On 24th November 2004 my father gave my hand in marriage to Mr. Scribbler. It was a typical Maharashtrian wedding with all the rituals performed to the tee, which was held in Pune. Mr. Scribbler’s parents are staunch believers in God compared to my upbringing as almost an Atheist. The ceremony was followed by more Pujas at home, outside home and a short trip to the Tuljadevi Mandir which is situated somewhere outside Pune, it’s about 5 – 6 hours drive from Pune. We were to take a trip to Tirupathi as Balaji is the “Kuldevat” of his family. I wonder how they were associated with Balaji… maybe Mr. Scribblers forefathers belonged to the south or something.
Anyway, after all this was done, we got back to the daily grind of work and such. We couldn’t go to Tirupathi for almost about 2 ½ years, as it was bit difficult with our work schedule clashing with the trip to seek blessings of Lord Ventakeshwara.
Its was when we moved to Bangalore we planned a trip to Tirupathi as it was closer plus I had stopped working and Mr. Scribbler had quit his job to start on his own. His parents were to visit us and decided we all as a family will go to Balaji. We made our bookings in advance. All geared up, we went to the pick up point and as usual the bus was late by half hour. Once we climbed and all settled in our respective seats we experienced our first glimpse of a Telegu/Tamil/Kannada (can never really be sure!) “Masala movie”. Mother & son batting eyelashes at each other (in the movie; it was almost incestuous and uncomfortable to watch) followed by some usual song & dance, flashbacks, fight scenes and more eyelash batting. Sick. Luckily, the sidekick of the bus driver decided to turn off the movie and we could hear sighs of relief from most the passengers.
We reached Tirupathi around 2 am and were asked to descend to get our Darshan ‘tickets’ and submit some fingerprints and “Ladoo Prasad coupons”. Once we were out of the booking office we got back into the bus. It was another hour later that we discovered that the travel agent had forgotten to book the hotel as he kept us waiting for almost two hours in the bus. Three hours lost and just two more to go before we had to get into line at the Mandir to avoid the rush. They sorted it out anyways. Sort of… We were all taken to the rest house and were asked to be back once freshened up in 1 hours time. And so we did. They first took us to Padmavati Temple and later to Balaji Temple.
The bus ride up to the temple was breathtaking. The roads are in amazing condition and so are the flower beddings along the way, which are placed in the middle on the road dividers. We reached around 8.30 in the morning. It was my first time to Tirupathi. I had visions in my mind how and what the temple would be like and the long queue. My. Mother had once told me that they line you up in cage like passages and it can get little claustrophobic. But what the heck I was here and I will have to do whatever it takes to get a glimpse of the God.
Have you ever wondered why this temple is one of the richest in the world? My guess is it starts from basic facility for example keeping your shoes in a safe place which costs you ten rupees per pair. Then one has to pay Rs. 30/- per electronic appliances like mobile phones and camera for safeguarding them. Hmm! We managed to smuggle ours in and save some good money.
Well, all said and done, all our footwear and a camera were deposited with the care takers of the God. We walked for about half hour to reach the gates of Balaji. To my horror, just like my mother had described it caged and narrow passages. I trembled for a few seconds and took a deep breath and began to walk. For all the luck we had it wasn’t crowded as it generally is. We reached the temple in two hours. We walk in the narrow passages and to narrower corridors which opened up to huge halls divided in three halls with chairs as we passed through those halls we realised that there were TV units where they relay the Puja on the screens when the temple gets to crowded so that people can sit and watch the Puja being performed. After passing through many of these caged passages we reach on to a bridge that connects to the entrance of the temple. On this bridge, as we entered, we could hear faintly people chanting Gopala – Gopala. As we moved closer It felt as if you were in a discotheque or a rave party where the DJ, in this case the leader of group chanted loudly in a rhythm after him and the party goers were grooving on this one. At first it felt scary, and then groovy and later, I especially was in a trance like all the devotees.
I was got back to my sense when I was pushed hard by one of them and started my walk towards the temple. Many believe that one needs to take the hard and rough road to attain blessings of The Almighty. I, for one, was convinced. But a certain part of me felt it could be a bit easier if I weren’t jostled around and pushed as much. During this time, I went through a narrow passage with now over a thousand people forcing themselves to move ahead I thought I would faint. I was gasping for air.
The thing is, no matter how civilised you are by not breaking the rules and obeying the certain laws of conduct written on the board of the temple there comes a time when you are forced to became like the others. As we were closer to the shrine it got worse. My heart started beating faster then I could have ever imagined. Ultimately, I came face to face with the shrine known for its gold and shiny ornaments and gold pillars my mouth dropped several notches. And then I was shoved out. Eight hours of travelling, two hours waiting in the bus, three hours outside the temple and all I got in front of the idol were 4 seconds. Serious!
That said, however, it is certainly a beautiful temple. Had I not been elbowed and hustled so much, I could have grasped every little detail of the temple. The sight of the Idol was not being seen because of my shortcomings… yeah all of five feet and 2 inches. I tired to do bit of acrobatics as I entered the temple. Scribbler’s sister who is all of five feet and 5 inches has wrapped her arms around me as I was almost about to be squashed into a pulp. (God bless her). As we approached closer, there was this “Gentleman” who felt no shame in feeling me up in the temple rite in front of Balaji, was yelled at by Scribbler’s mother and sister. (Talk about girl power). He was well-behaved thereafter and made sure kept his distant after many eyes were peering at him for the shameful thing that he had done.
Alas! We reached the idol and I before I could join my hands and pray for exactly two seconds I was grabbed by my elbow and hurled back into the line by one of the attendants. I had no idea what took over me and yelled back at him and other attendants there after telling them to not touch me not even with their little finger. But I guess these guys are immune to getting abused. Well so this happened and we were manhandled by the so called “Guardians of the Lord” and hurled outside the temple like the drunks are thrown out by bouncers in a discotheque. This was quite an experience for me for the first time in my entire life-time that I got out of the temple yelling, shouting and it my time to hurl abuses aware of the fact that the in-laws were rite there. Oops.
The question that still lingers in our minds is whether are these temples which are extremely commercialised will ever let people like us who want to believe in god allow us to regain our confidence in ‘Him’. And why was it that we were not hurled and jostled or manhandled while we put our generous donation in the Hundi (Donation Box) in the name of God. And why is that we who travel this far to seek His blessings are treated so badly. My question to these guys is isn’t there an organised way for them to allow devotees to seek Darshan in a more civilised way? Or is it that only Mr. Bacchan or The Ambanis are entitled for a hassle-free Darshan?
Hmm one wonders!
hmm.. well hope u are blessed!