Last weekend had been to Tirupati with couple of friends. I dont know what is that attracts me to this place,but any mention of going to Tirupati and i jump for the opprotunity. I feel so peaceful going there even though i have to bear the heat,stress and the long waiting que of piligrims :)
Well we were 9 (Sandy,Pachu,Vicky,Nandhini,Manju,Shrad,Vasu,Bhargav & Me) of us who were going to Tirupati. Car 1 left at 2 pm on saturday afternoon as they had to visit another temple close by. I had some work so i left by Car 2 at around 8 pm.
I had to meet the guys at Jayanagar Ganesha Temple. Vadi had bought a new car Toyota Eithos so we all were there to congratulate him and puja for the new car. I got the opportunity to meet his mom and i should say Vadi - You have a super cool Mom. The enthu aunty has and the way she was teasing these guys was fun. And she did ask me to pray that the let all the boys get married soon, so boys i have prayed for that ;). I met Bachu and Nandita as well.Then we went to Maiya's for sweets and coffee.
From there Vicky,Vasu,Manju and I had to leave to Tirupati...we left at around 8.30 and by the time we left the city outskirts it was close to 10. The journey was super fun with these 3 guys. I have laughed so much :)
We had a stopover at Cafe Coffee Day as i wanted to have a Peach Ice Tea and some photographs :)
(Manju,Vasu & Vicky)
So as u can see in the pic below, its Peach Ice Tea (Mine), Green Apple Ice Soda (Vasu), Green Apple Ice Soda (Vicky) & Devil's Own (Manju).
And then we had to find the hotel where the other guys were staying, not a soul on the road to ask direction, So we had to call Pachu and ask her for directions (Sorry Pachu to wake you at that hour) and as she gave us the directions to reach them we were lost again, so we kept calling her and till the time we reached it was close to 3 am. Once we reached the hotel, we thought we will take the lift to 4th floor as we werent interested to climb the stairs, once the lift started it was all fine and suddenly it gets stuck in between the first and second floor and i was like wht the heck?? and then we called Bhargav and asked him to send help as the alarm for the lift didnt have any response on the hotel staff. I dont like closed places, so i was going on pressing the alarm to no vain. Thanks Bhargav for staying with us till we were out of the lift.
And as we freshend up we thought we wouldnt sleep as anyways we had to start climbing the hill. Shrad's wasnt too fine with climbing the steps but i forced her and then ultimately after much persuasion by Manju she decided she will give it a go.
So we reached at the entrance of the steps and started climbing, i was determined to climb the steps but after some intial 500-600 odd steps i just couldnt walk due to my backpain(slip disc issue), So then i decided i will climb back down and take the bus. Shrad's said she wouldnt be able to climb either and we had to leave the rest of the gang and come by bus. So then the 2 of us (Lone gals) went down and asked a Policeman where would we find the bus to go up the hill (tirumala). Such a sweet man, he made us climb a TT which was going to tirumala and advised us to climb that. The journey was nice as we were sitting in the last seats and were being tossed from left to right coz of the hair pin bends on the hill.
Finally we reached the top and as we had booked a room at Karnataka Bhavan and take rest till the rest of the gang can join, So off Shrad's and I went in search of a jeep which would take us there, with my broken Telugu i negotiated with the driver to take us to the hotel and the back to temple complex and he could understand me and then i mixed a bit of tamil here and there. Once we reached Karnataka Bhavan, we found out that the keys Pachu had given us were the wrong one and off again we went to the temple and we had to wait for the gang to finish their strenous walk of 4000 steps and join us. I was literally dosing off sitting on the pavement. Shrad's and I were roaming the streets of Tirumala all lone gals without any care in the world. Now im super confident i kind find things alone when i come back.
I kept irritating Manju & Sandy by calling them many times on their mobile asking them how long will it take for them to reach. We couldnt take the tickets for Darshan as it would mean we going seperate and not meeting the gang. So we waited for them to come along, once they came we went straight to the room to rest and all of them slept for an hour and then we went to the temple, now I have never seen so much of crowd in Tirupati from all my visits and I was thinking if we would finish the darshan by night as we had to leave that night itself.
So we entered the 300 rs ticket counter, and then the wait....the que was huge one and we kept checking the time, i guess it took us nearly 3 hours of the que to enter the temple sancturm, Once we entered there was all the shoving and pushing and we were all lost, so it was Manju and Shrads somewhere ahead of us. then Vasu,Me & Bhargav together.
Once i saw the lord,i just forgot everything, just prayed to him for all his help throughout and give me the opportunity to see him again soon. You just feel so peacefull and in bliss once u have his darshan. I guess thats the reason they say he is the "Lord of Lords". After this i was lost in the crowd to find the gang. And then we had to go to the famous Hundi. There was more shoving and pushing here and must say the boys a big Thank You for making us feel safe.
And then we went took the prasadam of rice and Shrad and I wanted to have water as we thought we would faint if we dont drink water and must tell you the water at the temple was very cool and i just couldnt quench my thirst at all, So i kept drinking and drinking the water, at one point i had to stop coz it looked like i had never seen water in my life nor had water at all.
Shrad,Manju and I wanted to carry extra ladoo of tirupati (Its soooo good,never tasted ladoo like that anywhere else,thats why there is always a demand of ladoo's for ppl who go to tirupati to get them). So we again stood in another que and by the time we came out we met the rest of the gang all of them sitting and relishing the ladoo. So we left the temple premises to get back to hotel, but then some of us were very hungry so we thought we would have dinner and go back. So it was Vasu,Manju,Shrad,Bhargav and I who stayed back to eat. We ordered some rice..i dont know the name...looked like lemon rice but it wasnt,tasted like fried rice but it wasnt that either. I guess it was called chilly fried rice,apt name as it was spicy for me as cant eat spicy food. Then i went and ordered Idly and Wada as it looked nice, and again i had to get up to get water and pepsi, i was very very tired and so were the rest 4. Anyways the wada was nice so went and bought another one and then went and bought tea for all of them (psst : I conversed in broken telugu again and i must say i am getting good at it).
Once were done, we took the jeep to reach Karnataka Bhavan and then bus back to the hotel room down at Tirupati.
Once we reached hotel room all of us wanted to just crash the bed as we had to leave early morning 2. As Vicky,Sandy,Pachu and Nandhini didnt have dinner, then went and had dinner.
This time in Car 2 (Manju's car) it was Manju,Vasu,Shard,Bhargav(Navigator this time) & Me, we left at 2.40 am and then Car 1 (Sandy's car) it was Sandy,Vicky,Pachu & Nandhini who left around 3.30 am.
We stopped to have tea at one place and the tea was like sugar syrup and then i kind of felt sick. Guess the water used for tea wasnt good or the milk, anyways we hit the road again and then it was a fun trip back home again, havent laughed so much in my life thanks to Vasu,Bhargav & Manju :). We stopped at Kamath somewhere near Kolar and had good breakfast,some photo session and then we were in blr at around 8. Shrad got down near hebbal flyover and i got down at Mehkri Circle.
Had to rush as i had to reach office at 10.
Vadi,Bachu,Nandita,Abdul & Rincy we missed all you guys :(
Thanks Lord Balaji for keep all of us Safe and Sound and also giving us ur divine blessing !!!
Few facts about Tirupati - Tirupati is in Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh, India. It is most famous for its Sri Venkateswara Temple dedicated to Vishnu, also known as Balaji in North Indian and Govinda in South Indian. The temple is located on top of Tirumala hills, while the town is located on the foothills. The Tirumala hill has seven peaks ("Sapthagiri"), said to represent the seven hoods of Adisesha, the serpent under whose hoods Vishnu resides in Vaikuntha.
The temple is reportedly the richest and the most visited place of worship in the world. The temple is visited by about 50,000 to 100,000 pilgrims daily (3 to 4 crore people annually on an average), while on special occasions and festivals, like the annual Brahmotsavam, the number of pilgrims shoots up to 500,000, making it the most visited holy place in the world.
Well we were 9 (Sandy,Pachu,Vicky,Nandhini,Manju,Shrad,Vasu,Bhargav & Me) of us who were going to Tirupati. Car 1 left at 2 pm on saturday afternoon as they had to visit another temple close by. I had some work so i left by Car 2 at around 8 pm.
I had to meet the guys at Jayanagar Ganesha Temple. Vadi had bought a new car Toyota Eithos so we all were there to congratulate him and puja for the new car. I got the opportunity to meet his mom and i should say Vadi - You have a super cool Mom. The enthu aunty has and the way she was teasing these guys was fun. And she did ask me to pray that the let all the boys get married soon, so boys i have prayed for that ;). I met Bachu and Nandita as well.Then we went to Maiya's for sweets and coffee.
From there Vicky,Vasu,Manju and I had to leave to Tirupati...we left at around 8.30 and by the time we left the city outskirts it was close to 10. The journey was super fun with these 3 guys. I have laughed so much :)
We had a stopover at Cafe Coffee Day as i wanted to have a Peach Ice Tea and some photographs :)
So as u can see in the pic below, its Peach Ice Tea (Mine), Green Apple Ice Soda (Vasu), Green Apple Ice Soda (Vicky) & Devil's Own (Manju).
After this stop, Manju didnt take any breaks...The road was just superb to drive. We saw a BMW and a Merc drag along. It was a nice drive. We unfortunately took a bit of detour instead of going left for Chitoor at one crossing we took a right and the road was leading to Chennai, after seeing things on google map we were misinformed....so no google map next time on. So we again came back to the same circle and went left. There was statue at that circle and as per Vasu the statue showed right, so thght we were on right track (Another tip dont believe the statue or where it is aiming at). And then our dear navigator Mr Vasu slept and we took a shorter route to tirupati and we didnt know again if the track was right so we woke him and then we had to ask someone at 2 am if the track was right,luckily for us they was a guy in the bike coming from the opp direction and he advised us about the shortcut. And poor fellow his bike didnt start after that and we guys escaped from there before we had to start pushing his bike (sad thing i know,but werent prepared to push the bike at 2).
And then we had to find the hotel where the other guys were staying, not a soul on the road to ask direction, So we had to call Pachu and ask her for directions (Sorry Pachu to wake you at that hour) and as she gave us the directions to reach them we were lost again, so we kept calling her and till the time we reached it was close to 3 am. Once we reached the hotel, we thought we will take the lift to 4th floor as we werent interested to climb the stairs, once the lift started it was all fine and suddenly it gets stuck in between the first and second floor and i was like wht the heck?? and then we called Bhargav and asked him to send help as the alarm for the lift didnt have any response on the hotel staff. I dont like closed places, so i was going on pressing the alarm to no vain. Thanks Bhargav for staying with us till we were out of the lift.
And as we freshend up we thought we wouldnt sleep as anyways we had to start climbing the hill. Shrad's wasnt too fine with climbing the steps but i forced her and then ultimately after much persuasion by Manju she decided she will give it a go.
So we reached at the entrance of the steps and started climbing, i was determined to climb the steps but after some intial 500-600 odd steps i just couldnt walk due to my backpain(slip disc issue), So then i decided i will climb back down and take the bus. Shrad's said she wouldnt be able to climb either and we had to leave the rest of the gang and come by bus. So then the 2 of us (Lone gals) went down and asked a Policeman where would we find the bus to go up the hill (tirumala). Such a sweet man, he made us climb a TT which was going to tirumala and advised us to climb that. The journey was nice as we were sitting in the last seats and were being tossed from left to right coz of the hair pin bends on the hill.
Finally we reached the top and as we had booked a room at Karnataka Bhavan and take rest till the rest of the gang can join, So off Shrad's and I went in search of a jeep which would take us there, with my broken Telugu i negotiated with the driver to take us to the hotel and the back to temple complex and he could understand me and then i mixed a bit of tamil here and there. Once we reached Karnataka Bhavan, we found out that the keys Pachu had given us were the wrong one and off again we went to the temple and we had to wait for the gang to finish their strenous walk of 4000 steps and join us. I was literally dosing off sitting on the pavement. Shrad's and I were roaming the streets of Tirumala all lone gals without any care in the world. Now im super confident i kind find things alone when i come back.
I kept irritating Manju & Sandy by calling them many times on their mobile asking them how long will it take for them to reach. We couldnt take the tickets for Darshan as it would mean we going seperate and not meeting the gang. So we waited for them to come along, once they came we went straight to the room to rest and all of them slept for an hour and then we went to the temple, now I have never seen so much of crowd in Tirupati from all my visits and I was thinking if we would finish the darshan by night as we had to leave that night itself.
So we entered the 300 rs ticket counter, and then the wait....the que was huge one and we kept checking the time, i guess it took us nearly 3 hours of the que to enter the temple sancturm, Once we entered there was all the shoving and pushing and we were all lost, so it was Manju and Shrads somewhere ahead of us. then Vasu,Me & Bhargav together.
Once i saw the lord,i just forgot everything, just prayed to him for all his help throughout and give me the opportunity to see him again soon. You just feel so peacefull and in bliss once u have his darshan. I guess thats the reason they say he is the "Lord of Lords". After this i was lost in the crowd to find the gang. And then we had to go to the famous Hundi. There was more shoving and pushing here and must say the boys a big Thank You for making us feel safe.
And then we went took the prasadam of rice and Shrad and I wanted to have water as we thought we would faint if we dont drink water and must tell you the water at the temple was very cool and i just couldnt quench my thirst at all, So i kept drinking and drinking the water, at one point i had to stop coz it looked like i had never seen water in my life nor had water at all.
Shrad,Manju and I wanted to carry extra ladoo of tirupati (Its soooo good,never tasted ladoo like that anywhere else,thats why there is always a demand of ladoo's for ppl who go to tirupati to get them). So we again stood in another que and by the time we came out we met the rest of the gang all of them sitting and relishing the ladoo. So we left the temple premises to get back to hotel, but then some of us were very hungry so we thought we would have dinner and go back. So it was Vasu,Manju,Shrad,Bhargav and I who stayed back to eat. We ordered some rice..i dont know the name...looked like lemon rice but it wasnt,tasted like fried rice but it wasnt that either. I guess it was called chilly fried rice,apt name as it was spicy for me as cant eat spicy food. Then i went and ordered Idly and Wada as it looked nice, and again i had to get up to get water and pepsi, i was very very tired and so were the rest 4. Anyways the wada was nice so went and bought another one and then went and bought tea for all of them (psst : I conversed in broken telugu again and i must say i am getting good at it).
Once were done, we took the jeep to reach Karnataka Bhavan and then bus back to the hotel room down at Tirupati.
Once we reached hotel room all of us wanted to just crash the bed as we had to leave early morning 2. As Vicky,Sandy,Pachu and Nandhini didnt have dinner, then went and had dinner.
This time in Car 2 (Manju's car) it was Manju,Vasu,Shard,Bhargav(Navigator this time) & Me, we left at 2.40 am and then Car 1 (Sandy's car) it was Sandy,Vicky,Pachu & Nandhini who left around 3.30 am.
We stopped to have tea at one place and the tea was like sugar syrup and then i kind of felt sick. Guess the water used for tea wasnt good or the milk, anyways we hit the road again and then it was a fun trip back home again, havent laughed so much in my life thanks to Vasu,Bhargav & Manju :). We stopped at Kamath somewhere near Kolar and had good breakfast,some photo session and then we were in blr at around 8. Shrad got down near hebbal flyover and i got down at Mehkri Circle.
Had to rush as i had to reach office at 10.
Vadi,Bachu,Nandita,Abdul & Rincy we missed all you guys :(
Thanks Lord Balaji for keep all of us Safe and Sound and also giving us ur divine blessing !!!
Few facts about Tirupati - Tirupati is in Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh, India. It is most famous for its Sri Venkateswara Temple dedicated to Vishnu, also known as Balaji in North Indian and Govinda in South Indian. The temple is located on top of Tirumala hills, while the town is located on the foothills. The Tirumala hill has seven peaks ("Sapthagiri"), said to represent the seven hoods of Adisesha, the serpent under whose hoods Vishnu resides in Vaikuntha.
The temple is reportedly the richest and the most visited place of worship in the world. The temple is visited by about 50,000 to 100,000 pilgrims daily (3 to 4 crore people annually on an average), while on special occasions and festivals, like the annual Brahmotsavam, the number of pilgrims shoots up to 500,000, making it the most visited holy place in the world.
Hey, that's quite descriptive :), nice write up :)
ReplyDeletesomething to make u feel j ;) - all the 4 times I've been to tirupati, I've gone by foot :D
@ Moonlite...Thanks dear :)
ReplyDeletei have been once on foot,this time i thght of making it,but my back gave away :( and i am not J :)