Tirupati Tirumala Devasthanam-Day 1

Its been long since i went on a long tour.... What better place than a visit to Tirupati...

Thought of doing some search about the place... which places to visit & where are they located... how to go there, etc... as usual, did not wanted to travel through the same route to and fro, so thought of taking the circular route of Hosur- Krishnagiri(TN) - Kuppam(AP) - Palamner - Chittoor - Tirupati - Tirumala - Palamner - Mulbagal - Kolar - K.R.Puram

Somehow it wasn't inspiring enough to travel so far, some 700 odd kms. that too to a temple (waiting in a Q). So in order to commit myself to the journey i thought of putting it in facebook status message; when you make your promises in public you dont want them to turn false; you keep them. Gradually, the feeling to meet the richest Lord gained scale, with each passing time ;)

By the time i started off the feeling wasn't about proving myself or my passion about biking but more about visiting Lord Venkateshwara. One thing was sure this time, it should not be a one day journey since i need to enjoy the nature, the climate, the sapthagiri hills, the entire route, thoroughly. Hot water @ 4 o'clock took me by surprise. Started off from college @ 4:50 a.m. to reach Hosur by 5:40 a.m. the slow speed is attributed to the cool breeze & the promises made to my friends of not driving at high speeds.

Time to fill bike's stomach and have early morning tea. The drive till Krishnagiri was such a great experience as if i am not driving on Indian roads, minimal traffic, large 8-16 wheeler vehicles, highly bituminous road. Big rocks and soothing breeze at Shoolagiri were tempting me to stop driving and start rock climbing. But, i can come here later with couple of friends, for now i need to move on to Tirupati.

Sudden rains drenched me thoroughly by the time i reached Krishnagiri @ 6:40 a.m. hmm Time to have another sip of tea accompanied by bakery products and ya put my camera and cellphone inside the bag in plastic cover. The sudden heavy rains had taken me by surprise, not giving enough time to put the camera and cell inside, until i found over bridge. Time to take some beautiful snaps and stretch out the muscles for next 5 mins.

Two roads NH219 & NH46 (part of Golden Quadrilateral) diverged and i took the one less traveled by - NH 219. It would not have been fun driving through the GQ... good wide roads, drive you to, driving at high speeds. Its around 7:50, time for a breakfast - Masala Dosa & Idli Vada - just for 12.50 Rs., too spicy, but obvious, since i am now in Andhra. Asked the cashier to call up the girl who was begging around, to give her the change, (in style), as if i am millionaire.

Time to move on to Venkatgirikota my next stop, to watch the animal fair on a Sunday morning. Cows and cows and a lot of them, all standing beautifully dressed up in line. At least 100 chickens devoid of their outer skin were hanging for purchase in dozen shops. The sight after a few seconds wasn't worth giving another look, if i would have stopped there a minute further, definitely i would have puked. The village roads with plenty of greenery both sides owing to sugarcane, coconut & banana fields struck me with awe. For the time being, i thought of returning to my village in Himachal, stop this mundane professional urbane life & chillax in the fields.

But then the MBA mind woke me up, Sain your parents have invested a great chunk of money, not for going back to the fields. You owe them heavily. You will not find lifestyle here. No money, no girl to marry. What about your dreams to head some company? How different are you then from the regular village boy? Few kms. after Palamner the bike started giving troubles. Not taking acceleration, engine stopping abruptly & then not starting easily.

Sain, it is more than a year and 6000 kms. that i changed the engine oil last time. Hmm... under the scorching heat at 11:55 (before chittoor), it is not easy to pull the bike 2.5 kms. away for repair. Found a sole mechanic already engaged in heavy work of 3 customers, a truck driver & 2 car drivers. So it took me an hour to wait for my turn to come. Monopoly is really bad, for the customer. Alas @ 1:25 p.m. i got my bike back in normal condition after the engine oil change and basic servicing.

By 1:50 i was @ Alpiri Gate, the entrance to Tirumala hills. The 45 minute drive on the 1-way road from Alpiri gateway is breathtakingly beautiful, to say the least. By 2:40p.m. i put up all my luggage including helmet, camera & belt in the locker of Pilgrims Amenities Complex. By 3 i was ready to stand in Que for couple of hours after having a sip of tea. One does not feel like eating heavily during long bike rides, so i escaped lunch.

By 6:16 p.m. i had met Sri Venkateshwara/ Balaji, chanting Govinda Govinda in the Q for less than 100 mins. Time to relax for a while. What better than the Nitya Pushkarini pond, adjoining Aadhi Varahaswamy temple. After spending close to an hour over there watching people taking bath, i wandered in the streets of Tirumala, untill i stopped for free meals ;) not because it was free meals but wanted to have an experience of the same, just as we do in case of langar.

By 8:45 p.m. i was back in the pilgrimage amenities complex. Hired a blanket & a mat, gave a call to mother and slept off keeping an alarm of 12:20 a.m. in order to wish a friend. Rest to follow in

next blog...

Insane Bike Ride 3

This one was quite special, in the Shivalik range of the Himalayas, after a long while-owing to exams ;)

This time the difference was, i wasn't alone, sister was accompanying me.

The journey was planned but only till half-way, the remaining half got added later. Desperately being in search of a bike in Himachal, i could not find it with any of my relatives :(

So, i changed the plans of originating station, went to cousin's house, dint carried any sweets as per the tradition - in a hurry; met her hurriedly, took the keys of their 9 yr. old bike which wasn't used for past 4 months, hence the battery was dead.

At 2:00 p.m. started off in style with sister being their as pillion, the bike dint started even in 3 kicks. All the old ladies and cousin sister watching me with awe. They instead of questioning my driving skills, scolded the bike ;) and offered me to take the car keys.

Sounded good, but na... a car wont give the same thrill and fun that a bike will.

Finally managed to get the bike started using choke, with sister apprehending about the time we gonna take ~ the unknown curvy roads that we gonna traverse through ~ with not much time in hand.

Steep turns weren't far away from the house; in next 3 kms. until i reached the gas station, i met with no less than a dozen of big 4-6 wheelers passing by with at least twice my bike's speed. I on the other hand, was handicapped, no battery ~ no horns.

A couple of times i heard my sister shouting, bhaiyya, let's go back. We will take a bus, we cant move further without horns. We will sit much comfortably in a bus. But, whose gonna listen to her; the day - the ride was what, i was awaiting for. More fun, thrill, excitement, danger, unexpectedness was awaiting us, apart from goddesses at the two temples :P

It wasn't a straight road ~ a typical hilly road, narrow, pot-holed, curvy & sloppy to say the least. It took more than 40 mins to drive down the 10 km. hill ;)

And, if you think i was driving too slow, you should be there to listen to the shouting & beating of my sister. For me reaching the destination, alone is not important, but also to enjoy the beauty of the drive - the local huts, the difference in shops over there, flora and mother nature, particularly on that stretch of the road.

We instead of driving fast, stopped at dozen of places, took snaps with so ease as if we had no plans to return back the same night. But, we were right to ourself, we wont be coming to such places time and again, we cant & shudn't miss taking snaps at the gorges, the dams, the beautiful valleys, the tunnel, etc.

By 4:50 we were at our first destination ~ Jwalaji Temple. The temple is dedicated to Goddess Jwalamukhi ~ flaming mouth. Being a weekday we got over with the darshan in an hour, it is by this time at 5:50 p.m. i told my sister my plans to visit another place ~ Chintpurni Temple, goddess here is believed to remove the worries. By this time the sister knew, there's no point arguing with me, with little hesitation she agreed to divert 52 kms. away from our initial route :)

Ah, slowly the winds are showing their true colors, till then i hadn't realized their might; speedy cold winds ~ they will shake you up. You want to stop driving for a while. Riding without gloves in that chilling wind on a hill, and holding on to the accelerator wasn't an easy job. At times, i asked myself, why i am doing this, should i still drive further or take the return route. With sister sitting quietly at the back, i rejected all the notions running in my mind - of not going further.

Thanks to the earphones, she was now enjoying music and not quarreling with me. Another reason being, i earlier had put this thought in her mind that we should not crib/fight/argue, particularly when we are about to visit some shrine. Maybe later being the more valid reason she dint spoke anything during the ride. Sat idly, a good pillion, i must say. Atop the hill, the continuous, steep, 360degree curves became the norm. Vehicles turned up with strong dipper lights to leave me devoid of my eyesight for a while ~ much enough to derail the bike.

So after 2 such turns, i was insisted to wait off-track, for the another vehicle to pass by. Sometimes you must listen to the pillion too, particularly when she is your sister, because at the end of day, she is gonna describe each and every thing (part of the journey) in the most negative manner to the parents and relatives, about the insane drive.

The headlights switch of the motorcycle was damaged earlier in an accident and could not be easily operated to switch on, after a short try i gave up thinking the headlights too are not working. It wasn't too difficult to drive, until 7 p.m. when we reached Chintpurni. But, we both knew, it would not be possible for us to go back 88 kms. back at 7:30 p.m. without headlights, particularly through the hilly, steep, curvy roads.

So, we bought a torch. Hardly i had crossed 500 mtrs. when i realized, sister was not comfortable holding the torch on my shoulders through those bumpy roads anymore. So, it was time for me to take over the charge. Got the hold of torch on one hand & accelerator on the other. I would not give way for the vehicles coming from back side to the extent possible, so that, i could drive faster using their headlights.... insaneness.

For a while we even waited for a bus or truck, so that, we can follow it. It was already an hour since we had started driving and the milestone ticked just 22 kms. Regardless to mention that the old bike was working without speedometer and odometer. At 8:30p.m. it was way too late to drive the vehicle and reach my cousin's houseon time for dinner; which was still some 60 kms. So, we called up the cousin sister, informed of our extended journey, current location, time we would be needing more to come back & condition of bike.

Knowing, that we were traversing without headlights, just the help of torch, uncle pulled out his car to reach us, particularly considering that i was traversing through the inhabited hilly area with a girl. Yes, they probably would not have come if it were me alone driving the bike ;) This was the least i would have expected; to disturb them to pick sister and accompany us. Meanwhile, we crossed another leg of 30 Kms. before he could reach us.

Delicious non-veg food was awaiting us when we reached home by 10:30 p.m. But, oops my hands were still too frozen to pick up the food and chew it. The ride, definitely stands to be counted as one of my best, unforgettable, insane rides.