Tirupati Diaries

This is a mandatory annual family visit to Tirupati and this time it was long due. Planning from early July, we just booked the train and darshan tickets in December and just went for it.

We booked Narayanadri express from Secunderabad to Tirupati. I was impressed with new and upgraded coaches and technology in train. I liked the vacuum system in washrooms, a smart way to save water and also 80 berths instead of 72 BUT it comes with a price 🙄 Indian railways think with emerging technologies humans just shrink in size. Dear Railways, No we don’t.

with this eternal and ever ready partner ❤
Tirupati, embrace yourself

Day 1

We walked straight to the first hotel visible right opposite to the railway station opposite to Vishnu Nivasam. In an hour, we were ready and stepped out for breakfast. Hot steamy idlis to keep us light and active through the day.

Booked a jeep and went towards the toll gate and Daddy asked me if I kept the offerings in my bag? Holy shit! The offerings were in the other bag and we had to go back to the hotel to get that. Finally we got another jeep and started our way up.

This is at Alipiri which literally translates to resting place. People who would come from far off places would cook, rest and get set before trekking the hill by foot(This was earlier). Now it’s convenient to travel as and when we want.

Pilgrims taking the steps at Alipiri Padala Mandapam. It is at the foot of the hills and people trek the hills by foot

Saptagiri checkpoint is a tollbooth at the foothills. All the vehicles, people, luggage have to pass through the toll. Tirumala hills are also called Saptagiri which is 7 hills, the top one being venkatadri

He smiled? Mission accomplished 🙏❤🤞
Now Let’s go up :)

The tollgate you see in the picture is called Alipiri. Alipiri literally means resting place. Earlier pilgrimage would mean padayatra (travel by foot). People would set off from their homes, reach Alipiri and rest here before taking the trek up hill. They cook, rest and then start the journey by foot again.

We had 3 hours to go for Darshan so we took the same jeep to go around Tirumala. We went to Srivari Padalu, Silatoranam, Venugopala Swamy temple and Akasa Ganga before getting in the Darshan line in time.

• SriVari Padalu is place where the Lord 1st placed his foot on earth. When I used to visit during my school days, we could touch the foot. now its sealed in glass and moved to the corner and a big Hundi is placed in the centre. All the excitement of seeing and visiting this place was fogged by commercialism.
• Silatoranam is an engineering marvel by nature. A thoranam (garland)strung over a threshold by rock (sila)
• Venu Gopala Swamy Temple is a temple dedicated to Lord Krishna along with his consorts Rukmini and Satyabhama.
• Akasa Ganga is holy water coming out of as natural stream between hill rocks. This sacred water is used for Sri Vaari daily abhishekam. Earlier, we could bathe in the waterfall after trekking down few steps. Now its all blocked

Can you limit the nature’s canvas? Boundless possibility
Silatoranam

He is actually smiling :) good poser

I looked worried here. He is holding my phone as if he is holding a gun. Too much pressure to take my pic pavam. chill Dad. you doin good :)

We reached our Darshan line in time. I was little worried about my Dad, we din’t have lunch and we cannot assume the waiting time for darshan. I kept chips, water and cookies handy. However, Lord’s abode is as comfortable as our home. Very friendly and swift, they take care of all our needs. We were really lucky to reach vendi vakili (silver entrance) within an hour, in no time we were in the sanctum sanctorum, the larger than life view of the Lord, I can never get enough of that sight. With all the pushing and shoving, I came out and the visual just gets out of the mind. I won’t be able to picturize it everytime.

After darshan we walk around the sanctum, admire the golden gopuram and get in line for richest hundi and give our offerings. Get in prasadam line, something I look forward to everytime. Then we go collect the laddus. There are 63 counters across two floors for the famous Tirupati laddus. Had lunch in annaprasadam complex. Simple. wholesome and delicious.

We came down to Tirupati and in the evening visited Govinda Raja swamy temple which is walkable from our hotel.

Day 2

At 5 in the morning we stet off to Kanipakam Ganesh temple. This temple is swayambhu and it rests on a well inside the santum santorium. On return we visited Srinivasa Mangapuram temple in Tirupati. One of my favourites, serene and silent. Enroute we had bfast and visited Kapila theertham temple. I loved the waterfall here but we had a long schedule to cover so I just enjoyed it from a distance. Temple Darshan was amazing. Kapila Rishi had consecrated the linga here.

We visited Srikalahasti from there.

Sri — Spider

Kala — Snake

Hasti- Elephant

The name Srikalahasti is derived from here. It is a famous Shiva temple. Here we had hot prasadam served to us. It saved our lunch time.

We visited Isckon and other places before reaching Padmavathi temple. We had special Darshan there and returned to the railway station right in time for our train.

Tirupati is a must visit place for us every year and it mesmerizes and got something new for us everytime. This trip is from December 2019. Last year due to lockdown we couldn’t visit but visited it again in January 2021.