Tirupati travelogue 9-Feb-08 to 10-Feb-08: Part 1

After much deliberation, I have finally decided to publish my Tirupati travelogue. And even though I have already drafted a few parts, I will be posting only one per day, in the hope that it will kindle your curiosity. So here goes....


Since it has become my habit to write about all the trips I make, I am left with no choice but to jot down last week's trip as well. As briefly mentioned earlier, it was an eye-opening trip, but this travelogue will not get into the specifics when it gets to individuals.

Our Travel Department in the office was giving us a lot of trouble with the ticket booking and so we just had them book the onward journey by bus. We managed to get tickets with the APSRTC and we booked their Luxury bus at the whopping cost of Rs.86 per ticket.

When all of us gathered by the appointed hour at the Koyambedu bus stand, we were informed that the bus had developed a technical snag and so we were directed to their regular bus - they called it a Deluxe - where we got the preferred seating based on the tickets issued.

While there was adequate leg room, the seats were not really that comfy. Once the bus started, we realized that this was one service which was designated to stop at many places. So much so, that when people walking on the road, stopped in the path to cross the road and looked at the road before crossing (some people still do it), the driver assumed that they wanted to board the bus and used to pull over near them. Only when they moved out of the way, did the driver get the message.

And the speed at which he was driving....My goodness. It was scary. Before you misinterpret it, the scare was because he was driving at such slow speeds, that I thought we would travel back in time! We had to go through a level crossing near Puttur and I was really afraid if this guy would be able to get me through to my immediate destination of Tirupati or would he take me to my final destination of heaven or hell as evaluated by Chitragupta.

Thankfully, the service was without a halt - only stopping for people to board or alight from the bus. We didn’t even stop for breakfast and we finally reached Tirupati by 11AM.

We noticed that the hotel we had booked was quite close to the bus stand (as mentioned in their website). However, it was not really a distance that can be legged with older people around and we decided to get autos. The folks wanted 20 bucks and while it was on the higher side, it was the standard rate asked by all guys in the stand.

With a lot of reluctance from some of my fellow passengers, we went ahead with the auto and reached the hotel in 5 minutes. The booking that I had done was thankfully acknowledged and we went ahead with the check-in.

[To be continued in Part 2]

Last Friday night was my first time

Last Friday night, was the first time that I booked train tickets over the Internet.

That evening, an aunt of mine (my mother's manni) passed away in Trichy and so my folks had to go there. Since we got the news only after 9 PM, we couldnt go right away. And considering my parents' age, it was not possible to send them by bus either.

So I logged on to the net and tried my hand at booking tickets over the net. After much help from Raghu (which by the way was a help that was timely as usual and has increased my debt to him manifold), we were finally able to reserve two tickets for my parents' onward journey to Trichy.

Unfortunately, the server was too darn slow and the whole process took nearly an hour. Then, for the return journey, we were unable to make a reservation. Since it was quite late in the night by then (almost 11.30), it was finally decided that I would go to Rajaji Bhavan the next morning and book tickets.

Saturday morning started with Mr.Aditya reporting for duty on time. I too woke up, had my shower and was at Rajaji Bhavan at 8.30AM, assuming that the booking counter opened only then. But, there seemed to be more experienced people and I actually had to stand in line for quite some time.

I finally reached the counter - nearly an hour or so after waiting. This period incidentally witnessed me and everyone else in the queues, having to park ourselves in a seat, for say 3-4 minutes and then having to move two seats ahead.

There I encountered one of the rudest and probably the quintessential Government employee. I had chosen the credit card counter ok. So, when I presented the reservation form, she asked me if I wanted to pay by cash or card. I answered that plastic was my choice and she pushed the form back to me. And said, "You have to write your card number, expiry date, bank name and cardholder name on the form. Its there on the board sir, didn't you read? Fill it up and come back. Next.".

I was flummoxed. This bloody bleep was asking to me leave the counter just so that I could fill in a few alphanumeric characters on the form and that too when the form didn't even have any explicit provision for the same. I just had to write it in the white space available.

I even searched for the board which, she said carried these instructions. After much scanning I realised that the dark, dirty and piece of cardboard which I had mistaken for a shoddy patchwork of the counter, was actually a notice board. On closer inspection, I was able to unscramble the symbols - a la Robert Langdon - and told myself that the bleeping lady was indeed right.

But what really irked me was the fact that she asked me to return to the front of the row to fill up this data. I mean, couldn't that bleep have at least started scanning for availability of tickets? She could have had me fill it out before issuing me the ticket. But no. That bleeping bleep had to demonstrate her bleeping superiority over me.

Finally, after more irritating comments from that female, I finally got the tickets I wanted for my parents' return journey.

But the experience was an eye-opener for me. I have made a solemn promise to myself that I shall henceforth not set foot into that bleeping office. I will endure countless timeout messages and connectivity issues with Railways' online server, but I will buy my tickets only through the Internet.

I simply don't want to interact with any of these relatives of Satan and Lalu.