Time: July 9th-12th, 2022
Place: Kalahasthi, Mangapuram, Tirumala
Company: Wife and Daughter
Highlights: About few years ago, I saw Deepika Padukone's visit to Tirumala to mark her first year wedding anniversary with Ranveer Singh and for some reason it inspired me to plan for a Tirumala visit at least one of our wedding anniversaries. Otherwise usually our wedding anniversaries will be in some vacation spots. Thanks to Covid, we could not plan for it in the last couple of years but when I saw a Whatsapp message in April that Sevas for the month of July is opening up on a certain date and time, I was fortunate enough to remember and lucky enough to book (& get confirmation) for a Kalyanotsava on July 11th. Until the last moment, we were not sure if we could really go or not since it was a working day but finally decided to go for it, and use the preceding two days (weekend) to as well visit Sri Kalahasthi temple which houses Vayu Lingam (one of the five Pancha Butha temples). Thus the itinerary formed. One of the option was to drive all the way but then decided on train journey up and down and renting a car in Tirupati.
Day 1: July 9th - We left BLR via Sahyadri express at 11:30 am. It was a nice train ride all the way to Sri Kalahasthi. We got our fav side berths and all three of us had a nice time reading our fav books while at the same time appreciating the natural beauty of the mountain range which accompanied us most of the ride. Exactly on time, at 6:30 pm, the train reached Sri Kalahasthi and we took an auto to our hotel, which was right beside one of the temple entrances. Although we could have, we did not visit the temple as we wanted to be fresh for the first visit. We found a place nearby which was serving idlis as annadaanam and had our fill. Retired for the night.
Day 2: July 10th - Got up early at about 6 am, freshened up and entered temple at 7:30 am. It was thronged with pilgrims. Huge queue but still manageable under 'free quota'. By the time we had our darshan it was almost 9 am. Spent quite some time near the sanctum sanctorum. It was my second time here but again, like Guruvayur, I dont remember much - just vaguely of doing some pooja here about 1.5 decades ago. Then took laddu prasadam and then went to visit Paathala Vinayaka Swamy temple. This, I am sure, was the first time for me too. It was a small-ish queue (about 50 people) but the catch is that they will only 10 people in one go. And each batch has to climb down a steep set of stairs (considered as Paathala Loka), do namaskar to Lord Ganesh and then head back. So that'd take about 10 minutes. So 50 people means about an hour! But it is definitely not to be missed, since you don't get to see this kind of temple often and easy. Also, one has to be physically fit to go down and climb up the stairs. Some of the old people and obese folks had it hard. Especially the part about walking on all fours to enter and exit the shrine. Anyways, that done, we were satisfied with Sri Kalahasthi temple, and we exited.
Had a quick breakfast, checked out, took an auto to bye-pass, got a bus to Tirupati (standing for some time), did a quick namaskar as the bus passed the spot where my grand-parents lost their lives, took a short nap and finally arrived at Tirupati bus-stand. As previously agreed, we crossed the road and reached Mayura Hotel. I was shocked that this hotel was no longer in service. It used to be our fav haunt way back in 1990s whenever we visited Tirumala. It was always, BLR to TPT 7:30 am to 1 pm Rajahamsa, full Thali meals at Mayura (that AC felt so good!), bus to Tirumala, darshan in the evening, next day same itinerary in the reverse order, same bus back 2 pm to 8 pm! I guess Covid victim. Anyways, the revv rental guy delivered the Alto car right on time and left. We had our lunch at a nearby restaurant and then geared up to climb the hill. Our initial plan was to go to Mangapuram but got to know temple would be closed post noon till evening, so changed our plans.
Had a longish wait at the base of the hill for security check. Surprised that no mineral water plastic bottles allowed any more. But happy. If there is one place in India where things can be implemented, that is Tirumala! Finally got clearance to climb the hill. It was uneventful, thankfully, and we reached within the hour. We had rest of the day free, so we thought we might as well visit the off-beat places on Tirumala.
Our first stop was Papavinasam Theertham. It was a brief stop, just a little bit of prokshan, a bow to the diety and then headed back. Next up was Akasa Ganga. Had been quite some time since we had last visited. These places were only for Paavani's sake since she had never been. A huge number of steps to be climbed down. One more prokshan. Next stop was a new one for all of us - Japali Anjaneya Swami temple. This had quite a bit of hike, almost 15-20 minutes. On our way up, we went on the regular paved path but on the way back we came via a trek route set amidst nature. Latter seemed faster albeit desolate. One interesting thing to note here was that everywhere we could see small stones/pebbles piled up one top of the other. Not sure why though. This was visible both ways.
Nest stop was Silathoranam at Rock Garden. It reminded us of the
Arches National Park in US. We continued further on to Chakratheertham. The trek was small yet intense and good. We came back to Rock Garden and spent some time sitting on huge boulders looking at beautiful mountains encompassing us.
Our last stop for the day was Sri Vari Padalu. It was just after sunset, and we were right on time. We were done with all that we wanted to see in Tirumala (outskirts). Headed back to our night halt spot - Sri Raghavendra Swamy Mutt. Had tea and got checked in. That took some time. We were given a room at the back which was a bummer since it kept us out of earshot of the mada street speakers where there'd be vedic chants and slokas which is very soothing to hear in the mornings. Anyways. We thought we will finish Varaha Swamy temple since we did not have much time in the morning considering the rush. However, even then, at almost 9 pm, there was a huge queue. But thankfully it moved fast, and we were out in 45 mins. We headed back to the room. We were pretty tired after a long day. A short snack with whatever we had sufficed us for dinner and then we hit the sack.
Day 3: July 11th - Our 14th wedding anniversary! We reached the entry point for the Kalyanotsavam Seva Queue right on time. It was close to 10 am. We were made to wait in one of the rooms, and then again in the line. Finally by the time, we all assembled, it was 11:30 am and the proceedings began. It was very divine in the beginning but then over the next course of 2 hours, it kind of waned as the priests got busy with the wedding of Lord and His cohorts, and there was not much of involvement sought from the audience. By the time, it got over, it was close to 2 pm. Then we had the darshan of main deity Lord Venkateshwara, and as expected, Gouri went into an ecstatic state like how she usually does at such powerfully consecrated places. That done, we exited and had a small prasadam. That was the first food for us since yesternight. Then, we rushed to the Laddu prasadam counters to get our Seva prasadam. Some commotion there since all counters were closing for lunch, and we were already getting late (to return the car back in Tirupati at 5 pm). After much pleading, was able to secure the prasadam.
Then went to Swami Pushkarni for prokshan. We were now done with Tirumala. Got back into the room, checked out. Also got a call from my uncle that he was close by. So went and met him. He got us to meet the main pontiff of Vyasaraja Mutt from whom we sought blessings for our anniversary. This was a bonus blessing! Next we had to eat something since we hadn't had a proper meal since over 25 hours! We couldn't go to Annadanam since we didn't have the time. So went to a nearby eat-out, finished our meals and headed down to Tirupati. As usual, saw some deers. We had signed up for car delivery at 5 but were about 20 minutes late.
Our train to BLR was at 10 pm, so we decided to go to Mangapuram. Took an auto. At about 5:55 pm, we entered the temple and was surprised to see no one, and the line was empty! We had the darshan of Goddess Padmavati within 5 minutes! Then temple authorities shooed us away. We were surprised. Apparently temple was closed from 6 pm to 7 pm which was strange. Since we didn't have anything else to do, we just sat outside the temple for a long time. And then, we got a bus direct to Tirupati Railway Station. Still we were about 2 hours early. Whiled away the time somehow and then got into our train. Reached BLR at about 4 am next day (the train had already reached station, somehow woke up!) and home at about 6.
Overview: When I mentioned about this trip to my parents (visiting Tirumala on anniversary day), my mom's first reaction was 'Oh, like how your father and I do every year'. Boink! That was true - they visit every year on (or around) Anniversary, at least they used to until Covid. However, this completely slipped my mind. Instead I kept thinking about Deepika-Ranveer's anniversary! How silly! Anyways. Glad that we could at least make it to Tirumala for one of our wedding anniversaries. The itinerary also worked out well. Thanks to the weekend, we could visit Sri Kalahasthi temple and had a direct train all the way. It was better than driving. Also glad that I got a rental car to climb the hill myself. Could manage the motion sickness. And, even better, we didn't have any such MS episodes! Some slight issues with the car not showing actual fuel despite pumping in enough gas - but could not argue much with anyone anyways. Finally, felt good about having visited TTD temples after 5 years...
