Tirupati Balaji - My trip to Tirumala

It all began with the GMAT score. I don’t know what it was, but for the whole of the week before my GMAT, 720 was the figure in my head. And guess what! 720 is what I got. I was elated. Not so much because of the score. But, because I felt I could actually gauge where I stood with the hectic schedule of my work.

That’s when I thought of visiting Tirupati Balaji. I had a tough time finding the means to visit Tirumala. If anyone comes across this blog from Tirumala visit point of view, please check the date of this blog. Even I had come across a blog which was written in 2006. It gave some genuine information about the options available. But, when I went to book my tickets, none of the mentioned options existed.

FYI…KSRTC and APSRTC have BOTH stopped their package tours for Tirupati Balaji Darshanam. However, they still have buses going to Tirumala. The darshan is your responsibility. There are a lot of private operators in Kalasipalyam, Anandrao circle and CMH road. But, what I heard from people about them was not very pleasant. Finally there are only two options that I think make sense for working individuals like me.

1. If you don’t have a limitation of weekend visits only, ITDC still has a package tour. They have one day packages from Monday to Thursday. The cost is Rs. 1400/- per person (Only travel and darshan along with 2 laddoos and a water bottle; the food is your own expense). They do not operate these one day packages on week ends. But, they do have a 3 day package tour for Friday, Saturday and Sunday. I went to their office on CMH Road to book.
2. If you are looking for a one day trip and that too on a week end, The Tirupati Devasthanam counter is a better option. Tirumala Devasthnam has an office in Malleshwaram. Each person who wants to visit will have to go to this office, give a finger impression and book a time for the darshanam. Then you can travel to Tirumala by the KSRTC buses. Though this is also a good option, you need to look for options to get fresh before going into the temple. (This should not really be an issue there). The Tirupati devasthanam can be contacted at 080-2331-5361 from 9 am to 1 pm & 2 pm to 4 pm only. The address and other details are at http://www.tirumala.org/ttd_board_informationcentres.htm

As far as I am concerned, since I was working on Sundays, I was fine with the option of ITDC. I booked a ticket to travel on 21/09/2008 night. This way I would be taking the Darshan on 22/09/2008 (Monday) morning and would reach Bangalore the same day in the evening.

The ITDC office from where the bus starts off is the first problem that people may face. When I was told that it is close to Anand Rao Circle, I too made the mistake of getting down at Anand Rao circle itself. Most of the tours and travel office are located around this circle. But, the ITDC office is not here. It is about 1 kilometer away from Anand Rao Circle on the way to the race course. Keep looking to the left hand side and you will find the Swiss Complex as the only decent building in the midst of small intermittent constructions. The address of the office is G-10, No.33, Swiss Complex, Race Course Road, Bangalore 560 001. The telephone numbers are 2238-3361 / 62 / 2226-8748 / 2235-0529. For booking ITDC has offices all around Bangalore.

The journey began more or less in time around 9:45 PM. The bus was an okay type of an AC Volvo. My comments about it would be neutral as I have seen much better. But, most people would call it good. They don’t stop for dinner. Hence, it is advisable to eat something beforehand. At around 2:30 AM we reached a hotel some ½ hrs away from Tirumala. This place was not great. But, manageable considering the fact that you would be sleeping just over a couple of hours and then would get fresh and travel early in the morning at 5:30 AM towards Tirumala.

The first stop is the Padmavati temple at the foot of the sacred hills. Because of the time at which we entered the temple, we got the early morning “aarti” here. I felt really great in that atmosphere. Early morning, still dark, the ringing of the bells, beating of the drums and the essence in the air; extremely soothing! Then we moved to have our breakfast. Post this we abandoned the Volvo bus (kept our heavy bags inside though. I even left my cell phone here) and moved into a smaller local bus to climb up the hills. Once at the top, the tour operators took some people who wanted to offer their hair to the relevant place and the rest went to a spot near the Balaji Temple. We waited there till the interested members had offered their hair and joined us.

Then we all started the small walk towards the peak of the journey. The arrangement of the ITDC guys was flawless. We had absolutely no problem as far as the entrance was concerned. They took us to the appropriate doors, accounted for each member’s entry there and we got into the right lanes to ensure a quick movement till the main temple. The temple, the volume of the renovation activities and the quality of the work left me in awe of the surroundings.

Within about an hour we entered the main door of the temple. This gives another great feeling. The amount of yellow that you see if breathtaking! I wonder how much gold must have gone into making the temple what it is. However, it gives a certain divinity to the place. Going around in a queue along vague circles we finally came to the place which is called a “gaabhaara” in Marathi. This is where I felt that even these guys are concerned about the experience people get after coming here. Recently a ramp has been made in such a way that from the farthest point away from the lord in a straight line, you gradually climb down towards him so that the person behind you is also able to view the face of the Lord from a distance. This surely avoids the feeling that you could not be there for a longer time.

As you approach this ramp, the devotees are in fervor. The pinnacle is near. As I entered the gaabhaara there was uproar of “Govinda!!!! GGOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVINDA!!!” The chants kept increasing in length and volume and it surely left me with unexplainable warmth. This I guess is what they call submitting yourself to the divine. The high I felt while taking those few steps closer and closer to Balaji cannot be expressed in words. I am not a very religious person. I do it for my mother. But, even I was overtaken by a sense of content. It took some time for my thoughts to come back to me. I was slowly completing my “pradakshinaa” when I thought that I just had to sit at this place for some time. Believe me, there was a certain fluency in all my body movements for some time. I felt no sense of effort. It was really very satisfying.

Reluctant as I was, I walked back to our meeting spot to travel back. When all of us had gathered, they distributed the “prasaad” and we were on our way. By about 12:30 PM we started towards Bangalore. Had some lunch on the way, stopped in Kolar for tea and still reached Indiranagar at 6:30 PM.

The trip was just great. A decent travel, an adjustable accommodation, a very quick Darshanam and a great feeling after that! Some things in life are just priceless.