My first Sanyasi trip…

My first Sanyasi trip…

Sorry, the title might be a misguiding one… Just it was sort of that for me….

Trip to Tirupathi… On the month of Puratasi, mid of Brahmotsav festivity…..

To experience Garuda Seva (8^th day of the event)….

And one more disclaimer I should make…. Please don’t expect spiritual content… I am not so spiritual person….

To begin, It was a sudden trip planned along with my neighbor-cum-friends…

            

            Why I call it a Sanyasi trip… we started in a Khavi Dhoti clad with no spare dress or any essential items, especially we didn’t carry mobile phone with us….  So big thing was without chatting/ contact with friends & loved one for almost 40 hours … ha ha yennaku big thing thaan… sari sari… It was actually to avoid unnecessary waiting at the cloak room….

So, we started by 3 o’clock Saptagiri Express from Tiruvallur (Scheduled time is 2:45pm, for information)

At this festival season, obviously train was over flowing… Actually we were ready to manage anything… reached our destination by 6pm… took a bus to reach Thiruchanoor (Popularly known as Almelu Mangapuram)… making a visit to Sri Padmavathi Ammavari temple... Tradition dictates that pilgrimage to Tirupathi is incomplete without the visit to this temple. Alamelu Manga (Goddess Lakshmi),who is the main deity of the temple. Most pilgrims start their journey uphill only after visiting this temple…  then in the mid-way before starting our Nadaipathai (yathra to Tirumala) had our dinner at an average hotel (Sri Balaji Woodlands.. ha ha name supreme classah irrukkum)… Then had a visit to Govidaraja Perumal Temple which is located at the foothills of Tirupathi, walk-able distance from the Railway station. The temple look, structure, design, arrangement of deity were quite replica of the Sri Veeraghavaperuman temple in Tiruvallur..

Now starts our journey up-hill at 10pm from Alipiri mettu ( 4km from Tirupathi bus stop, even we covered this distance on foot)… with a pack full of groundnuts… so its 3550 footsteps (approx. 9kms)… for better management of crowd at Tirumala, bio-metric token facility usually provided for footpath pilgrims at Srivari mettu (Kali Gopuram – it’s almost mid-point to Tirumala) has be temporarily cancelled….  Now we don’t have the benefit of Dhivya Dharshan option (Special queue for those with this token… which take lesser time than the Sarva Dharshan… Common queue and most featured thing is, the bearer of Token can get extra-laddu at low cost)…. So still we continued…. Not only this, in forecast of lakhs of people on Garuda seva day… TTD had cancelled all this facilities including all paid/special darshan facility…. Only VIP facility was left untouched…

So leaving all this apart, What I believe is, in enjoying the path to the Temple/ Swamy dharshan… which could be like feeling the beauty of the nature or testing your abilities patience, stamina, endurance, spirit, consciousness… even It evoke a positive thoughts/ideas… means to spiritual quest…

First person to encounter at the Tirumala Devasthanam was a man of negativity… full of bad vibes… we were about to join the kilometers long queue to Sarva Darshan (free darshan), he would be a man from hell, uttering words inviting evil incidents to happen…. it seems the person was recently in to other religious believes or simply could be making poor comparative analysis on religious believes … that was not so bad thing… but commenting stupid on the believes of the billion without any proper understanding is questionable… he was critical about the TTD management… making bad comments on all those arrangement, sudden cancellation of special pathways (for info, it was well intimated on website & dedicated TTD channel… it is easy to find flaws in the system, but working with its wear & tear is daunting task… Don’t want to fill his bad vibes in this write-up… so concluding his part….

Then we were in dilemma, if we are into the Sarva Darshan queue. We would end up in the Waiting hall (Popularly known as Godown) so obviously would miss all the special events outside… we were roaming around the streets of Tirumala, with this confusion. Taking views and experience from different people on the street, tea shop, dormitory, cloak room…some on Temporary out-pass from the godown, some exit from the queue in the frustration of waiting; few are those completed darshan after 12 hours of waiting…. So it clarifies, taking a glimpse at Lord Balaji at Tirupathi Garbagraha test all our patience, stamina, tolerance…. Now, to decide on our dilemma. finally… it’s better to stay out… to enjoy all cultural events and swamy oorvalam etc…

            Now it started pain, could feel the tiredness as we were on foot since last night 9pm… Now it is 4:30 in the morning…. So we went near the temple entrance after getting refreshed at the TTD’s common facility… Gurukal were in a queue to perform their Brahma muhurtha darishnam or some daily chores…. they were telling “please move from here… sab aayega…”… then we left that place. Actually it was raining in the morning and later it was drizzling for more than an hour. The entire floor was wet. We were prepared to take a sleep/nap/rest, as it was informed Mohini Avataram Oorvala to start only by 9:30am. There was no place, even to sit. But I was that much tired, to consider all this things… so found an average place and slept down after spreading my towel.

            Now it is almost 7am, People started coming in. They assembled in places, to get better view of Swamy oorvala and cultural performance. Mohini Avataram Oorvalam crossed our point around 11am…. Actually we were in the East Mada Street… right side of the temple… It was the finishing point of any oorvalam. As we were new to this event, lack of clarity on street structure, procession planning etc. We were to wait till end of the event. To clarify, Swamy oorvala starts from the temple entrance and proceed towards the left…. If we were on the left end of the East Mada Street, could have glimpsed the event much early and could have had our breakfast on time. Oops, it’s not mere about food; it’s about preparing ourselves for the next event. Yes, because of this mistake, we could able to live that place only around 12noon. We were aware that if we continue to stay here, couldn't move out till 11pm. So, 12 hours without proper food, water a tough task for us, me in specific. Although there are 100s of volunteers from Srivari Seva, Scount & Guides along with TTD Staff & Other Security personnel, were in management of crowd. They also ensure uninterrupted free food, water supplies. Because of the intensity of crowd, many would have left out.

Yep, coming back... We were out for food, took a visit to nearby park to relax. These all were out of our miscalculations… When we tried to return back to the Temple Street to glimpse on Garuda Seva (event supposed to be start at 7:30 in the night) all the inlet were closed in spite of crowd. Now, our plan for Garuda Seva was on the hook. Still, we didn’t stop, attempted all possible routes….. Finally, found a way-in. That was a fencing of Car Parking area; people trespassed into that with a security guard’s support.  Now again in a dilemma, will this attempt fetch anything positive, should we attempt, all above few people were taking exit in that route. They were warning us not to attempt it; you cannot enter the temple area. Yes, there was a 10 feet tall wall and one more grilled fencing next to it. Anyhow, crowd mentality drove us further. Successfully we climbed that entire wall and fencing entered the temple area. Actually it was a risky attempt, as already read about accidents at temple fest, wall collapse, portico collapse etc. The wall is 10 feet the either side and one has to walk over it little further to reach the temple area where it is 20 feet deep. So, fortunately everything went good.  

            Now joined the crowd for Garuda Seva, it’s almost 6:30pm. Attempted to talk with people around, none was friendly – primarily because of linguistic barrier.

Continuing experience with People of Kongu belt, recently I was getting closer with many from the region… good to hear their tamil slang, most are caring and social with good sense of humour… etc. Introduced to an Aunt (she resembled like my friend’s amma… in here appearance, talk, expression, thought… approx. she could be around 45-50 years of age) She is from Coimbatore, she started sharing her experience to Brahmotsava celebration (she is a regular visitor of the event– 18 years so far). So, it last like a conversion with co-passenger, nothing into anyone’s personal except about job, studies and place of resident. She was with few other lady companion, all are much older than her. They were staying in a dormitory nearby for past few days, to participate in the event all through.

As I said already, linguistic barrier – often there was tangle between Tamil and Telugu in fight for place, comfort etc. She was attempting to keep Tamil people around, and often made a proud statement on Coimbatore in lighter note. She was giving some eatable to us. She was very tired and wants some rest, she made a request to get her into the place after few minutes of rest. So we let her to sleep for a while in a corner. Now it's the time for Swamy Oorvalam to touch our point, we alerted them. She with her companions prepared the Arathi Thattu (Karpuram, Kalkandu, dry grapes, cashew nuts). When Garuda Vahana procession crossed East mada street, there was an eagle flying at the height of temple gopuram, it took a round flight around all the four mada street. Actually little earlier, she was narrating about this event. The surge of the crowd was heavy at this point; she could not make here formalities/ rituals. She asked us, “Thambi, Swamy ku Arathi kattreengala?” So we accepted it, in a plan of getting that Dry grapes & Cashew nuts at the end. So it got over sweetly, we were about to leave. She was making a statement, “Thambi, Coimbatore varumbothu veetukku vaanga…” and we replied, “Ya, Kandippa Aunt… unga peru?” she said, “Sivakamy”… So we left the place saying, “Good Bye”.

Started our way back … took a semi-sleeper deluxe bus from the foothills of tirupathi around 3:30am and reached home around 5am. Just switched-on my mobile after sharing experience with family and friends-in-neighbors to check missed calls, whatsapp, telegram, facebook.... Let’s back to routine. Now I am writing this as a remembrance.

Before concluding, to talk about the management, well equipped, good planning & operation. Despite of deluge of crowd, the area was kept clean especially to mention about toilets, not with the people cooperation, only by the strenuous effort of cleanliness warrior, housekeeping. There was security frisking at many places, even they snatched away some plastic ornaments, sacred thread of other religious believes. I just noticed it; but don’t know the reason behind it. The kids and minor child were provide with a wrist-tag with father name and mobile number, to ensure easy rescue on any mishap. Lot of money would have been spent on improving facilities and particularly for this event, huge on decoration etc. New EO of TTD, an Andhra Cadre IAS officer who is a non-Telugu, non-south Indian appointed by May 2017. His appointment invited little controversies, but this event’s success could disprove those opposition & stereo-type.