Lord Venkateshwara
Lord Venkateshwara
Tirupati is abode of Lord Venkateshwara. Management of TTD is under the control of bureaucracy of AP Government. It is considered as second richest temple in the world (with wealth of over a tenth of Indian Union Budget at that time, Padmanabhaswamy temple in Thiruvananthapuram is the richest after discovery of gold in July 2011). It has one of the well streamlined administration and is e-friendly. Anyone with e-mail id can book various sevas, accommodation well in advance. Very impressive…..
I understand, average number of visitors during normal days is 50,000. During festivals, this number multiplies many folds. Annual Laddu sales revenue is assessed to be INR 1.1 crore (one crore is 10 million or 10^7). Annual donations are of the order of INR 650 crore TTD provides free bus services, free food services, runs University, colleges, schools. Has marriage halls, accommodation, etc. very impressive indeed.
My better half does not want to intimidate any God, especially Lord Venkateshwara. She had thought, we would go to Tirupati on some day, without her planning for it. It did not happen. She was very upset. She expressed her desire to go to Tirupati and have darshan of LV. Fine, I said.
As a first step, I took concurrence of my son. He said it is fine to visit once. Next we debated and decided on a date. Preparations started in right earnest.
We wanted to stay there for two nights during January. While booking accommodation, we were told, you cannot book for more than one day. My better half and I registered as users with TTD and booked for two different dates. We could not used same IP address for booking for two days. We had to use two distinct IP addresses. As there was considerable time gap between two bookings due to these complications, we got two different classes of booking. We were asked to choose check in time. We chose midnight time for checking in. We had no idea, what the implication of these choices would be. We booked train tickets for all three of us through IRCTC, We were happy. We thought, we have accomplished all these things so economically, I was congratulating myself and praising TTD management for their systems and procedures.
On a designated date we reached Tirupati. From there we were to go to Chennai, so I suggested we leave part of luggage at Tirupati cloak room and go to Tirumal for darshanam. My boss over-ruled!
We sat in a bus which was starting from Tirupati railway station. We loaded our heavy luggage in to bus and waited. No one gave us ticket. I was worried; we might be in wrong bus. To confirm, I asked co-passengers—there was no conductor. Bus first went to bus stand. We had to buy tickets for all of us there, now I was sure this bus goes to Tirumala only. After that, bus took us to entrance to Tirumala. We were asked to unload the luggage and get it scanned and then load it back in to the bus. I saw people were monitoring the screens. So systems of security were real, not eye wash.
The road to Tirumala, my son feels, is like F1 track. Well planned and well maintained for heavy traffic. I thought, with this kind of road, we should be there in about 5-7 minutes. But bus was slow. I understand, if any vehicle takes less than 25 minutes, the vehicle is fined heavily and detained for a period. So we got dropped at a place. It took time for us to figure out how we proceed further and hired a taxi to go to place, we had to show our reservation slips. It was around 17:00 hours. Now first choice we made hit us. We were not allowed to check in as our time slot was starting from midnight. We were forced to wait till mid night in January cold, at Dhrmachatram (free accommodation).
At the stroke of mid night, there were quite a number of persons waiting for accommodation to be allotted. It cannot be allotted even a second before midnight. So I took the reservation slip and asked for directions and went in search of office which had key to accommodation. Directions were inadequate and when after an hour’s struggle (remember it was past mid-night and there was no soul to guide us on the road. We had to frequently come back to booking office to seek fresh guidelines to search) we got the office, it was locked. He was not ready to open. After high decibel shouting knocking on door for more than 15-20 minutes, we could secure keys. Now it was close to 01:30 hours. We hired a taxi again and went to Padmavati (name of accommodation).
Next day, we got up late and were trying to see what we need to do Darshanam. We were told to buy tickets in the morning for Darshanam. We roamed around to know the place, stood in queue to get some laddus. We were also trying to ask the booking clerk to give us the accommodation in same place in lieu of the next day booking we had in different class. That gentleman started giving us gyan (sermon of wisdom) of TTD rules. The accommodation has to be changed as the class was different. It can be changed only at mid night. It cannot be cancelled. Venkataramana Govindaa, Govinda. We decided to stay in the same accommodation by paying additional money for next day.
We took rest on the day. We have spent one and half days and we had no clue, what is coming in the way of Darshanam.
Next day morning we went for Darshanam ticket. By the time we went there, we were told, the gate is closed. We should have come earlier. When confronted, the gentleman started distributing new gyan. By rule the ticket counter is open up to 10 am. Depending on the number of devotees, the gates would get closed. I did not understand, why this gyan was not distributed earlier. Gyan was coming in installments.
Next day evening we were to leave for Chennai from Tirupati. It was make or break issue for my better half. It feels odd/ awkward to stay in Tirumala for virtually three days and have no darshan! So we decided to come for darshanam before 5 am. For this, we had to get ready by 04:30 hours. Our will power was strong. Though we slept around 11 pm, we managed to get up before 03:45 hours and all of us managed to get ready by 04:45 hours. We joined the Darshanam queue around 05:02 hours. Quite an achievement for the all of us. That is called determination.
There was arrangement for breakfast, tea, cold drinks—more or less free—and facilities for nature’s call. We were in the queue bare footed (we had to leave our footwear at a designated place). Whole of the queue is protected from Sun and rain. I understand, Tata Consultancy Services along with other companies have designed and implemented the software and hardware infrastructure for queue management. Within two hours of our standing in queue we started getting tired. As it was a special queue, I expected our darshanam to be concluded by 10 or latest by 11 am. We had to stay in queue for another four hours. Son started complaining and wanted to go back, breaking the queue. We somehow persuaded him to stay back. As his legs are not normal, he was getting hurt most. His legs were getting cramped and started getting irritated.
Finally we saw a shadowy Venkateshwar from a distance of more than 10 meters. When I had visited during 1974, it was from a distance of less than 10 feet. Effect of grandeur was missing. Every one—darshanarthis and staff were hell bent upon pushing us out as soon as is possible. Everyone is forced to run from entrance door to exit door with no stoppage for darshanam. Though I had no interest in the darshanam, I had a feeling of dominating Venkateshwara during 1974 darshanam. The aura I experienced in 1974 was missing in 2014. 2014 darshanam was like flying visit. Even internet darshanam looks grand in comparison.
Tired, hungry, we came out around 11:00 hours. I went to collect laddus, my son was irritated and said, he is going back, my spouse was visibly exhausted and preferred to wait for me outside. I saw some TTD official trying to bypass the laddu queue. I protested and had scene created there. That TTD official ignored everything else and collected his laddus and left the place. We could do nothing other than creating scene to prevent the act.
We came out had our lunch, collected our footwear from footwear station and reached Padmavati. Son was nowhere to be seen. His mobile could not be reached. I was getting panicked. We had to leave in next two hours after paying for the accommodation and vacating it. I went back to devastanam eatery area to search. Searched three hotel eateries without success. I was contemplating next course of action, I received call from my son, saying he has reached Padmavati. Very good. As long as end is as desired, no scope for dissent or complaint. He had brought someone else’s footwear as he could not find his. We had carried his footwear along with us, thinking son has already reached Padmavati without taking his footwear.
We booked a taxi, paid for accommodation and left for Tirupati. When we crossed the gate for descent, by a km, we realized we have left a wireless keyboard in Padmavati. As it was one way, we could not turn back. We asked our driver to arrange for collection of key board and we shall arrange to get it collected from him. He readily agreed. When we were waiting for train, an official from TTD called up and said, he would arrange to send the key board to desired address. We did not realize he wanted something in return. We did not realize, lunch cannot be free. Like annaprasadam, the left luggage service also free, I thought foolishly.
After few telephone calls, the gentleman asks me to charge his mobile by Rs 100 or more to do this service. I was infuriated. I put a complaint in web site vigilance system addresses. The complaint is lost somewhere with Lord and his administration....