Temple Trail. Review on Tirupati

Tirupati, the most famous for it's Venkatswara temple which is more popular as Balaji temple is situated on Tirumala hills.The second richest religious trust in the world, first being Vatican city, needs no seperate introduction. The nearest airport to visit this temple is at Tirupati and the nearest raliway station is Renigunta. Regular buses and share taxis ply between Renigunta station and Tirumala hills.It is about an hours drive from this raliway station to Balaji temple.

The drive to Tirumala is enchanting. Thanks to AP govt. for maintaining such clean, smooth and wide roads. Not to forget, how soothing and cool the greenary alongside the road appears while you drive up the hill. On reaching Tirumala one can feel the serenity in the atmosphere. Accomodation

available here is that of Devasthanam. It is neat,clean and very economical. It is the most convenient & comfortable place to stay if you are visiting Balaji temple. This is becaouse of it's close proximity to the temple. Besides Balaji temple there are many other small temples of other gods which are worth a visit. Restaurants,shops, eatables are available amply. However the negative thing which struck me was, sheer commercialization of this sacred place. There are two seperate ques for Darshan of god Balaji. One is by paying some money officially at the trust office and other one is for free darshan. Besides this there are regular touts roaming in the vicinity of the temple in search of 'Bakras'. They extract money from people, promising them the Darshan of Balaji, without standing in those serpentine ques. People who have come from far off places for darshan and have no time to spend 8-10 hrs in those long ques, pay up whatever they demand. These touts sometimes take people for ride. Most surprising thing is people who fall victim to touts also include educated and so called intelligent professionals. I respect and understand their feelings about god, religion and faiths. All I want to suggest is that people should be aware of such wrong and unpleasant things happening in the vicinity of the temple. They should not fall prey to such touts and neither should they turn blind eye to such malpractices at sacred places where thousands of people come with great faith in lord. People's faith is understandable but blind faith is certainly not appreciable. Balaji temple is beautiful with intricate carving and very sacred sanctum. People out there are quite helpful otherwise and one may face a bit of language problem at times. One can visit this temple anytime of the year, however the best season to travel is from Nov-Mar. Climate is pleasant during this time and hence the trip to Tirumala really turns out to be refreshing in true sense. It refreshes your body, mind and soul. Definately worth a visit atleast once.