Apr 22, 2009 11:11 AM
27990 Views
(Updated Apr 22, 2009 05:22 PM)
Good Friday provided a perfect opportunity for me to plan for a weekend getaway. I wanted to go to some cool location but wife had her way. After a little research, I booked a Tirupati Package Tour by ITDC.
I am not an extremely religious person. It was a tour for me rather than a pilgrimage.Cost: 1540 INR per person. (For my wife and myself, it rounded up to 3080 INR). This package includes, A/c Volvo bus return journey to Tirupati from Bangalore.
One night stay in a non- A/c room on twin sharing basis (for couples, a room is provided... if you are travelling alone, be prepared to share it with somebody else), two days sightseeing. Starting point: Race Course Road Bangalore. Time: 8:30 pm every Friday. For us, the start was delayed because somebody had puked inside the bus and the helper had to clean the whole interior. That was the explanation provided by the tour operator.
The Volvo was good for us but lousy for some. You must be wondering how the same Volvo can provide different experience to its passengers. A word of caution: Please ensure that while booking tickets for Volvo, the seats you book are within the first five rows from the driver. Our's was the third row, therefore the a/c was good and the journey was comfortable. But those who were sitting at the back rows complained that the a/c was not taking effect. In fact I went to have a look and found that very hot air was gushing out from the vents. People had a tough time and some were seen sitting on the front portion asle (floor) of the bus.
We reached Tirupati a little late than expected.. 3 AM in the morning. Here we were tricked.The guide wanted to complete the darshan on that very morning although in the schedule it was specifically mentioned that the darshan was to be done the next day. The guide wanted our opinion on this. He said that the Rs. 50 tickets were already sold out and we would have to do the free darshan. While I disagreed to go for the free darshan citing lot of crowd, the majority of the people within the bus agreed for free darshan and I had to swim with the current.
After spending lot of time in the bus, I was looking forward to go to the hotel, in stead, the guide put us in a cage like compound where they would issue free ticket only from 5 AM. It was horrible. The place was dark, full of mosquitoes, lot of people cramped in a small space, and we were made to wait from 3 AM to 5 AM. I was disgusted. My wife was also tiring because of problems like morning requirement for the bathroom. At 5 AM we collected our tickets, thankfully we did not have to stand in the queue for a long time, and again went to the bus that was supposed to take us to the hotel.
We reached the hotel at 6 AM and I got a room for the two of us. Thankfully the hotel was good and rooms were clean. We were told that we would start at 8:30 AM for sightseeing. I thought that our entry to the hotel was deliberately delayed because the check in time was 6 AM. But it resulted in few hours of extreme discomfort. After seeing a couple of temples in the foot of the Tirumala hills (the names of which I have forgotten), we took another bus to the Balaji Temple. The bus ride was not comfortable but I liked the journey as it reminded me of my trips to Darjeeling, Gangtok, Kathmandu, Pokhra, Moussouri, Rishikesh and countless other destinations in the Himalayas. Though not as adventurous, I liked the hair-pin turns and the sway of the bus.
At 12 noon we reached Tirupati. And in no time, I was asked to give away my camera, our cell phones, etc. Shoes were also taken away and then the real fun began. The rocks and paved roads to the temple were hot. So hot that it almost singed my feet. I kept tip-toeing to the nearest shade and used drinking water to moisten the almost burnt sole. The guide took us to where the queue began and left us there. It took us 4 hours to complete the darshan.
As I have already said, I am a Hindu Brahmin by birth but not a practicing Hindu, I had a hefty breakfast that morning and forced my wife to take a good breakfast as well because I anticipated trouble. Sixth - sense you might say. Standing in that 4 hour long queue, my wife felt dizzy and she had to sit. Thankfully I was carrying water bottle. A word of advice: Please carry some liquid and if possible some stuff like dressed cucumber or water melon.
Near the Balaji Temple, it was almost free for all. People shoved and pushed... looked a little uncivilized to me but nobody really cared. It looked like a stamped could take place any moment. After 4 hours of ordeal and a darshan, I decided that I had enough and did one last and final "pranam" and came out of the temple without the free "laddu". (We bought laddu later).
We were almost 10 hours without food and understandably very hungry but in no mood to eat. May be because we were just too tired after so much of pushing and shoving. We had some juice and some fruit ice-cream. Wife wanted to buy a few things like a small Balaji idol and some wall hangings. And then at last we took a bus to the hotel..We reached hotel at 6 PM. We were planning to go for a Tirupati city tour by ourselves, but after a nice shower, both of us decided to eat and hit the bed. The food in the hotel was good. And being a non-veg to the core, I relished it. My wife is a nibler. So the onus of emptying the plate always is on me.
We slept like a couple of dead logs. :-) Day two.Started our sightseeing at 6 AM in the morning. Sri Kalahasti and Padmavati temple along with a couple of other not so famous temples. I felt that these were nothing special from the architectural standpoint. I have seem more interesting temples than these. But nevertheless it was quite ok. I forgot to mention that in the morning itself we had checked out of the hotel. The sightseeing was done on board a volvo that would bring us back to Bangalore.
We did our breakfast while sightseeing and lunch en route Bangalore. Reached home at 5:30 PM Sunday evening. Remark: The tour plan was very hectic. The tour guide forgot that we were tourists. He was doing his job and it was like a small platoon going in to some military operation at any hour of the day. No attention to comfort like timely toilet breaks and consideration for the ladies and the old. I feel that although the schedule was hectic, it was because of our guide. It could have been planned better had the passengers I was travelling with been a little more sensible and not been fooled by the guide's words.
