Govinda Govinda

Tirupathi is a special place that every Hindu people want to go to at least once in a lifetime. We planned a trip to Tirupathi in January. Actually, we used to visit here for two years once. After covid, we visited here on February 8, 2023, and stayed there for three days and two nights. Special note: Book the 300 rupees ticket for the darshan and also book the room for accommodation prior through online on the Tirumala Tirupathi Devasthanam website. TTD will open the tickets for darshan and accommodation on particular dates so check the dates on booking the tickets or it will be so tough to see our Balaji. And also always plan to visit Tirupathi on working days except for Monday and Friday. Actually, we could not able to book the darshan and accommodation tickets prior due to server problems. We were disappointed but we decided to visit Tirupathi for sure whatever happens.

Day 1: February 8, 2023

       Already we booked the Tirupathi express train from Chennai Central (boarding time: 4.35 pm ). Appa, amma started from home by 7.30 am. Then they boarded the Chennai bus. After reaching Chennai they went to pick up my sister from college since her college needs her parents' permission to go out of the college during weekdays. I went to the office for half a day and then started from the office by 2 pm. I came to Thiruvanmiyur station by auto from the office. Then I boarded the local train and got down to the park station. Then reached the central station by crossing the road by subway.

I waited there in the station since the platform number for our train was not announced.

After the announcement of the platform number, I reached the 7th platform and waited for my sister and parents. They arrived by 4pm then the train started by 4.35 pm. We ate lunch on the train itself. Then we ate snacks and enjoyed the journey to Tirupathi. My sister and parents enjoyed playing with a child in our compartment. We reached Tirupathi by 8 pm.

 Then we went to Vishnu nivasam hotel for accommodation. We waited for 2 hours to book the room. We got our room and got settled in that room by 10 pm. Unfortunately, I didn't get the sleep that night. Anyway, the first day was successfully completed with the blessings of our tirupathi venki.

Day 2: February 9, 2023

        We woke up at 4 am and dressed up well. Then we checked out of the hotel by 5.30 am. After that, we went to a restaurant and finished our breakfast. Usually, we go to Tirumala by walking (through steps ). We hired an auto to go to the Alipiri where the Tirupathi steps were starting.

First, we locked our bags with a lock and handed over the luggage to the set of TTD people who were responsible for bringing the luggage to Tirumala. Because it was so tough to carry the luggage while walking.

 Then we started to walk through the steps. We climbed up slowly through the steps. There we had places for taking rest. We could sit there for some time whenever we felt tired. 

Many small shops were there for drinking coffee, and tea and also for eating snacks.

We would reach the below place after covering 2000 steps. 

We could know the steps from the board mentioning the steps covered and steps to be covered.

On the way, we would be able to see one Anjeneyar statue.

After that we would be walking by the side of the road for some time, then we would again have steps. While walking through the road we would be able to see the view from a viewpoint. 

After this, we would reach the final set of steps which would be steeper than all of the steps. Finally, we finished the steps and reached Tirumala after 5 hours.

 After that, we went to take our luggage. Then we booked a room which was allocated only for those who came on a walk( Price: 100) Then we had our lunch. We tried for some other hotel rooms but we didn't get those hotel rooms. So we went to that hundred rupees room. Then we got ready to go to the temple. We went to the sarva darshan ( free ) which had a separate queue. By evening 6 they kept us in a separate room. We waited there for 6 hours. TTD provided us milk and dinner. They allowed us for the darshan by 11.30  and finally saw Tirupathi Venkatachalapathi by 1.00 midnight. After that, we went to the laddu counter and purchased laddus. We went to our room by 2.30 and had a good sleep.

Day 3: February 10, 2023

         We woke at 7 am. Then we got dressed and rented a car. We went to Alamelumangapuram from tirumala. It took one hour to reach down and we had our breakfast before entering Mangapuram temple. We locked our luggage in a cloakroom. Then we went to the temple and took special darshan tickets. The queue was very fast and we saw Padmavati ( God) within one hour. After that, we took our luggage from the cloakroom and reached the Tirupathi bus stand. We got into the Chennai bus as soon as we entered the bus stand. We had a good sleep on the bus until we reach Chennai. After reaching Chennai I came to my pg and my sister went to her college hostel and my parents went home from Chennai.

It was really a nice trip which had lots of sweet memories. ❤️

Miss you Tirupathi 🥺 and venkatachalapathi❤️

Three days fun days

My friends planned for a Kerala trip from August 13 to 15. But because of me, that trip was canceled. So my friends planned an alternative idea. They all came to Chennai and we enjoyed three days here.

Day 1: August 13, 2022

      

      On the first day, we went to our college, Anna university. There we went to our department to get our provisional certificate and semester mark sheets. After that we ordered lunch. All ordered nonveg items except me. We all had our lunch in the main gallery. After a long time, we had a good talk. Then we went to Viruman movie by 2.30 pm at Rohini theatre, koyembedu. We went to the movie together after 2 years so we enjoyed the movie by teasing the hero and heroine and also by discussing the scenes of the movie while watching it. After finishing the movie, we went to La Cabana hotel at Nungambakkam to have our dinner. Yes, it was expensive only but once in a lifetime we have to try new places. There we took a lot of photos together. But the food was served nearly after half an hour. They were taking a long time to prepare and serve the food. But the taste was really nice. Then we went to a small juice shop, we had juice and departed from Nungambakkam and reached the hostel by auto at 9 pm.

Day 2: August 14, 2022

        On the second day, we went to our friend's house. We decided to cook ourselves. So we bought all the necessary items through zepto. Then everyone separated the work and started working. Onions and tomatoes were chopped. Non-veg was cooked by two of my friends. Veg was cooked by me(Nothing big just rasam and potato) After finishing all sat together and had our lunch. It was really nice having lunch with friends. Then we started playing cards, UNO, and the Jenga game. After that, we started doing reels. We laughed a lot while doing that. By evening 6, we went to the shuttle court and played there for 2 hours. The second day came to end with these wonderful memories.

Day 3: August 15, 2022

       On the third day, we went to Go Extreme which was a games place. We played 5 games in total.

      1. Paintball: 

                  First, we played paintball. We split into two teams and changed our clothes. They gave black and red suits with helmets for our two teams. Then our game guide gave all of us our guns and trained us to use them properly. We went to the ground and stand in our suitable position. Each person had 14 paintball bullets. After that game started. We enjoyed it a lot but one of our friends got hurt because of the paintball hitting her hand forcefully. Note: Paintball bullets are very dangerous for our eyes. So we should be very careful.

  

      2. Human Foosball:

                 Second, we played foosball. It's like a regular foosball where humans replace the plastic players instead. The game aims to get the ball into your team's goal while holding onto the red rod.

      3. Body sorbing:

                     Third, we played body sorbing. Body Zorbing is a game in which participants encase themselves inside an inflatable zorb ball covering their entire upper body and leaving their legs free to run.

        4. Soap football :

                      Fourth we played soap football. Here also a normal football game but our football pitch would be soapy. Be careful while playing this game.

          5. Swimming :

                    Then we all went to the swimming pool and enjoyed ourselves there for some time.

Then we changed our dress took a group picture and departed from that place by 5 pm. Then we went to OMR food street. There we had our dinner then I reached the hostel by 9 pm. All of our friends went to their native places by boarding a train or bus that night.

Finally, it was a successful plan and we enjoyed ourselves a lot in that 3 days.