It was our long pending plan to climb to Tirumala via steps. Not that I am very religious, but I wanted to make it just for the experience of it. But, the people I accompanied (friends - Rashmi and Dharanesh, cousin - Sowmya) were on the trip solely for religious purpose.
We left Bangalore around 10am in Sowmya’s car. She preferred driving all by herself through out. We reached Tirupati around 4pm. Had stopped in between for lunch at Pulmaner. Food was not all that great, we should have stopped at Nandini in Chittoor, instead. Our plan was to start climbing the steps around 5pm and reach by 9pm and finish the darshan before 12 midnight! Wish it was that simple! As it was a off season (aashada maasa) we were told there is no need to do prior booking and we can get the tickets at the foot of the hills anytime. Listening to that was our biggest mistake. The person at TTD desk said the tickets will be available only the next morning after 5am! I would suggest you to make a prior booking for darshan at the TTD counters in your city. This link gives info about TTD counters across the country (http://www.tirumala.org/e_darshancounters.htm). Alternatively you can get in touch with some agents for special darshan.
We did try to contact some agents who can arrange for special darshan but it was too late as all slots were full coz of some special pooja going on that night. So we were left with no choice but to stay over night. We guessed we had to stand in the queue well before 5am, hence decided against staying in an expensive hotel just for few hours (we didnt know then that you can get transit accomodation for low price at good hotels). Sowmya's friend in Tirupati took us to the TTD guesthouse, which is the worst accomodation I have seen in life so far. Settled for it as it was already 8pm and were too tired to look out for alternatives.
Went to Bheema's for dinner but the masala dosa we had there was so horrible (not a bit crisp and bland masala) that you would want to give up eating dosas for a while! We were hardly able to catch up some sleep as we had to wake up by 230am. Managed to reach the TTD counter for sudarshan tickets by 3am and were shocked to find 200-300 people there already. Some even slept there! They started issuing the tickets by 5 and our turn came around 630am. It's a mandate that whoever intends to do darshanam has to be present there. The tickets were issued (Rs. 50 per head) after giving our thumb imprints and our photographs in the web cam!
One can handover the baggages at the counter below and collect it on top. We had left our baggage in the car and decided to climb with our footwear on. We began our ascent around 8am, decided to have breakfast at the stalls enroute. Though it wasn’t a sunny weather and there is greenery either side with the steps covered by shade through out, we were dripping in sweat as the initial 1000 steps were the toughest. As I walk for 4-5kms per day, I didnt expect to get exhausted so fast. We had to rest every 100 steps initially. It got less steeper after 1000 steps and easier to climb. The stretch alongside the road, with the valley on our right was very scenic. Beware of some conmen (with their whole family along) on the way, who pose as tourists whose luggage / money have been stolen.
I really appreciate the faith and will power of some people who kept applying vermilion and turmeric to the steps all along and some lighted camphor thru' out. We were struggling just to climb empty handed!
It was our long pending plan to climb to Tirumala via steps.
There are 3600 steps in total which amounts to 9kms distance. We managed to reach the top within 4 hours inspite of stopping numerous times in between. Luckily the weather was very pleasant and it even started raining which was such a welcome relief for all the sweating since morning! It was like God wanted us to freshen up before entering the temple for darshan.
Darshan took about 4 hours and the rain contributed to the chaos in the queues during the darshan and for prasadam. The fanatism of people in religious places continues to amaze me..!
Tirumala was freezing cold by evening due to the rain which made me think, if not for a religious place, it would have surely made a very beautiful hill station for honeymooners!
As we had parked the car at the foot of the hills, we had to get down in a private vehicle. Managed to catch hold of a jeep and he agreed to take us down for Rs. 60 / head (We later found out it was a bit on the higher side may coz of the rain..). As we had to go to work the next morning, we hurriedly finished dinner in a small and started back around 8pm. We all had cold feet coz of the heavy rain and were totally drained coz of so little sleep and soo much activity the whole day. Hats off to Sowmya’s endurance (or is it stubborn-ness?)for still not allowing anyone else to drive. Here we were hardly able to keep our eyes open. Thankfully, Chetan gave her a good company through out and we reached Bangalore safely around 2am!!
