to reach temple an hour late by 12 Noon. The driveway to the temple which is at the Hill Top was something to remember. It was a hilly road, but very well maintained and one way. The hairpin turns in the road didn’t prevent the driver to show his driving skills and we had to hold our breath every time he made a turn.

Immediately after getting down from the bus we walked fast to stand in the queue. Camera is not allowed inside the temple, and there is a very good security at the entrance. Finally, we got into the queue waiting for the darshana. It was very crowded and there was no exit in between. After about 2.5 hours in the queue and we finally managed to get the Darshana, not before surviving the unforgettable jostling everytime time queue moved. It's very risky for women, babies and old people to handle this crowd, especially in front of the main temple where the crowd was worst. We had difficult time standing; there was not enough space to keep our feet. Thanks to my husband who saved me from getting crushed! We hardly got 2 seconds to have a proper glimse of The Lord as the crowd and the Volunteers kept people moving.

After darshana, we donated some money in ‘Hundi’. Here, you can't miss the Huge Glass Room where you can see hundreds of people counting Notes/Coins, and crores of donations heaped around them. Then there was some cooked prasadam at the queue exit which was very delicious. Then we were finally out of the temple and proceeded to the counter where you can collect 2 big laddoos each against your Darshan Ticket. Either you carry a plastic packet before going to the temple, or you can buy each for Rs.2 in different counter available there to carry those BIG Ladoos.

Then we were back to the bus stand nearby, and by 4 PM we returned back to the hotel. We had lunch, and rested for a while. At around 6 PM we went out nearby just to have a look around in the local market but could not find anything special. We bought some fruits as it was very cheap there and returned back to the hotel. We had dinner in the hotel restaurant itself. 2 of us had Steamed Rice, Chapatti, Chicken Biriyani, Chicken Chilly and Chicken Chettinad, the later being the best among all. The bill amounted to Rs 300, and it was a value for the money. After and tiring and eventful day and a very heavy dinner, we had a very good sleep.

Day 3

We got up early in the morning as we had to check out from the hotel at 5 AM. We got into our VOLVO, and then they took us to the Goddess Laxmi’s (Tirupati Balaji’s wife) temple. We could attend the ‘Suprabhatam Puja’ as there was no crowd in the early morning. Then they took us to different temples in and around Tirupati (about 5 of them). After a while we stopped getting inside the Temples as we were already very tired.