LORD VENKATESHWARA BAAHUBALI

                             Srivari brahmotsavam

          The biggest festival of Lord tirupati falls in the months September and October. It last for 9 days. It is said that in this period Lord comes out the abode and meet the people. Tirupati temple situated on the hill station Tirumala witnesses around 60,000 devotees every day. This number increases to over 1 lakh in this Brahmotsavam period. I with my family witnessed this glorious festival this year. Don’t know whether we were blessed or we were cursed that we were there during this festival epoch.

          There are two ways to reach Tirumala from tirupati, one by road transport and one by walking to Tirumala. After much of confusion we picked the first one. Thank god we opted for this. We dint know what was coming to us that time.   

From tirupati we reached Tirumala in the morning. The first thing anyone can witness was huddles of people. And one more peculiar thing was most of them were bald. People believe that offering hair to Lord is pious and reduces ‘Ahankar’. We shifted our luggage in our lodging room and decided that we would shop before the Darshan and enter the queue in the evening. As planned we had heavy lunch (on banana leaf adding the taste to the food) and had a small nap. Then by 4-4.30 we started getting ready for the darshan with full enthusiasm. Women in family wore new brand sarees. I wore white lungi for the first time in full exuberance. Needless to say we clicked pictures.  Left our mobile phones in our room and by jeep we reached the ‘Sarva Darshan ‘queue As the brahmotsavam was celebrated no special darshans were offered to the devotees only the free sarva darshan was available. Around 6.30pm we joined the queue with great devotion and excitement.

We have made our mind that we will be sitting in queue complex (the waiting area) for around 3-4 hours and 2-3 hours in the queue which makes 7-8 hours maximum for darshan. As we moved ahead with time all our assumptions started looking blurred. We were in queue for almost 4 hours and still we dint reach the Q complex. Around 100ms from us we saw the gates for Q complex were closed. It was 11pm dark night. Fog and rain outside. Though we were in shade the cold sprinkles were making us shiver. By 12.15am I lost the patience and moved out of the line to find out the truth that when the doors will reopen.

There we got every possible answer. Some people said 4.am and darshan will start by 10am. Some news were there from so called reliable people that everything is shut down and the line will come alive by 10am in the morning . That means we will be standing or sitting in that chaotic place for next 10hours.  I lost my patience and asked my family to come out of the queue but no one was ready. I realized one thing that time. I was the only one who got panicked. I think I was because I found some may be facts about the future. Everyone else in the mammoth queue was so much ready to face any challenges. So many people with infants, senior citizens were fine with the situation. All were just motivated only to take one glimpse of the Lord Venkateshwara. None but me cared about what will happen tomorrow which disturbed me a bit. Me with my wife stayed in a small shelter which can accommodate 6-7 people but there around 15 people saved themselves from rain and cold. At around 3.30am a huge voice banged my ears. The voice was of an old man from the queue saying “GOOOVINDAAAAAA”. I don’t how but he knew that something is going to happen and that happened. The door got reopened.

We heaved a sigh of relief and entered the flowing line with utmost struggle. In half an hour we reached the Q complex. Q complex has around 30-35 compartments. Devotees are filled in them. Our compartment number was 26. The compartment was like a big room with steps. It was 4.15 in the morning and people were sleeping in whichever manner one can on the floors. We somehow managed to find place for ourselves. With many small naps we managed to pass some 4-5 hours after that we had tea, breakfast all for free. Now we were waiting for our compartment’s turn for the darshan. All lower to middle class telgu/tamil people all around made us much uncomfortable and felt that we were so much secluded from the crowd. There was on one to speak. There was a TV which showed Ramayana that to in telgu. Again different rumors were erupting that Gate will open in 10mins to 2 hours. It was really a test of patience. At 10.15am the gates opened. It was very much a refreshing moment. People huddled to the gate. By 11.30 we had the darshan. I experience something outside the world after darshan. We were in rough state for around 17 big hours. But as soon as the Lord Venkasheshwara appeared I felt so much mental peace and electrifying calmness. Legs were paining like hell but mind was fresh. All those efforts were felt very much a worth. Somewhere I got the feeling that there is obvious energy in the temple. There must be some magic by the creator of this cosmos. The magic which is beyond our understanding but we can feel it. Without this people won’t have so much faith in Him and come to get His 1 millisecond appearance.