Tirupathi Experience

On June 28th night at 10.25 pm, we reached the Alipiri at the Tirupathi. Me, my mom and dad have decided to go to Tirumala by walk as an offering. The distance from there to the temple is about 22 km. We have been instructed to get the ticket for darshan at Gali Gopuram. Also the people who walked with us told that the Gali tower is the half way and, we can reach the Tirumala easily then. We reached the Gali tower at 12.30 which is solidly two hours from our starting time. After that we felt a bit relaxed as it would be easy to cross the other half way, which is said to have lesser steps. But the result was totally like Abbas-Mustan film. Yes the second half was like an Abas-Mustan film. The second part our journey had had many twist and turns. We had a coffee and then started the second half of our wonderful journey. At starting it looked as if it’s easy to complete. Then after some time we saw a milestone which gave as a big shock. It showed 7 more miles to cross. That deliberately decreased our confidence to a greater extent. We made a mindset that it’s not mile, its kilometre and walked further. After long time we saw the board 6 miles yet to reach. As we had the mindset of thinking as kilometre, we shocked of seeing 6 after very longggggggg time. We forget that the stone mentioned distance in miles rather than kilometres. We scolded ourselves and walked further. It was sharply 1.23am; we crossed a big hanuman statue. Then we thought that we entered the city of Tirumala. But it was not even near. Then we walked further. After sometime we saw a big tomb. I was so happy to see something like that. We entered it quickly, but a board suggested that it was starting point of the halfway. We were totally stunned and our energy was totally burned away. Then we moved by saying god’s name. After very long time we saw the city lights. Then we saw the way to enter the Vaikuntam complex I, as instructed in the token given to us. It was like entering the real Vaikuntam. But there we were asked to sit in a cell. It tested our patience to a greater extent. To get a darshan of Venky is like winning a fear factor episode. We had to go through that without choice. We stood at that cell till 7.30 am. It tested the patience of us. After that the door was released. Everyone was running like a deer, which is chased by a tiger. We also ran along them. The place where the Laddu token given was like a hell. It was like numerous tigers fighting for a single deer. We also joined the fight to get some Laddu token. And we got it. Then we were sent into another cell. There we were stayed for an hour. Then after release from that cell, we went to darshan with a long queue. It took more than an hour to get the darshan of Venky through that queue. At last we got out from there at morning 10.45.
I got a lot by this journey. It taught me the importance of patience in life while working. To reach a god you must wait. I saw many people who came there with many difficulties. Their determination was amazing. I was amazed by the people who came by walk with us. On the whole the journey amazed me in many ways. It helped me increase my patience, develop a broad mind, adjust the people and mainly to understand the god.