That was more than three decades ago. I got down from a bus to Tirupati from Chennai and took a shuttle service to Tirumala. As I got down, I now realise that I ought to have looked gullible and naive as well as new to the place as many vendors surrounded me to sell Temple related miniatures. One man walked to me with a display of silver looking parts of human body and asked me whether my parents were alive. I nodded, confused as to the purpose of the question . He replied that in order to give my parents longevity, I need to buy a pair of those human body and drop them in the hundi inside the temple. Flustered by the onslaught , I bought them. And chose the free darshan route. I must have walked for about five minutes on a non existent queue and there all of a sudden, I was standing before the majestic Avatar Lord Venkateswara. Spent couple of minutes and even made a sashtanga namaskaram to the Lord. Later, I realised that I had reached there on the eve of Diwali and hence the poor crowd that led to the instant darshan.
Since then maiden darshan, I have been blessed with darshan of Lord Venkateswara aka Balaji n number of times in my life. Some with family, some with friends. Have stood in queues for free darshan as well as had free VIP darshan. But, our recent trip for a paid darshan exposed how badly the temple has fallen today. Didn’t many hail the leadership of a Chief Minister as a CEO in governing United Andhra state..time for CM Naidu to wake up.
Let’s begin where it all begun. #Preliminary Security Checkup On reaching Alipur, at Vehicle security check up point, saw huge pile of cars ahead of us. After fifteen mins, not a car had moved an inch in our car queue. It was all for manual frisking of cars and scanning of luggage sand bags. Then you buy a ticket. It was a slow, tiring process. Sheer waste of forty five minutes. And not a fool proof checking of cars either. Didn’t see a portable metal detector nor were the underbody of vehicles checked. For such inefficient, namesake check up,precious time was wasted. Caution: if you had purchased tickets for darshan, please allot an hour to whisk through th security at Alipur, the base camp of Tirumala temple. Or you may miss darshan.
There may appear many sign boards throughout Tirumala. But everyone finds to reach appropriate points or lodging or parking areas because there was casualness in governing the Devasthanom Board. Found a gas station but there wasn’t a sign boardcto it. If you decide to ask for guidance, none appears to have a clue. Found some with TTD badges for Seva volunteers and asked them to guide me to Museum Car Park. Believe me, none could help. They didn’t know. The volunteers of TTD need to be oriented and trained to serve devotees. They are ill equipped to serve in a temple. Such a casual approach for serving devotees is deplorable and appears cosmetic.
We had a ticket for darshan between five and six pm, booked online three months ago. The communication asked us to reach the place of entry at four pm and so we arrived there at four pm. The gate which opened at four forty five and again, we waited for checking of our identity cards in the open till five thirty. Then the main gate was thrown open. It led to a huge hall. But 90% of the hall was blocked with ropes and the crowd was jostling each other in a narrow lane leading to counters. Idea seemed stupid as they can have many single column queues which will be easy on devotees. TTD appeared hell bent on giving hell to devotees. Through the narrow lane, you run to the counters for checking of identity cards. Then you move in.
You have a security point here. Checkpoint #1. I held a walking stick due to a recent accident but when I offered the stick for scanning, my offer was refused. Maybe the security were not aware that guns could be placed within walking sticks or plastic bombs could be tucked inside the stick for terrorist attack. Inadequate training cannot replace expensive machines.
After this point, you walk some distance and are seated in one of the thirty odd compartments spread on two floors. There were boards that was supposed to indicate exact time of darshan but have been left I filled and blank. Some live dance program was on TTD channel. We waited. We can’t exit the compartment as doors were closed. It was seven pm.
Then the gate of the compartment was open. We were led to a queue that moved slowly. Suddenly the side doors of another compartment opened up and the mad crowd from abother compartment jumped queue pushing the elderly and children. I saw there were many cameras around but not a single staff came to the rescue. I had to hold on to the stick so I don’t fall and my left knee was bleeding. Babies were screaming too. It was not a mela but a melee. We were left to the mercy of crowds.
Security point #2. Another namesake scanning and frisking. Water bottles were confiscated. Yet I saw many women with bottles after this point. Another long wait. Adter this point, those waiting for free darshan were merged with the paid devotees. The tough jumped queues. While the meek gave way to them. It began raining then and water splashed off the nearby roof. As you take the queue close to the walls of the temple, you can find stone inscriptions on the walls. Mostly in Tamil. As vote bank politics and linguistic chauvinism matters, government has left the inscriptions fade away. Elsewhere on the planet, these inscriptions would be considered heritage and efforts taken to preserve, read, documentise and conserve the stone writings which are our history too. In India, secular govts focus on using the revenues of temples for purposes other than religious.
Around eight thirty we neared the main entrance to the temple. As it had rained, the whole place was slippery and the coir carpets were soggy. We moved in slowly and we realised that close darshan of Lord Venkateshwara has been done away and it was to be just a long distance darshan. From fifty feet. TTD has successfully distanced devotees from their legitimate darshan on pretentious of Queue management, security reasons, etc.
During darshan, it’s a habit of so called Seva Volunteers to push away people. They pushed me too and I had to shout back at them. TTD can consider conveyor belts for moving devotees so none can have a darshan of more than a second. Because they could increase their revenues. Money alone matters.
After darshan we found the whole area with pods of water. TTD could have purchased machines in BCCI style to remove water within the temple. After the darshan, there was no pushing by volunteers and in their absence, the exit was smooth. Before exiting, we are given some free prasad usually a small laddu. Saw a devotee thrust a hundred rupee note on the guy dispensing Prasad and instantly the devotees hand was thrust with tens of extra laddoos. Money delivers. When we came out of temple it was 9.25 pm. More than five hours for a paid darshan.
Another surprise was the laddoos. Some didn’t have a single piece of cashew nut or any nuts. But the flavour that struck the nostrils was refreshing truly.
As per our dharmic traditions, Paid darshan needs to be done away with and treatment of all devotees on par is a must. I believe that in the name of facilitation, the administration is pulling wool over our eyes. Single queuing at three levels as was done at Sabarimala may help in better management. A study is required on this. It will get tougher for darshan in the years to come at Tirumala.
In the name of administration and governance, the TTD board has sadly distanced devotees from the Lord. I don’t know whether agamas permit this. Senior citizen for TTD means 65+. Commercialisation of temples will bring curse as it is not dharmic. Board members are appointed on recommendations. Anyone who criticises or exposes TTD is treated an enemy. Lodging facilities are poorly maintained except the premier ones. The creaking transport connecting temple from Tirupati is in bad shape and uncomfortable. Transport is an eye sore. Yet by pleasing the powerful, the popular and unpopular, the TTD sustains itself without accountability.
What marks the difference between my first trip to Tirumala and my recent one? I fell victim to some cheating vendors earlier but TTD taken up wholesome deceit of devotees as a system. Atleast, it was an easy soul filling darshan earlier. Now it was just a fleeting opaque darshan. TTD is guilty of mismanagement.
May Lord Venkateshwara save Tirupati Tirumala Temples!
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