616

Time: Feb 27 - Mar 1 2009

Place: Mulbagal, Kanipakam, Srinivasa Mangapuram, Tirumala, Sri Vari Padagalu, Shila Thoranam, Horsley Hills, Kaivara

Company: Parents & wife

Highlights:

Day 1:

Left Bangalore at 9 am in own Alto.
Since it was Friday, a working day, got stuck in the traffic.
Reached Woody’s near Kolar at about 11 am (as we always do). Light breakfast.
Next stopped at Mulbagal Sripadaraja Mutt (as we always do) for a quick visit. Went to Kanipakam. My first visit. Amazing thing about the idol is that it is growing! Nice story to go with it.
Had light snacks on roadside beside a tree. Very pleasant. Had made a vow to have meals only after darshan.
Then went to Srinivasa Mangapuram. Again, my first visit. Very beautiful idol of Lord Sri Venkateshwara. A ditto of Lord Tirumala but with less crowd and no one to jostle the pilgrims.
Then, climbed the Tirumala hill in car.
Got ourselves a room at Uttaradi Mutt.
Got into the Rs 50 queue at 5.30 pm. (we had booked the tickets couple of weeks ago).
A new management at Tirumala now makes pilgrims sit at the entrance of the queue itself instead of within the semi-circular stack of rooms where at least basic toilet facilities exist. After 2 hours of this ordeal, we were then asked to sit inside the semi-circular stack of rooms. Light lunch was wearing out on us and we were feeling hungry but there were no vendors inside (as earlier). Thankfully, after 2 more hours of wait, we were ushered into the bottleneck of sanctum sanctorum. After much pushing and jostling, when mind can least think pleasantly about the Lord, we were out before we even realised it, at about 11 pm. Managed to get to a hotel where we could get a decent dinner.

Day 2:

Up at 7 am. Bath at Pushkarni which is bleached and is now a very nice place to have bath. Varaha Temple. Breakfast. For the first time, went to Sri Vari Padagalu, which is almost atop the Tirumala peak. It is about 5-7 kms from the temple of Tirumala. A wonderful view of the Tirumala town. For our luck, we glimpsed the actual pooja of the Lord’s feet.
On our way down, we visited Shila Thorana (again, my first time) which is in the Rock garden. It is nothing but a geological wonder resembling rock garland. A rare scene. Also, upon climbing down steps and climbing up some steps, we get to see the Shiva idol. A nice place, this too, in the thick jungle and in the midst of rocks.
Checked out of the room, left Tirumala and reached Tirupati. Had to visit a relative in Tirupati.
Had plans of going to Narayanavana and Padmavathi Patnam but realized that we had to be at the Sunset View point in Horsley Hills at sunset and it was already 2.30 pm. That left about 4 hours with 130 odd kms on an unknown road.
As it turned out, it became a race against time. With me pumping real hard on the accelerator wherever the road was good, we went to Horsley Hills via Pileru and Madanapalli. Although road is good, it sometimes is annoying as there a lot of dug-outs.
Finally reached Horsley Hills (my second time)(considered as Andhra Pradesh's Ooty) and also the sunset point just as the sun set. We had a glimpse of the setting sun for about 5 minutes and it was a sight to cherish! Four hours of fast drive, missing lunch and missing the evening coffee was all really worth it!
Got ourselves a room and had a relaxed time at the small-time resort.

Day 3:

Up by 7 am for a walk in the morning mountain air! Breakfast was an expensive buffet, so skipped it and had our assortment of snacks. Visited the zoological garden at Horsley Hills and left to Bangalore.
There is a short but bad road via Chintamani road which is 165 kms and there is a long but good road via Palamaner and the usual NH4 road back to Bangalore which is 265 kms. We chose the 165 kms. All of them took turns driving.
On our way, we found Kaivara (my first time) and visited Kaivara temple. An amazing idol here too, resembling Karighatta and Kalhalli.
Since we did not find any good hotels, we skipped lunch for the third day in succession and reached home at 5 pm.

Overall, traveled 616 kms, and thereby also completed this year's Tirumala trip quota! Feb 27th, by the way, was my parents’ 34th wedding anniversary and my dad’s 64th birthday!