Tirupati, 2013
A trip that started with some apprehensions and a taxi no-show but ended in contentment, sweetness, and light
Christmas Eve, 2013 We were slated to start for Tirupati on Christmas Eve. In-laws had come over to "hold the fort" as Marty was busy with other things. Even as the day dawned, i booked a cab using Taxi For Sure on the Android. Pretty neat, as i XPed earlier this month when Seenu used it to go the airport and i could come back very conveniently from my 'A get-together. As it turned out, the booking was too early (wrong timing, as James Coburn might say) and the guy never showed up. Taxi Not So Sure. Thankfully, Prem from our lane graciously took us to the Whitefield Railway Station, amusing us with his own trips to Tirupati and Palani. Even as we entered the station, there was a lady haranguing a guy in Kannada and Hindi. The new woman. The Whitefield RS might be the only one where you have to climb a footbridge even to get onto Platform 1. We made our way to the FC coach (#5 on the platform). The in-charge was too bored to tell us the number and asked us to look up a chart on the wall. There were a few seedy-looking characters out there; one guy, slightly drunk, was hassling us with some inane queries in Telugu and kept tailing us. He was reported and a railway guard picked him up. As he was being led away, the duo ran into a night gang of workers, one of whom gave a sharp retort of a slap to the poor chap. The suddenness of the action stayed with me. Looks like the railway guard was more worried about the guy jumping onto the tracks in the wake of an oncoming train. The train (#56213) chugged in around 9:35 PM, already 40 minutes late. We soon crashed, but not before regretting the puri that were not packed and left behind at home, in the rush to reach the Whitefield RS. Christmas, 2013 The Tirupati railway station was a teeming mass of humanity even at that early hour. The sun hadn't yet risen, but people were milling about like it was some evening. The 'pati never sleeps. We took the (stationary) escalator and got out with our luggage. No convenient inclines for the Strolley. The station had changed so much since my last visit that it threw me. Thanks to a friendly cop, we headed parallel to the tracks till we ended up at the station entrance that i was comfortable with. From there, it was just a short step to Bhimas Deluxe with its Maya restaurant. Was quite hungry due to the missed dinner and i went down to the restua straight away. No customer was around and the head steward, Murali Rao, chatted me up, while i wolfed down four idli and a pongal, washed down with two coffee.
Came up to our room and crashed. We had missed packing a pillow and the bed-roll wasn't supplied by default (you had to make a booking request). Had a nice flying dream after a very long time. As usual, the setting was around the Sea Sands of my childhood in Vizag. Was past the registrar's house when i realized that i had forgotten something at the AU In Gate. Walked back a bit and then it started. Skimmed all the way across and continued further towards AU Out Gate. Met some guy on the way and showed off my skills. After AU Out Gate, the road started narrowing in an unknown way. Ran into some dogs and beat it back. Was still flying and dragged myself pulling on some picket fences.
image source: Flying Dream
Around this time, the doorbell rang. It was the Taxi Ravi (not to be confused with Travels Ravi, through whom we booked the room at Bhimas Deluxe). He was wondering about our plan; we told him that we could catch up after some good sleep. We freshened up and went down to meet Taxi Ravi. He was hustling us to see the local temples and take their taxi to Tiruchanur / Alivelu Mangapuram. His a--itude was upsetting me, but WiFi felt that there was no need to commit to his plan. Also, a very recent post on Zen Habits guided me to go with the flow. After that, had a nice darshan of GovindaRaja Swamy. There was a family in the queue that seemed to be speaking in Bengali, but it wasn't. Turned out to be Oriya. The talkative guy in the group was Ram Das and he seemed to be a devotee of the Master (Sri Ramakrishna). Time passed quickly and soon we were in front of the reclining figure. There was a lovely humongous idol of Lord Hanuman opposite its entrance. The priest at the Hanuman temple said that It was installed in 1134 AD. Unfortunately he didn't allow photography. Anyway we didn't have our mobile as well, since it wasn't allowed in any of the big temples at Tirupati. So we kept it in the safe deposit locker at Bhimas Deluxe. But its decoration made me cry. On the way out, the burly guard looked at me askance, but i never bother to explain tears of joy. How can you tell? As the Master observed, they come from the outer corners of the eyes. After that, we found a sweet auto guy who took us all the way to Tiruchanur, for a darshan of the Old Mother. We took the VIP darshan route (INR 100) and soon the line opened again. The Old Mother was looking very regal in Her finery. Her squat posture made Her look even more wonderful. After that the piping-hot laddu were as good. Polished off an eighth and gave another to some folks having the free prasadam of curd rice. One guy was fooling around in a Stetson! Then we got back with Ramana, the auto driver, with the promise to meet up the next day for the long haul upstairs. There's a new route, called srivAri meTlu, which takes just an hour or two instead of the usual 3-4 hours over Alipiri. But it's 18 km from the Tirupati Railway station. The lunch at Maya the restaurant in the basement of Bhimas Deluxe was superlative and we got some freebies from Murali Rao, the head steward. Around this time, the chap who was supposed to take us in the taxi landed up. He suggested that i could go uphill to Tirumala in the evening, get the tonsure done in shorts and T-shirt, get back to the hotel, and finish the bath. After the hassles on earlier trips of getting the tonsure done at the same time as walking up, this sounded like a no-brainer. Tonsure on Christmas evening Was woken up by something at 4:56 PM and quickly got ready. Shorts and T-shirt, spectacles case and some money for the toll gate and tip for the tonsure. When i went down, Naresh the driver was ready. He turned out to be a very sweet guy. As we took the right-turn in front of the station, turning into Netaji Road, he said that all overhead cables were removed for the annual car festival of Govinda Raja Swamy. The ratha (vehicle used for procession) was simply too tall. Incidentally, that's what the G in G. Car Street (on which Bhimas Deluxe was located) stood for. Soon, we were at the Alipiri Toll Gate, a very inspiring sight trying to compete with the massif in the background. Since i wasn't packing the mobile, i missed a nice shot with the setting sun as a backdrop. Somewhat like this:
Naresh told me more stuff as we headed up. Thanks to the Jeeps, each zipping faster than the other, there's a minimum time that should be taken for reaching Tirumala: 28 minutes. Go faster and private vehicles end up with a fine. Local taxis are also not allowed on to the ghat road for 10 days. Naresh had worked in Marathahalli for six years with Shruthi Milk, one of the lesser known suppliers and ended up learning Kannada and knowing much of Bangalore. He was comfortable in Tamil as well. Making him almost a Bangalorean. The funny thing was that he could never get around to speaking Hindi. My take on that: the silly gender business for inanimate things, as in French (more in The French Correction). He told me that bikes were banned on the ghat road two days before the Garuda seva during Brahmotsavam, due to the chaos that they create. However, this year, due to the Telangana issue, only the 108 (!) buses of TTD were plying between Tirupati and Tirumala and they had space to go. So the bikes were given a free hand and their lights that night were something (మిరుమిట్లు, he said; dazzling). Chatting in this manner, we reached the top. Naresh cased the Kalyana Katta, but that had a queue. So he took me to the Padmavathi Guest House, where there were just a couple of folks waiting. For INR 10, you get a token and half a razor blade. Peeled off my tee in the cold air and gave my specs case and money to Naresh. Around this time, noticed that he had an Android. But he didn't have a Google account nor did he think of creating one. Quite a pity, as that prevented him from accessing the Google Play store and download apps such as WhatsApp the Wonder App. With its voice messaging feature, one doesn't even have to know how to type in English. Just use the VM feature and communicate asynchronously, at no cost. Since the VM files created are small-size AAC files, all you need is a GPRS connection, which is available at a low monthly rental. With Android phones so popular, it might be a good idea for Google / Android manufacturers to conduct free camps in the hinterland to help users create a Google account. After that, they will figure out things. Even have a name for it in AP ;-)
Free Andhroid Camp
Soon, a "tonsurer" turned up and it was off with the top in under five minutes, while Naresh held my specs case and money. On an earlier tonsure trip from Chennai in the early 1990s, i observed how fast they do it and N Chandra of TCS, with whom i was working then, guffawed: "How long does it take to delete a file?"! Since i was planning to have the bath back in the hotel, i just hopped back into the car, but after taking the permission of Naresh. The మైలు that we learn as kids (after a haircut, after touching shoes, etc.) is difficult to shake off. On the way down, it was a minimum of 40 minutes, so Naresh stopped for a while at the monster Hanuman statue that's at the intersection of the Alipiri foot-route and the roads.
image source: Jai Hanuman - శ్రీ ఆంజనేయం
That helped on sticking to the minimum and soon he dropped me off at Bhimas Deluxe. After the bath, we headed down to Maya restau for a much-needed dinner. Got WiFi to click this:
At Maya Restaurant in Bhimas Deluxe, Tirupati
ShekarG of our Baddy group was zapped by the size of that menu card. But we ordered just some tomato soup (1/2), dal fry, phulka, and lassi. The main reason for getting that shot was my gaffe-prone pal (he thought they called it Caesarean because they used scissors) at Infosys of the early 1990s who, soon after a tonsure observed: "With your prickly hair, you are looking like a…concubine"! Laughed for a long time over that. Ram called him Mr. Malaprop. As a post-dinner walk, we took the narrow road opposite Bhimas Deluxe and parallel to the one with the Govinda Raja Swamy temple. WiFi was interested in buying some పసుపు and we got it at the end of a street in a nondescript store.
It scores highly on both form as well as content. More in:
We had an early day, so we crashed soon after. Boxing Day, 2013 Got up early and headed down to the Maya restau. It wasn't as desolate as yesterday. A fair sprinkling of guests, but our man Murali Rao was around. We ordered the usual idli and pongal, safe bets for a long day in the queue ahead. The description of Maya as you leave the restau caught my attention:
The English bit reads:
Is neither existent nor non-existent, nor both: Neither same nor different nor both: Neither made up of parts nor whole, nor both Most wonderful it is and Beyond description in words.
This is probably the best description of maya that i have seen and encapsulates the Master's observations:
- Nature is a majestic expression of Divinity
- The world of name and form comes with the territory of the Formless. More in Two to Tango.
In a more detailed exposition in the Gospel, the Master says in Chapter 38:
Kali is none other, than Brahman That which is called Brahman is really Kali. She is the Primal Energy. When that Energy remains inactive, I call It Brahman, and when It creates. preserves, or destroys, I call It Sakti or Kali. What you call Brahman I call Kali. "Brahman and Kali are not different. They are like fire and its power to burn: if one thinks of fire one must think of its power to burn. If one recognizes Kali one must also recognize Brahman; again, if one recognizes Brahman one must recognize Kali. Brahman and Its Power are identical. It is Brahman whom I address as Sakti or Kali."
We exited the hotel to find the Ramana, the ever-smiling auto driver. We had already bargained for him to take up to srivAri metlu for INR 250, so we moved quickly. He took us on the NH 205 till Srinivasa Mangapuram, where the route peels off north. When we passed the temple at Srinivasa Mangapuram, i casually looked at my watch and it showed 9:41, the iPad ad time, which really unnerved me. The day before the trip, the 41 was popping up many times. On the watches it was 11:17:41 the earlier night, 1:17:41 that afternoon, and 16:41 slightly later. We weren't too sure whether we should stop over and see the Old Man at His place where He stayed six months before He went upstairs to Tirumala, and i felt that it was His way of saying, "Dude"! But we had already gone past, and i took permission to see Him on the next trip. On the way, Ramana revealed that he was illiterate, which reminded me of that great ending of Maugham's The Verger. Soon we were at the steps. Told Ramana that we would call him on our next trip. He tried to give his number again, but i forestalled him with the one from my memory: (the French format for telephone numbers in blocks of two really helps)
+91.9959.38-91-52
If you are in Tirupati and want an honest bloke of an auto driver, please call him. The steps at srivAri meTlu started off nice and easy. Till the first 100 or so, each step was numbered and, further afield, every 50 (and 100). There were around 2,350 in all and, with my AV Repair just done in May, i took a breather every 100 steps, later making that 50. Each step was smeared with the red of kumkum and yellow of turmeric and i was initially uncomfortable using my sandals over them but, as Prof. VL Mote said: "When there's no alternative, there's no problem". Also, to mollify us, we saw many others donning the same in their trudge. We ran into the same folks many times, they passing us as we rested and vice versa. At a resting spot in between where we had a banana each, we saw the Indian Giant Squirrel. Couldn't believe that we would see one right in our backyard. Chanti said that it was aka the Malabar Giant Squirrel. Since we weren't carrying a mobile or a camera, have to include a pic from Wikipedia.
The one we saw was a lighter brown, in the pink of health. It gamboled in the treetops, which were at the height of the steps, and disappeared into the undergrowth on some mission. What a treat. A stand-out moment from the trip. Soon after, around 1,100 steps, we had the Divya Darshan counter, where they give you its tag. It's checked later on, around 2,100 steps.
…To be continued, but not before giving you a taste of the lovely darshan that we had…
Lord V on Thursday
image source: శ్రీ వేంకటేశ్వర చరిత్రామృతం (17)