Just make sure you don't land up on a Saturday... I was in Blore recently and there was an adhoc plan made to visit Tirupati. We started at 4 AM from Blore on 8th Morning, reached by 9 AM, crossed the check post at the base of the hill and drove up 14kms, parked our car in the parking near the guest houses and started our journey, all fine till here.
Only when we started looking for the 300 Rs entry, which is the next best thing to VIP passes (don't know if they still exist).. we realized the lines started 2.5 kms away from the security checking to enter temple premises... Alright... We said, we went and stood in the queue... to my dismay.. there was utter chaos and a lot of educated people behaved in a very unruly manner. Jostling, pushing, shoving.. you name it... On top of it.. the line was moving dead slow... at the pace of 15 steps/ 15 mins... yes!!! I am not kidding...
Picture this... we started in the line at 9.15 with just a cup of tea and we didn't even reach the 300 Rs ticket counter till 5 PM in the evening. The whole trail was a barricaded pavement with a tin roof which didn't have any fans even.
By 5 PM, we were disgusted, and out of any feeling of devotion and opted out. And it was a good decision, after jumping over the barricades I was able to see a LED scroller which said the earliest darshan possible for people under the scroll is at 4 AM in the morning... :O :O :O
I was like... WHAT !!!!! Where do these people in the queue stay then? They havent had anything since the morning, almost everyone in the queue skipped lunch, it was 5 PM and they were still no where near the Ticket Counter or the security check in...
I felt sorry for the ignorant lot in the masses, tried my best to inform the people around me the current status. After realizing the 4 AM darshan slot, a few of them opted out as well, as they had trains to catch or elsewhere to go...
We started back to Blore by 6 PM and could only reach home by 12.30 AM, just to drop dead on the bed... all of us sore and grumpy, with aching heels... And the only question which circled in our heads was - IS IT EVEN WORTH THE PAIN?
I never figured out why there was so much rush, some said its Saturday, some said its the 1st Sat after Dussera, some said there's some naiyedyam puja... no one had a concrete answer.
I had people standing in the queue who had been here umpteen times and they were shellshocked to see the snail's pace of the line.
The only amusing thing of the day was a devotee from Mangalore, who couldnt stay in the line like me, handed my brother a bag full of 1000 Rs currency notes and requested this to be put in the Hundi...
Now, since we also opted out, it was a tough time to put a Donation box or Hundi outside the temple premises, but we found one in front of the Coconut Hundi area.... Phewww!
Just an advice, make sure you check up with the locals if the you plan to go is a normal day and nothing special is planned for that day!
