Bangalore - Tirupati - Tirumala

As soon as Friday, 4th Dec 2008 was decided as the day for Darshan, myself with two buddies went to TTD at Malleswaram to book the tickets. One has to be present personally at TTD counter to get the ticket, they take photo and finger print. It was also decided that we will be going to Tirumala by APSRTC bus and returning to Bangalore by train the other day. We planned to spend one whole day at tirumala.

We left Bangalore at 23:15hrs and reached Tirumala at 5:30hrs. The bus was a very old one. The ride was very painful, none of us could sleep. It took us a little over 6hrs to reach tirumala.

It was still dark when we reached Tirumala. As our darshan timing was for 11 am, we decided to find a place to get fresh and get ready before 8am. A police officer told us that there are several large choultries with free rooms to stay in reasonable comfort, electricity and water are also provided free of charge. We took a room at one of the choultries. Its was a very nice experience at the choultries. We were ready for darshan by 9am. By 9:30am we reached the main temple and queued for darshan. At around 1pm we had darshan. It was amasing. After darshan we went for prasad(two laddoos per ticket). Near temple they also provide lunch. After having a wonderful lunch, we decided to view the place before we move to Tirupati.

We reached Tirupati by 6pm. Had dinner by 8pm and were at railway station by 9pm. Our train was at 9:30pm. We were so tired that we slept like a baby in the train. Next day we reached Banglore around 6am.

Tirumala is really a nice place to visit. It was a nice experience. The whole atmosphere at the temple is amazing. It is a must visit for everyone.