Tirupati Trip from Bengaluru after Covid-19 Wave 2

 

In the last week of August 2021, on a lazy weekend, Bhavia and I were looking at the calendar with long weekends for this year. It is one of our favorite pass times. We realized the immediate one was just around the corner in the second week of September.

 

With Covid still in the air, we had to be careful about the place we chose. While each of us is fully vaccinated now, Nirvaan is still the odd boy out. We asked my cousin's family if they would be interested in travelling. Out of the 7 people in their house, 3 agreed. That meant we had 6 adults and Nirvaan travelling out.

 

We had been living in Bangalore for 4 years now and Tirupati was always on our list. While most people drive up, with Bhavia being the only person in the group with the skillsets of a driver, it was certainly not an option on hands.

 

Next up, was the option of trains from Bangalore, many going to Renigunta and some straight to Tirupati. While seats were available, timings didn’t look great and more importantly we had heard about number of devotees being allowed to enter per day being truncated due to Covid. Last thing we wanted to do was to reach Tirupati and run around trying to organize everything.

 

I suggested that we should look for Bus Tour Packages which handles all the logistics while you enjoy the sojourn. While Bhavia had travelled on an AC Sleeper with me long ago to Mahabaleshwar and once in a poorly designed AC seater from Goa to Mumbai, all her experiences of bus journeys have been disasters. After shifting to Bangalore, I had done 2 AC Sleeper bus journeys to Mumbai on the Platinum Class of Orange Tours and Travels and had come off mightily impressed.

Nirvaan, a son of Railfan but a hard-core Bus fan was itching to take his maiden AC Sleeper bus journey. We googled through a few travel websites and finally locked onto Vibhav Holidays' Tirupati Tour Package.

 

Package cost was Rs 2750 per person and included Pickup and Drop at Tin Factory Bus Stop ( around 3-4 kms from our house), hotel to freshen up, breakfast, transfer to APSRTC Bus which will take us up the Saptagiri hills to Tirumala, Sheegra Darshan Ticket, One Ladoo, Lunch and Padmavati Temple visit. It had everything we were looking for to circumvent our logistic challenges.

 

 We immediately booked for Thursday night pickup and drop on Friday night with Friday being Ganesh Chaturthi and optional holiday, it couldn’t get better than that. I would like to point out that while there are innumerable package tours to Tirupati from Bangalore, almost all of them offered Semi Sleeper buses which we were not interested in. Vibhav Holidays had this AC Sleeper option which made us select that as well. On Wednesday night, we packed our small suitcase and a backpack with the essentials. Kurta and Pyjamas for Nirvaan and yours truly. Mom and Bhavia chose Churidhar over saree. I went to work on Thursday to reach home by 5 pm while Bhavia completed her quota of work from home. We had pre-booked 2 Ola cabs, one for my family and one for my Cousin's family at 22.15hrs.

 

The bus starts from Anand Rao Circle near Majestic around 22.00hrs. We received the bus details and the driver information via SMS. At 22.05, we got a call saying the bus is running ahead of schedule and would reach Tin Factory Bus Stop by 22.45

 

My cousin got her cab at 22.00 and left ahead. Our cab was still 16 min away and when the Ola cab driver called us (which they normally do to understand the destination and cancel the booking as it was a short distance trip), I tried a trick which I most often try for short distance Ola Bookings.

 

As soon as the cab driver calls, I hand it over to my spouse to answer. She does her best to convince the driver by saying, you are the only savior we have and our bus to Tirupati is expected soon. The cab drivers are human too and mostly don’t cancel such distressed calls. It worked again and the poor soul did come to pick us up from around 2 km away. We got in and reached our destination within 15 min by 22.30hrs. I did tip him at the end for ensuring our trip does start on time and on a good note.

 

Anybody who has seen or heard about Tin Factory Bus stop in Bangalore would understand the issues with the place. It’s the gateway to Whitefield, ITPL, Hoskote with Outer Ring Road and Old Madras Road converging near the famous Cable stayed bridge over the Krishnarajapuram Railway Station. To make matters worse, the BMRCL has also started civil work for the Jyotipuram station (Tin Factory Metro Station)

 

BMTC, KSTDC, APSTRC, innumerable private buses, tempos, trucks, trailers, autos and cabs halt at this bus stop to add to the chaos. We decided to stand near a non-existent footpath till our bus actually arrives. We knew, we will have to dodge the traffic towards Whitefield and rush towards the ramp of the Cable stayed bridge as soon as our bus is visible. But, that was better than standing in the middle of the road with Nirvaan. Within the next 10 minutes, we spotted the bus which was christened as “Balaji”. We quickly made the typical Indian sign of raising your hand to the incoming traffic to slow down as we scampered towards the ramp and boarded quickly after the Bus representative checked on our seat numbers.

 

 We had booked all lower berths 5,6,7,8,9,11 and 12 of which only 7 was a single lower berth and the rest were double lower berths. Each berth had a small incline on one side which acted as pillow and small luggage rack to place our small suitcase. The maiden AC sleeper bus journey for Nirvaan had begun. With everyone settled in their berths, the first impressions from my family members was that they didn’t expect it to be so spacious. I was relieved. All my future bus journeys with my spouse was going to be depend on this feedback. Nirvaan was on cloud nine and was enjoying every bit of the ride. I settled in the side lower berth. We halted at the other side of the cable stayed bridge at Hosakote (the place, Bangaloreans head to, for local biryani). With a butter like acceleration and smooth roads, I don’t exactly remember when I fell asleep.

 

At 3:10 am, I heard a man shouting to wake everyone up. This middle aged man wasn’t on board when we left Bangalore. We realized that he was going to be our guide for the day and we had already reached Tirupati. He was clear in his instructions.

 

We were heading to a hotel (Seven Hills Hotel) room. The instructions were to freshen up and wear traditional clothes. We had to report to the lobby level of the hotel at 4 am as breakfast was going to be served there. We were given 3 rooms for 7 tickets, all on the 2nd floor. The rooms were basic in nature with one bed, clean bathroom and fan. After finishing our morning chores, we headed for the breakfast downstairs which included, tea, idlis, vadas and upma with chutney and sambar. It was filling for a 4 am breakfast for sure.

 

After getting back on the bus, our tour guide again instructed us that we would now be entering Tirupati City and will have to wait for an APSRTC Bus. To go uphill, everyone has to changeover from Balaji bus to Saptagiri Express (APSRTC non ac bus). This is mandatory as other tour buses aren’t allowed to go up the hill to Tirumala. After taking a left turn from the highway, we could see a chain of ramps and flyovers populating the City Centre. The work was in progress and we went over a railway over bridge and caught a fleeting glimpse of some express entering Tirupati as well. Our Balaji Bus was soon parked behind an APSRTC bus and as instructed earlier we shifted to the Saptagiri Express. We were also told to leave our suitcases in the Balaji bus and carry only essentials to the new bus.

 

After boarding the Saptagiri bus (this was exclusively booked for passengers of Balaji bus), our guide went out and came back with the driver and tickets for Sheegra Darshan. After taking a head count, we left Tirupati city for the uphill climb to Tirumala. We reached the Entry gates to Tirumala which is at the base of the hill. We were all asked to get off the bus and walk a few metres ahead while the bus was being sanitized and cleared by the security personnel. Within a few seconds we were all back on board and the climb started at around 5 am.

 

Road was one way from here and had 2 lanes. It was extremely smooth and without a single pothole. The climb was more subtle than the return journey (more on that later) and as the sun was rising, we were beginning to realize that we had been gaining quite a lot of altitude. At many vantage points over the entire mountain range, we could see the valley below and the  Tirupati City spreading into  outskirts. It was a breath-taking ride and at one point, the guide advised the co-passengers who had planned a tonsure to get off while we were headed to Ram Bagicha bus stop. As we alighted there, we were guided to one of the many shops in the Hanuman market. We could keep our phones and other electronic gadgets and shoes in that shop with a token. We had to wait for around 20-30 minutes at the Ram Bagicha bus stop till the co-passengers returned.

 

Our guide handed over the Sheegra Darshan tickets, which were issued in our names. Nirvaan didn’t need one. We were already asked to carry the Photo ID cards which we had used to register online while booking for Vibhav tours as that was mentioned in our Sheegra Darshan Tickets for cross-verification by the temple authorities. We were carrying Aadhar Cards with us. We entered through gate EL6 and were asked to return to Ram Bagicha Bus stop after our darshan. Guide was still accompanying us while he showed us around the route to take, collect Prasad ladoo etc.

 

After walking for some distance we could catch our first glimpse of the Gold Plated temple structure. We came down the steps and there was no dearth of space to walk around in the open space. I can only imagine how crowded it could get had it not been for the Covid induced reduction in devotee entries. There was ample space to maintain social distance and even run around for Nirvaan on that ground.

 

We were led into the first of the series of blocks which had seating arrangements to hold around 50-60 devotees at one go. After sitting there for more than 30 minutes, we were taken in smaller batches into a hall which was the place where our Tickets and Photo-IDs were checked. While we had fed Aadhar Card details for everyone in our group, Bhavia and I had our PAN numbers fed during booking. I was carrying both the IDs and it wasn’t going to be an issue for me, but Bhavia was only carrying her Aadhar Card and it did lead us into some tense moments as we approached the immigration styled blocks for checks. 

 

We devised a plan to walk together to the block and show my ID and ticket which also had Bhavia’s ticket below mine. I would hold her Aadhar as well to indicate that she was my companion. The personnel checked my details and then looked at her ticket and didn’t mind looking at great details into her Aadhar card as I continued to indicate that she was with me. So even though the Photo-ID details on Ticket didn’t match, we were let in. It was a great sigh of relief as the instructions leading to these blocks indicated that the Photo-ID and Ticket Reference details have to match for a successful pass through.

 

We then went through a series of long walkways which were very clean and controlled at ensure crowding never happened. There were Washrooms at every few metres and finally after 20-30 min we entered the main temple and had a very good darshan without any commotion. We took our own sweet time in walking within the inner sanctum. We came out and while the rest of my family rested alongside the temple perimeter walls, I went to collect the Prasad ladoo which was included in our Sheegra Darshan Ticket. I also paid Rs 50 per ladoo to buy more ladoos for office and other family members who couldn’t accompany us. There were around 60 queues and getting ladoos didn’t take too much time.

 

We started our walk back to Ram Bagicha bus stop and sun had heated up the asphalt roads. Thankfully  one strip on the road was painted in white and science of reflection and less absorption kicked in. We could clearly notice the difference in temperature on our feet while walking on the white strip.

 

We bought few bottles of water and quenched our thirst. We decided against eating anything as the next part of the trip involved a bus ride downhill. After waiting for almost an hour for everyone in our group to return to the same spot our tour guide organised an APSRTC bus for us again.

 

The route downhill was different from the one we used to come up. While it was smooth the issue was it involved steeper slopes and many hair pin bends in zig zag fashion. It could easily induce motion sickness and our plan of not eating anything definitely worked. Nirvaan having woken up early slept all the way downhill making it difficult to holding him in place in a sitting bus.

 

After coming downhill, we were halted at a sidewalk where our Balaji bus was parked to pick us up. We did the transit and within 15 minutes reached the Seven Hills Hotel on the National Highway for lunch by noon.

 

We asked our tour guide an access to a room to freshen up. Looking at Nirvaan, he offered the room without any charges as this wasn’t part of the package. While others in our troop started lunch, we went up the room, freshened and then came back to the ground floor to eat.

 

Lunch was a simplistic buffet of Rice, Sambar, Rasam, some Alu bhaji curd and pickle. I just ate rice and rasam which was very tasty. We hopped onto the bus again for a short 15 min ride to Padmavati Temple. The guide told us that we should keep all our belongings and shoes in the bus and just go to the temple, take darshan and return back within 30 min. Idea was good to avoid wastage of time at temple counter but we realised that it wasn’t a good idea to leave our shoes back in the bus. We were dropped at the entrance of the Padmavati temple so our feet were almost burning out. After entering the temple it was okay as there was enough shade inside but as soon as we came out of the temple premises we realized that bus was no more standing at the entrance and it had moved away into a parking location at least 500 metres away.

 

I walked out with Nirvaan in my arms and the scorching heat was literally burning my feet. Following me were the rest of my family members who were equally agonized with the problem at hand (rather feet). We could hardly sprint for 5-6 steps before jumping into the shade from the roadside shops. But the crowd was so much that there weren’t many places where we could hop into. With Nirvaan in my arms, the additional weight made it even more difficult to walk. Finally, I decided to stay put under a shade till everyone in my family got onto the bus, which we could spot from where we were standing. It was a very painful experience.

 

It must thank Bhavia here as she was smart enough to reach the bus and literally get walked back with my chappals in her hand after she wore her shoes. It was so much of a relief to wear my chappals back and return to the bus. Everyone who had returned to the bus barefoot was complaining. The guide did sheepishly apologise to the city dwellers in us who could barely withstand this heat for 500 metres. We can imagine how countless poor fellow Indians still walk barefoot in our countryside.

 

Our Guide after counting down the people on-board bid good bye to us. I did tip him for giving us the room at the hotel before lunch to freshen up. It was around 2:30 pm by now and return journey was uneventful. We all slept like there was no tomorrow. Our first halt was round 5 pm where I got off and brought in some snacks to munch on till we reach our destination. We reached Tin factory stop by around 7:20 pm and after bargaining with 2 auto drivers we reached home by 7:40 pm.

We all soaked in hot bath and ordered food online for a light dinner before hitting the sack for the night. It was a wonderful trip with no stress at all. It ticked all the boxes in our checklist especially with Covid-19 still in the air. I would highly recommend devotees who are interested in going to Tirupati to take this route. Next morning, Nirvaan was still re-living the bus ride and Bhavia has finally agreed to do more AC Sleeper Bus trips with me after the the Tirupati Bus ride.