While leaving the hotel, we had no option but to take the auto to the bus stand. There was a futile bargain attempt to get the auto drivers to drop us off for 15 bucks and we settled for the standard 20.
Once we reached the bus stand, which I must mention is one big cesspool, we went hunting for a bus that would take us to Tirumala. We got one that was going to leave in a few minutes and parked ourselves comfortably in the available seats. Having been influenced to austerity measures in the past few hours, I noticed a board that said that the onward journey up the hill cost 24 bucks and if you buy the return ticket, it was only 45 in toto. I spread the word to the gleeful ears of the listeners around me, but unfortunately, the conductor put a spanner in the works and told use that he would issue only unidirectional tickets.
After a very eventless trip, we reached up the hills and got down near a petrol bunk, as instructed by our contact person. This person works for the IOC and the whole special darshan was being arranged through him (the wife of one person in the group works for IOC and hence the contact).
At the bunk, we were informed that the issue of tickets had been suspended temporarily due to the heavy rush at the temple. Though we couldn’t associate any special value for that day/date, just the fact that it was a Saturday evening could have very well been the reason for the crowd. After waiting for nearly an hour there, we were finally escorted to the temple. We went through a maze of doors meant for the special tickets and joined a line that had quite a few people already waiting.
While we were all eagerly expecting a royal romp right into the main area near the sanctum sanctorum, the big rush that day ensured that we didn’t get to enjoy that privilege. As we were saying to each other, whatever be our plans, Lord Balaji has other ideas.
After being jostled around in the queue for more than an hour, we were finally near the main “praharam” of the temple. Our guide hoarded us near a door, away from the crowd. It was only from now that we realized the power of the special entry. One of the temple authorities came by and opened the rather big lock on the door and when we went inside, we found ourselves very near the ramp that everyone comes by for darshan.
The guide showed us a couple of carvings on the pillars and we found that one of them was of Kubera, the lord of wealth. While the crowd was moving along the ramp, our group was waiting on the sides. We were then taken one after the other closer to the edge of the ramp and allowed to stand in front of Perumaall for almost half-a-minute. It sure felt like much longer, but if I really think back after a week, I think it would have only been 30 seconds. And all things considered, the darshan was really fantastic.
[To be continued in Part 4]
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