Our main objective was to climb the steps from Tirupati to Tirumala. After searching the Net, we found out that this falls under “Divya darshan”, where we get direct darshan after climbing the steps. Also there were 2 routes to do this. One is the most common Alipiri path that has 3550 steps (9 Kms) & the other one being shorter, Srivari Metlu that has around 2400 steps (~2 Kms). The daily limit of tokens issued is 14000 & 6000 respectively.
We finalized the Alipiri
route, as we wanted to take a full trek. The initial plan was to leave
Bangalore by 2pm, reach Alipiri at 7 pm, climb to Tirumala by 12 am, finish
Darshan by 3am, and come down in bus by 5am, and back home by 10 am to take
full day rest. But that was not the script that happened.
We (Velu, Vikas & me) started
from Bangalore by 2:15 pm (26-5-2018) in my car with a lot of traffic in Old Madras Road.
After some 100 kms, we had a tea break & then started our journey. On the
way we received a call from another friend saying that there is a lot of crowd
in Tirupati for that last 3-4 days. We were confident that whatever may be the
crowd, we are going for Divya darshan & it is direct darshan for us.
We reached Alipiri around 7:00 pm
and after parking our car nearby the parking area, we went to the Alipiri steps
to start our trek. For our surprise, the day’s token limit was reached in the
morning itself (by 5 am; hard to believe) & further token will be issued the
next day only i.e 12:00 am. We have another 4 hours for that. We decided to
have our dinner & wait for the next day. We had a nice food nearby stall
& left our extra things in the car including footwear as we wanted to climb
bare foot.
We came to the Alipiri entrance and all were seated near a big gopuram where some policemen were controlling the crowd. We thought that everything is in control. Velu enquired to one policeman & asked him to call us once they start issuing the coupons.
We found a place in a mantapa near
the Alipiri entrance to lie down. I thought of having a nap for some 1-2 hours as
I have to drive the next day. As I was about to sleep, the same policeman signaled
Velu & we ran forward only to sit in another place. Another 3-3.5 hours were fun seeing all the
people trying to go left, right and ahead of others saying “My friend is there
ahead”, “we don’t need a token”, “I went to fetch water”, etc. Till 12, this
was happening & the police were controlling them very well. They even tied
some ropes to send the crowd batch wise.
At 12, we could not see any
policeman there, and the crowd ran to the entrance. It was almost like a stampede. With the push
of other crowd we moved to the entrance gopuram where they were giving the
coupons. It took half an hour to get the tokens and it was a relief. We had a
good body massage before the trek.
We started the trek by 12:30 am
and walked slowly step by step. The best thing about the foot path route was
that at regular intervals, there is drinking water, toilets, shops, etc. Also
the steps count was marked on the stone at every 50 steps (may be to give you
motivation).
Trek Started.
I was excited to take pics of the milestone steps that were multiples of 500. Slowly I reached the 2000th step in 1 hour after stopping for multiple breaks for water, butter milk & for face wash. I was waiting for the other 2 at the Gali Gopuram (Step 2083) the place that has the big Nama, Chakra & the Conch in lights, which you can see from Tirupati also. This is the place where they take your photo & finger prints & give you the darshan timings. Both arrived after 10 mins as Vikas was taking rest in between as he was not use to climb these many steps at one go.
Gali Gopuram
We went in to get our timings. Our darshan time was at 7 am. We thought that in another 1-2 hours, we can cover another 1500 steps & can take some rest before darshan. But that didn’t happen either. We had some tea & snacks in one of the many shops there.
Our Token & the shops
We resumed our trek from there.
Now the path was different, not much of steps but of gradually steep path. In
the meanwhile, once we both halted for a butter milk break, & we said our
slowest guy to continue his walk as we will catch him up. The next 1 hour, we
didn’t see him. We slowly crossed the deer park, 2 under passes & finally
reached the Prasanna Anjaneya statue (7th mile) at 3 am.
Deer Park, the path & the Prasanna
Anjaneya statue
We decided to stop there for a
while & wait for him doubting that he may be missed behind during our refreshment
breaks. We updated him our position through SMS, Whatsapp, but no response as
he had no signal. Finally after some time, he called up & said he has
crossed all these point & waiting at Sri Lakshmi Narasimha swamy temple
(step 2850).
The Route
After taking some snaps, we
started to reach Vikas non-stop. After some walk for 30 mins, we found him resting
nicely. We 3 continued our walk & then came our road journey – walking on
the footpath - alongside the vehicles plying on the road. We were wondering
still we are short of 600 steps. Then came a gopuram where steps started again
– The Mokalimitta Gopuram (step 2910).
The steps were steep & some
people were climbing it on their knees. We had some hot badam milk there &
slowly I took lead, taking pics of the the numbered steps & finally reached
the final step – 3550 at around 4:30 am, where many perform their pooja at the
final step. You can see a heap of turmeric/Kumkum there at this final step. We
saw many people applying Turmeric-Kumkum to each of the 3550 steps – Good
exercise for their back.
The Final step (3550)
The next task was to find the
Amenities Centre where we can take rest & get ready before darshan. It took
another 30 mins to reach the place. We closed our eyes at 5 am & I opened
my eyes just before 6 – our planned time to wake up. Velu showed me that his
mobile read 5:59 & wanted to sleep more. Finally, we got up at 6:15 &
were ready by 7 am. It’s better not to comment on the facilities available
there at the amenities centre.
The first task was to find out
our entry point for the darshan queue. After a brisk morning walk, finally we
entered the queue at 7:30am, with some sort of relief. As usual the queue was
slow enough that our legs started to pain because of standing at one place,
which we didn’t have because of our trek. We reached the checking point by 9
am, paid for our extra laddu & deposited our mobiles & bags there at
the counter. Slowly the queue moved, & finally by 10:30 am we had the
darshan & came out with all the blessings.
After the darshan, we got some
prasada in the form of sweet pongal, which was like getting some water in the
desert, as we were hungry from morning. Then we went to the laddu counter to
get our quota of laddus, and headed straight for some breakfast. Later we got
our mobiles/bags, took some pictures near the temple & headed for the bus
stand around 12 noon.
The Temple after our darshan
As it was around lunch time for
the bus drivers, we were running from one bus to the other. And we realized the
importance of footwear at that point of time. The ground was so hot that we
were not able to stand/walk for 10-15 seconds. Finally we managed to get a bus,
most importantly got the seat & slept for some 30 mins. He was slow &
took almost an hour to reach the foot hill. The fun began while getting down.
As the conductor was calling for passengers to get down at Alipiri, coolly we
stood up to get down. After some 5 seconds, we realized that the floor of the
bus was burning like anything that we can hardly keep our foot down. The
aluminum sheet was like a hot tawa, may be the tyre was bruising with some part
of the bus floor. Somehow we managed to get down & walked till the car. The
first thing we did was to wear our footwear.
Alipiri Gate & view from
parking
It was a great view from the
parking. After taking a pic, we left at 2 pm and reached Bangalore around 7 pm,
with a break for lunch & tea. Vikas slept nicely at the back seat. Velu and
the FM radio gave me company while I drove to reach safely.
As it was the IPL finals day, I
reached on time to see my favorite team win the cup for the 3rd time
after a 2 year ban. I thought that my Tirupati visit didn’t go in vain – ha ha,
just kidding. I couldn’t resist watching till the prize-distribution ceremony along
with my daughter. I too believe in what MS Dhoni said “Age is just a number”.
This is my first trek after celebrating my 40th birthday just 2 weeks
before & really enjoyed it.
Still have a lot to travel, trek
and drive in my list.
Overall the trip was fine, but
for the road work going on Old Madras Road which delayed our travel time. The
first 120 Kms from Bangalore is smooth, and then starts the road diversions.
The trek route is also safe & well maintained with all amenities for the
devotees. No need to carry anything except a change of dress.
This is what my
mobile recorded (before & after depositing it):
Total Distance travelled: 490 Kms by car, ~15 Kms by foot in 17 hours.
Just for the stats from my photo timing...
Step No.
|
0
|
500
|
1000
|
1500
|
2000
|
2500
|
3000
|
3500
|
3550
|
Time
|
12:34
|
12:41
|
12:58
|
01:08
|
01:22
|
02:29
|
04:11
|
04:24
|
04:27
|
