A Promise Made and A Promise Kept!

Pune-Shirdi-Shani Shinganapur-Trimbakeshwar-Panchavati Trip

I must confess that I have not been a great believer or follower of Sai Baba, whether Puttaparthi or Shirdi. But, that never stopped me from visiting the Sai Baba Ashram at Whitefield or  briefly work in an organization with its top leaders being devout followers of Puttaparthi Sai Baba or visit the temples of Shirdi Sai Baba in Vasanthapura locality at Bangalore. I have always admired the strict discipline, cleanliness and the Sai Bhajans sung by the devotees at these religious institutions.

There is a story behind my desire to visit the Sai Baba Mandir at Shirdi and this is how it goes: I have been a light sleeper and the slightest disturbance or movement makes me jump out of the bed with a start. This has been so from my childhood days as far as I can remember…always the first person to wake up at my parent’s home; this habit continues to this day today. The laws of nature dictates that all living things go through distinct phases of activity and inactivity and ‘sleep’ is one such cyclical inactivity. Although we, human beings find the need to sleep, the duration and quality of sleep varies with each person. Some information that I have gathered: Sleep has two distinct phases Rapid Eye Movement (REM) Sleep and non REM sleep.

REM sleep is deep sleep with the body virtually paralyzed and the brain goes into a dream, or in a state of fantasy. Many amongst us can vividly recall our dreams and while some of it makes sense, the larger part is unexplained and incoherent. Sigmund Freud, the well-known Austrian psychologist/psychiatrist was the first to present a paper on ‘The Interpretation of Dreams’. Irwing Stone’s biography on Sigmund Freud “Passions of the Mind” is a fabulous document written after six years of painstaking research and a thorough analysis of Freud’s personal and official correspondences. This book is certainly a “Must-Read” for all!

Non REM sleep occurs first, we then transition to deep sleep and finally for a short period we all go into REM sleep, which is the occasion for dreams or nightmares. Since my childhood days, I have never been able to go into this state of REM sleep – a state which allows people to dream, and probably explains why I have been a light sleeper. Even on a handful of occasions that I have gone into REM sleep, it is almost next to impossible to remember anything about my dreams. However, one dream about 4 or 5 years back has remained etched in my memory. I distinctly remember sitting and chatting with Shirdi Sai Baba and then go on to prepare filter coffee for Baba and serve to him. I mentioned about this dream to a few Shirdi Sai Baba bhakth’s in my circle of friends and relatives and most uttered that I was blessed by Shirdi Sai Baba himself. This is when the thought of visiting the shrine to seek Sai Baba’s blessings started playing on my mind.

Fast forward by 5 years and an opportunity comes knocking in December 2019 when my college senior and office senior colleague at Kolkata, invited my wife and myself to attend his daughter’s wedding at Pune. If traveling to Pune was a certainty, my wife suggested why not include Shinganapur and Trimbakeshwar in our itinerary? Back in 1985, just a week after I got married to Uma, we had attended my college friend and senior colleague,  Venkatesh’s wedding with Meher in Bangalore. We thought it would be nice to attend their daughter Priyanka’s marriage with Vikram and bless the young couple.

In the meanwhile my ex-colleague from Hinduja Global Solutions (HGS), Brahmananda now in Cognizant at Pune, had been asking us to plan a visit to Pune so that we could meet and catch up.  It hence made a lot of sense to finalize a trip to Pune.

I am quite certain that all professional coaches will agree with me when I say, “Being a trainer or a teacher has immense positives by way of influencing youngsters into doing what is correct”. There is immense satisfaction even if 10% of the classroom trainees pick-up traits and habits that will help them become good to great as individuals and as future leaders. I have been extremely fortunate during my stint as a leadership development trainer post my early retirement from HGS…it was Brahmananda who saw potential in my capabilities in training, leadership development and as a role model for the aspiring youngsters. During a one-on-one discussions with him, he had suggested that I use my experience in the ‘Operations’ to deliver a 2 hour talk on how Trainers could make themselves more effective. Training units in an organization work in silos with seldom any interaction with the Operations Team. Here was a chance to correct this wrong. I took his suggestion seriously and started focusing my thoughts into developing content for a two hours talk – the first one was fixed for 12^th December 2014. 

When the final version of presentation power point slides are given for a review, it appears that content development is a simple task. Most information is there online and all that one needs to do is to cut-copy-paste! Nobody realizes the thought and hard work that goes behind in creating a storyline that will make sense to all the 30 or so Trainers sitting in a classroom. Remember, they too have been standing in front of a 30 member training class and delivering material, with each of them knowing the finer nuances of holding the attention of all trainees for the entire duration of training.

The key to being an effective trainer is holding on to the attention of all your trainees. Voice modulation and volume are the key factors for maintaining attentiveness and I can say this from my experience. Feeble voice demonstrates either low energy levels or low confidence in subject matter knowledge. Both can be disastrous singly or jointly. As another experienced trainer, Dr Topaz had once told me, the trainers voice must be loud enough to overpower the constant chatter in trainees mind. Pushing yourself to communicate loudly helps them remain focused preventing the mind from wandering.

I’ve also noticed that trainers who rely heavily on power point slides alone to deliver their talk aren’t accepted well amongst the trainees. Most of us rely on multiple ways of learning a subject. A combination of audio, visual, reading/writing and kinesthetic learning helps. Other methods include case study approach, activity based learning, experience sharing, anecdotes and stories. However, the most important factor in effective learning and assimilation is the periodic revision of the subject matter covered, during the course of training and conducting a follow-up. Most trainees, I have observed are shy and prefer to ask their doubts/questions one-on-one. The trainer must allow time for this requirement, since the primary aim is to bring all trainees on the same page. It is not okay to rank them or grade them – this is not a college lecture and assessment exam. If the trainer wants them to succeed at 100% in the shop floor, it is necessary for everybody to complete the training program and be certified that knowledge picked-up is at 100%. Nothing less!

Keeping all of the above in mind, I was able to create my own content for 15 different topics in the next four years, when I trained multiple batches of frontline and middle management teams within the organization. While the backbone remained power point slides, I introduced short video clips to hammer home a point. Now, finding the right clip to show to the trainees is painfully hard. While plenty of videos are available on the net, one has to constantly view the thousands available on each subject, sift and pull out the relevant ones. The ratio is roughly 1 in 100. For every 100 videos I watched, I would find only one that I could use for my training. In each training session that lasted 3 to 4 hours, I would show a maximum of 5 videos which meant that I must have watched more than 500 to find the few that made sense. And to separate the wheat from the chaff, I used the Windows provided software ‘Movie Maker’ on my laptop to create concise and crisp clips. I provided the links to the video in the credits section provided by Movie Maker, to allow those desirous to watch the entire video.

To make the sessions more interesting and interactive, I did some research to introduce activity based learning. While quite a large number of games are available on YouTube, I had to customize it to suit the specific needs of mine, based on the content that I was delivering. I would improvise at the end of each session until the activities became perfect, both in terms of time spent and the takeaways from these activities. I also made it a point to link these learning with examples from their shop floor for a connection to be established on how the learnings could be used once they were back at their respective desks.

Case study approach to problem solving as a team, through sharing of ideas, creating a logical and meaningful trail of thoughts, later putting it in a story telling format and finally delivery in front of their classroom crowd and taking questions from their fellow trainees is also one of the effective training tools available to each trainer. The trainers skill lies in moderating the entire session, keeping it within the allocated time and ensuring that the entire classroom of trainees understand the objectives of the session and as individuals, did they have a unique takeaway? Cases have to be created as they are industry specific. One cannot pick just any case study from the internet and conduct a session – it could be disastrous. However, if the trainers can pick the theme and then hunt for case study material and tweak it to their specific needs, it will work 100%. All the case study papers that I used during my sessions were prepared in this manner, with a majority of them completely my own. This approach in training is truly fabulous and hammers home the point absolutely! Moreover, there is 100% participation in each of the teams. The only issue that I found frequently recurring in all these groups was selecting a leader to deliver the final outcome of their internal discussions and deliberations. People don’t realize, this is immensely helpful in building self-confidence and to overcome fear of ‘Public Speaking’, which is the No 1 fear in all of us, human beings.

My training sessions were very well accepted and soon by word of mouth it spread amongst the many divisions within HGS and the demand grew. On certain days, I would have back-to-back sessions and on certain weeks I would be occupied three working days out of five. I continued creating new topics based on popular demand by the trainees and continued delivering till end December 2018. 

My contract had come to a close by end December 2018, and it was not renewed. Therein ended my stint in ‘Training and Leadership Development’. While at it, I enjoyed the sessions thoroughly and always made it a point to brush-up with the content one day before the training was due to be delivered. Preparation is the key to a successful session and revising the power point slides continuously to suit the changing needs, is an absolute necessity. On a few occasions when I saw a familiar face attending my sessions for the second time, I would call out and ask them to excuse themselves as it would be a repeat. Most of the people always chose to stay back for the session even though it was a repeat stating that no two sessions of mine were identical. They preferred to sit through, listen and participate. I eventually learnt to take that as a compliment.

The success of any trainer is how effective is the feedback mechanism from the trainees back to the trainer. Brahma (in short for Brahmananda) filled that slot for me wonderfully. He was honest in giving his take on the session; places where they were interesting, places where it was a drag and which of the points being spoken were not being comprehended by the trainees. I made it a point to talk to him about all the training topics and content that I was developing and also seek his inputs to ensure that I remained glued to the topic, did not deviate and made the sessions lively and interactive. He particularly complimented me when I introduced an activity based learning module and thereafter insisted that I squeeze more such activities. He felt the learning from these activities were impactful, long lasting and gave the listeners an opportunity to try them out with their respective teams. Slowly and steadily Brahma became an integral part of my training programs and I started using him as a sounding board. We also decided that he would discreetly get in touch with other members in his department and seek opinions about my training programs and in what ways they felt it could be improved upon. I consider myself lucky to have struck such a unique cord with Brahma and felt that he had a major role to play on my becoming a successful trainer. One of Bill Gates TED Talk specifically covers this point on why “Teachers need Feedback”.

Brahma almost became like a family member to me and I would sometimes tell him that you are like an eldest son to me…when he got an opportunity to move to Pune and join Cognizant, I was extremely happy for him as any parent would, when a great opportunity comes calling! I wished him all the best, but did feel that I had lost something that was dear to me.

We kept in touch on a weekly basis and the idea of planning a trip to Pune and Shirdi came during one such phone call. It got us all excited as we would get an opportunity to sit together and catch up. My visit to Shirdi Sai Baba temple was also due and I was looking for an opportune time to put together a plan to visit.

We left Bangalore on December 14^th , 2019 afternoon to be in time for the wedding reception at the sprawling army campus, Sylhet (Bombay Sappers). Venky had made arrangements for our stay for the night at The Orchid Hotel, which wasn’t far from Sylhet. The next morning after checking out post a sumptuous breakfast, we went over to Brahma’s house – he had come to pick us up. Uber cabs are a very convenient way to travel distances within Pune and 15^th being a Sunday, the traffic was pretty thin. We received a traditional and warm welcome by his family, his wife Reema, son Arnav and brother-in-law. Brahma had made arrangements for our travel by semi sleeper bus from Pune to Shirdi, late in the night and so we had the entire day to catch on the years that had rolled by, post his shifting from Bangalore to Pune. We also met a few old colleagues who have moved from Bangalore to Pune – all arranged by Brahma. It was fun catching up with the initial batch/bunch of folks from Hinduja Global Solutions, who have done extremely well for themselves in their chosen fields. 

The biggest surprise was the chance meeting with G S G Prasad. He used to head quality and training functions in the largest healthcare account at HGS. Also a junior from Trichy R E College, he had relocated to Manila in Philippines and I was under the impression that he had obtained his resident permit and had decided to remain there. With a very keen sense of observation and  penchant for details, he was the ideal person as a trouble shooter in the organization – a person who could bring a sense of order from absolute chaos. 

Brahma’s wife is multi skilled from what Brahma had told me in the past. That she had trained in tailoring was known to me…we discovered during this visit that she is an excellent cook and a great mother to Arnav. We had an amazing lunch at home, post which Reema sat down to stitch a blouse for my wife to match the saree that was gifted by them. By the time Prasad came visiting, she was back in the kitchen with her culinary skills. She made excellent onion medu vadas with tamarind chutney as an evening snack. She had packed our stomach with so much food that we decided to skip dinner. Moreover we had a bus to catch for the night travel to Shirdi. 

Brahma didn’t allow me to reimburse the cost of bus tickets…in his own words, “When you treat me as your elder son, where is the question of reimbursement”. Friendship that withstand the tests of time indeed grow to be cemented into a relationship in the absence of hidden agendas and ulterior motives. Who knew that a chance encounter in the corridors of HGS office and thereafter a casual conversation would eventually create such a strong human bondage. We too had carried gift items for the family but it paled in comparison to what we received from them. It was the love and affection that stole our hearts!

The night bus travel to Shirdi was a short one. Although the start time was delayed by an hour, we nevertheless reached Shirdi at 4 AM. Luckily Hotel Daiwik which is situated close to the Temple, had agreed for an early check-in and we were able to catch up with some sleep. The hotel has a very resourceful team managing the various faculties. The travel desk had organized a sedan on the first day for us to travel to Shani Shinganapur. It is just about 80 KM’s from Shirdi.

Shani Shinganapur has been in the news off late and I guess most people would be aware about it. Trupti Desai led a revolt against the 400+ years old tradition of ‘no entry’ to female devotees. This was more because this temple, besides being a swayambu (self-evolved deity) is also a ‘Jagrut Devasthana’ (aLive temple) meaning that deity still resides within the swayambu. While Trupti Desai and her band of women devotees were halted from proceeding inside the temple, the Bombay High Court in a landmark judgement on 30^th March 2016 asked the Maharashtra Government to ensure entry to women devotees. A week later from 8^th April 2016, the temple has removed all restrictions.

The shrine itself consists of a five and half feet black rock block and a platform has been built around it for a passage around the deity as a pradakshina.

Shani or Shanishchara refers to the planet Saturn, one of the nine heavenly objects “Navagraha” in Hindu astrology. Shani is considered a male deity in the Vedic Puranas – a handsome figure holding a Spear, an Axe and a Trishul, sitting on a crow. In the medieval era texts, Shani is referred to as the son of Surya (sun) and Chaya (shadow) and is considered inauspicious and is feared for delivering misfortune and loss. But, also known as the God of Justice, he is capable of conferring boons and blessings to the worthy, depending upon their karma.

It is believed that while grazing his cattle, a shepherd accidentally touched the swayambu rock with a pointed rod, and the stone started bleeding. The entire community of shepherds were astonished and gathered around the rock to watch the miracle. The same night, Lord Shanishwara appeared in the dream of the most devoted and pious among the shepherds, telling him who he was and the five and half feet tall black rock was a swayambu. The shepherd asked Lord Shanishwara if a temple needs to be constructed around the swayambu. To this Shanishwara replied that the sky is his roof and intended to remain in the open.

The lord to this day can be seen in the open yard without any roof and is believed to be in existence since the start of Kaliyuga. Shani Devata had asked the shepherds to do daily pooja and offer Taila (Sesame Oil) Abhishekha every Saturday (Shanivara – one of the seven days that make a week in the Hindu calendar).

Both, my wife and myself offered sesame (til) oil for the abishekha. The flower vendors stock til oil in bottles varying in size and the entire content has to be emptied by each devotee in a funnel like cauldron that makes the oil flow by gravity to a point on top of the deity. With thousands of devotees visiting and offering oil, the flow is continuous and not intermittent.

Another fact closely associated with Lord Shanieshwara is “Sade Sathi”. Sade Sathi (7 and ½ years, in Hindi) is a period of Saturn or Shani that occurs at least 3 times in a lifetime. This astrological phase is feared by Indians following the Hindu calendar, but while this period is full of challenges, it is also known as a period of great achievement and recognition. A visit to Shani Shinganapur during Sade Sathi is considered beneficial.

Daiwik hotel has an excellent restaurant serving cuisines from all around the country. To our advantage, the Sai Baba town of Shirdi is completely vegetarian. Having planned this trip in advance, we were able to book an Aarathi Slot at Sai Baba temple on Monday, 16^th December 2019. But having returned by 3 PM from Shani Shinganapur, we decided to make an attempt to visit the shrine in the general Q. It wasn’t very crowded at the pass issuing counter – a photo ID pass is issued to each devotee. We were able to get a very good darshan from very close quarters. The Italian Marble idol in a sitting posture has been placed just behind his samadhi, also carved out of Italian Marble. The idol has a gold crown and draped with royal gold threads cloth. The throne and the interior walls around the idol are all plated with Gold. On the external side, the conical gopuram is plated with gold.

Born in the year 1838, Sai Baba attained samadhi on 15^th October 1918 and kept everybody guessing about his lineage, place of origin and religion. His central theme or advice to devotees was simple, yet profound: Shraddha and Saburi (Faith & Patience) – the two ingredients missing in everyone’s life today! His teachings combined elements of Hinduism and Islam and practiced both Hindu and Muslim rituals.

From a few followers in and around the village of Shirdi in the beginning of 19^th century, today an average of 40,000 devotees visit daily. On religious festivals the numbers swell to more than a lakh. As per rituals and traditions dating back to the period when Sai Baba was alive, four Arathi’s are held daily. Kakad Arathi at 4:30 AM; Madhyan Arathi at 12:00 Noon; Dhup Arathi at 6:30 PM and Shej Arathi at 10:30 PM. Since our halt was at Shirdi, we had booked Shej Arathi tickets online and were allowed to join the Q at 10 PM. Thankfully, giant TV screens have been installed at intermediate points along the caged walkway and we can witness the entire proceedings at the main Samadhi Mandir without break. Two giant screens close to the main idol show a close up view and as we near the main idol, the mind sometimes gets confused which one to see…the original idol or the close-up shown on TV.

One of the richest temples in the state of Maharashtra, the Shirdi Sai Baba Sansthan Trust has Rs 2,000 Crores in its coffers besides 450 Kilograms of Gold and 5,000 Kilograms of Silver. The devotees contribute to the tune of Rs 350 Crores each year ensuring that the coffers remain brimming.

Since we had time between completion of the general darshan and the 10:30 PM Shej Arathi, we decided to explore all that one should see within the mandir complex.

1.  Sri Gurusthan with the Neem Tree
2. Sri Datta Temple
3. Lendhi Baug
4. Nandi Deep
5. Museum
6. Ganesha, Shiva and Shani Mandir
7. Dwarakamai
8. Chavadi
9. Kandhoba Mandir
10. Hanuman Mandir

We were back at the temple premises for the Shej Arathi at 10:00 PM. It is organized for about 1,000 people who would have purchased the tickets online. All the devotees are allowed to remain inside the inner sanctum sanctorum for 30 minutes. The Arathi is quite an elaborate program and the entire Bhajan can heard through the following link on YouTube with Lyrics in English. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxh_RxjOFls

Daiwik hotel’s Travel desk had organized a sedan on the following day, Tuesday 17^th December 2019 to visit Trimbakeshwar Temple, near Nashik. This is one of the 12 Jyothirlinga temples in India. The distance between Shirdi and Trimbakeshwar is around 120 KM’s and it takes roughly 3 hours to reach. The temple town is just 30 KM’s from the city of Nashik where the Panchavati ashram is situated.

The temple town is situated between three hills Brahmagiri, Nilagiri and Kalagiri. The Jyotirlinga Shrines are places where Shiva appeared as a fiery column of light. Originally there were 64 Jyothirlingas and out of these, 12 are considered very auspicious and holy. Each of the twelve takes the name of the presiding deity and so it is with Trimbakeshwar. The one here has three Lingas representing Shiva, Vishnu and Brahma. Each of the Lingas represent the beginingless and endless stambha pillar, symbolizing the infinite nature of Shiva.

Special ticket of Rs 200 each, allows darshan from close quarters. But there is a level difference between the level on which the Linga is placed and the elevated level where we stand when inside the temple.  Because of the elevation difference, visibility is compromised and to overcome this shortcoming, a giant mirror has been placed behind the Linga at an angle so that the entire base of the Linga is visible from the elevated temple platform. Those devotees who perform Rudra Abhishekha through the temple priests are allowed to go to the lower platform and perform the Puja. The timings for this is restricted between 5:30 AM and 7:30 AM. We had reached the temple at 11:30 AM and through the temple priest were content in doing a simple Sankalpa and offer our prayers. The priest, an elderly person was calm and composed and made us repeat the sankalpa in detail and to our satisfaction.

The entire temple is constructed out of black rock and gives the entire super structure a beautiful look. We spent a good length of time inside the temple premises admiring this architectural marvel. Like all Jyotirlinga temples, photography was restricted and we could not take any close-ups.

Not very far from this temple on a small hillock, is a new temple constructed completely out of marble from the state of Rajasthan. Dedicated to Mata Annapoorneshwari, this temple is a new place of worship and less visited.

From here we headed back to modern day Nashik city, known as Panchavati in the period of Rama Avatar and Ramayana. This place holds a very important stature in Hindu Mythology. This is where Sita mata gets abducted by the demon king Ravana. This place is also known as the historic Kumbh Mela site where lakhs of people gather once every 12 years. Jupitar, or Guru as referred in Hindu astrology takes 12 earth years to circle the sun in our solar system. Kumbh Mela is celebrated to match the completion of one circle around the sun by Guru.

In all, there are 9 places to visit in Panchavati Darshan and 12 place in Tapovan Darshan. These places are accessible only in an autoriksha, hence our sedan driver parked it near Triveni Sangam and fixed an autoriksha for us to take us around. Following are the places we visited:

1.      Triveni Sangam

2.      Ram Kund

3.      Ganga Godavari

4.      Ardha Nareshwar

5.      Kapaleshwar

6.      Sita Gufa

7.      Panchavati’s 5 Banyan Trees (that;s how the name Panch Vati)

8.      Goreram Mandir

9.      Kalaram Mandir

10.   Laxman Rekha

11.   Sita Haran

12.   Katya Maruti

13.   Laxminarayan Mandir

14.   Laxman Tapasya Place

15.   Laxman Sheshnag Avatar

16.   Shurpanaka Nak Kati Place

17.   Sarva Dharma Mandir

18.   Brahma, Vishnu Maheshwara Kund

19.   Kapila Godavari Sangam

20.   Sita Agni Kund

21.   Ram Ki Vanvas Kutiya

This was an exhausting job, getting in and out of our autoriksha 21 times within a span of 2 hours. By the time we reached our sedan, we were totally drained of energy and decided to head straight back to Daiwik hotel in Shirdi.

Our direct flight from Shirdi to Bengaluru was only at 4 PM the next day. After the grueling day, we thought of relaxing in our room, but couldn’t resist the temptation to visit the Sai Baba Mandir complex once again. We had booked seva tickets for the morning darshan at 9:00 AM on the day of our return travel. That was our third time inside the Sai Baba Mandir – it was also a time to thank the Guru/Prophet for appearing in my dream and inspiring us to undertake this journey to the holy towns of Shirdi, Shinganapur, Trimbakeshwar and Panchavati.

It was a Promise made and a Promise Kept!

TTD Visit on February 18, 2020

Visit to TTD

It was a very sudden decision to seek the blessings of the Lord of Seven Hills on Sunday, 16^th February…like a spur of the moment thought! Couple of people close to us had advised that we visit TTD and in any case there had been a big gap between this visit and previous one, 5 years back. For our family the Lord is not just Kula Devatha, but Ishta Devatha also.

I have also in the past written a pretty long essay-like blog on Tirumala Sri Venkateshwara titled "Govinda, Govinda Govindaa" and this one hopefully will be a bit different. The ‘Services’ industry in our country has seen many changes in the last decade. We are slowly getting there…although we are streets behind some of our Asian brothers. I hope our most recent experience will offer some insights into the progress we are making as a nation. Unfortunately, Indians themselves either press the brakes hard or derail the progress some of our Services Industry Captains try and bring in, and that indeed is a pity.

Having decided to travel on 17^th Feb for a visit to the Tirupati Tirumala Devasthanam on 18^th Feb to match my wife’s birthday celebrations, we scouted the internet for a package trip. APTDC (Andhra Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation) in conjunction with TTD allow special darshan for a fee of Rs 300 per person traveling in groups. Sugama Travels, based in Bangalore have dedicated 2 numbers of multi-axle Volvo buses to APTDC, making it convenient for a batch of 58 people to travel from Bangalore each night for Darshan on the following day. We were able to book our seats online but having reserved in the last minute we were allotted seats somewhere towards the rear. To my surprise, a couple of hours later I received a call from the Booking officer that he could offer seats in the front as two people had canceled their tickets. He said he was offering us these seats as we were senior citizens…some welcome perks on getting older!

While booking online we need to give Aadhar Card number which also acts as an ID Proof at the temple main entrance. TTD issues a ticket only when APTDC provides these details. Our guide for the package trip hands over the TTD issued special darshan tickets only upon showing him our Aadhar card. The licensed guides take their responsibility very seriously and act as proxy TTD officials. One of our fellow passenger offered his Driving License as an ID proof, although he had mentioned his Aadhar card number at the time of booking. He was singled out and had to go through a tough grilling session. I guess the Guide had to accompany this person to the entrance and talk to the TTD officials into accepting this as a special case. Indians are extremely careless and have a don’t care attitude. Even at the time of boarding the bus at Bangalore the helper kept telling each and every one of us if we were carrying our address and ID proof as mentioned during booking. Each and every person nodded their heads but gave scant regard and dismissed it from their minds.

The multi-axle Volvo was just under 2 years  of age and very well maintained. Each seat had a nice maroon colour fleece blanket and each seat had an A/c vent and reading lights that worked. Each seat was also provided with a USB charger outlet for the phone. New features, where extra care and thought had gone into, while deciding on what amenities to provide to a passenger. People are however ungrateful…almost 50% of the USB chargers are dysfunctional as passengers in their anxiety to disembark yank the cable from these sockets and in the process rip off the chargers from its sockets, making them useless. I understand each replacement costs Rs 1,500. The owner took pains to replace them each time a defect was noticed, but the incidences are so many that the owner has decided to do away with these chargers. Since my wife and myself were the last to disembark, we got into small conversation with the driver and helper. It is their responsibility to keep time and make up in case there are delays in any sector. They were also unhappy that the so-called educated passengers and people on pilgrimage could be so unruly, mean-minded and selfish. He showed us how the people dirty the bus and litter the place with empty water bottles, plastic food rappers and spilt food. One of the passengers had also puked inside the bus; probably due to motion sickness. The helper’s responsibility was to get the entire bus spick and span again for it to start its next journey. The cleaning time window was just an hour and half for him. This pair have to hand over charge to the next pair of driver and helper for the next night. It’s indeed a tough life for the remarkable twosome team.

With just a bio-break during the onward journey at a Reliance Petrol Bunk which also had a toilet facility, the journey took us 6 hours to complete. But just one bathroom for the 58 of us was too much for the washroom to handle. The driver gave us enough time as he had to fill the tank with 260 liters of diesel; it took around 30 minutes for him to complete his transaction and by that time all passengers had finished downloading their individual tanks.

We reached the sprawling city of Tirupati at 4:10 AM. This is where the Guide for our visit to Tirumala, was handed over the baton by our twosome Driver & Helper combination. The guide addressed us over the excellent Public Address system inside the Volvo. He gave us 50 minutes to finish our morning formalities in the rooms provided in the Sri Venkateshwara Lodge. Rooms provided were on twin sharing basis. While its okay for families to share the room, some individual travelers didn’t want to share a room and after a heated exchange between the individual, Guide and the Hotel owner folks came to an amicable understanding and thereafter peace prevailed. At 4 AM in the morning a flower vendor sitting on the steps to the entrance of the hotel was also selling toothpaste, soap, shampoo and coconut oil packets…essential stuff people normally carry but at times also forget when in a hurry. Ever since wearing a dhoti or pyjama has been made mandatory, these vendors have also started stocking and selling dhoti and for those who cannot wrap themselves with a dhoti there is free service provided by these vendors who help in wrapping. This was an unnecessary imposition by TTD making it uncomfortable to many across the nation. I am sure no God ever dictated what should be worn when people come visiting him at his abode.

A nearby coffee vendor, and a resourceful one at that, was quick to grab the opportunity to sell coffee…he provided room service too! We were all ready, not at 5 AM but 5:30 AM. I guess the Guide had kept this extra 30 minutes time, knowing that very few amongst Indians are actually punctual.  Our first stop was at Padmavathi temple – we took the blessings of Lord Venkateshwara’s wife before commencing our climb to the hill top.

Thankfully there was no ‘Q’ at Padmavathi temple and we were able to glide in and out within 30 minutes. The next halt was for breakfast. The package tour cost includs breakfast and lunch. Sugama Travels and a few others have a fixed arrangement with this Udupi hotel which caters to mass crowd in a very organized and efficient manner. It was a buffet breakfast consisting of Idly, Vada and Pongal. It was served by a team of hotel staff with sambar and chutney. Coffee/Tea was also served before being given some additional time for a bio-break.

We were transferred from our Volvo to the TTD managed mountain bus as we reached closer to the gateway of the hills. These are small 38 seater buses and people have to squeeze themselves in the cramped space. The guide plays a very important role as he is the bridge between TTD Management of the bus fleet and APTDC/Private travels. 58 members need to be split between two buses, also keeping in mind who within our bunch would want to get their heads tonsured. The guide accompanies us in the mountain bus and there is a grueling check at the entrance to the ghat section. We are asked to disemabark, individually frisked, luggage goes through a scanning/X-ray machine and then we board the same mountain bus again. It takes an hour to reach the hill top and our teams assembly point is shop number 69 at Ram Bageecha bus stand. We need to deposit our mobile phones and chappals for a small fee at this shop and this is the place where we meet once again after the darshan is completed.

Having completed all these formalities, the guide ensures the folks who had gone for tonsuring also rejoin the team and leads us to the temple entrance. The entrance for the special Rs 300 ticket is a separate one and should not be confused with the Dharmadarshan ‘Q’. This is where our Aadhar ID proof is checked with the Tickets issued by TTD to APTDC and if it is in order, we are allowed to enter the long and winding journey into the sanctum sanctorum. From this point onwards the guide is no more with us and we are on our own.

Being a Tuesday and a month before the school and board exams, the crowd was relatively less. There was no waiting in any of the cages, but we did have to go through another round of ID proof checking plus frisking. Three ‘Q’ gets merged at the south-east corner of the encaged pathway to the temple entrance. This is the last leg to the main sanctum sanctorum and this where the struggle begins…one really doesn’t have to walk…we get sucked into the moving humanity, much like the entrance to any Mumbai local in the peak hour. If you are smart and position yourself correctly, you will get funneled in, but if you remain in the periphery, there is a good chance that you will encounter a human wall that will not allow you even an inch of space.

Each time I have visited TTD and how much ever the struggle to reach the main entrance, once we are inside and you see the Lord himself in all his glory, every struggle is forgotten. We remain in awe in the small duration of time that each one gets in front. And as the Guide kept reminding us, don’t close your eyes while praying at the inner sanctum sanctorum…we need to keep our eyes wide open to see and feel the Lords presence. It has a strange calming effect as if the Lord has been waiting for your visit and is willing to listen to your hearts content and the monologue is only between the two of us. This is the moment of joy we eagerly look forward to and after this electrifying experience, the rest of our journey happens in a trance. The image remains etched in the mind for a long time and we try and relive the precious few moments we got in his home.

The guide is back at the assembly point to receive us post our visit inside the temple with the famous TTD Laddus. Post Jan 20^th this year, TTD has modified the Laddu rules. Instead of two for each Rs 300 ticket, it is only one. However, whoever is interested can proceed to the Laddu counter and buy as many as they want, each costing Rs 50. We were then led back to shop no 69 to collect our mobiles and slippers. It was 12 noon by the time the entire team of 58 returned to board the mountain bus to be ferried back to the base station and for a sumptuous and tasty lunch back at the Udupi hotel. One just cannot undermine the role played by the guide. Right from the time he received us at 4:10 AM at the lodge till the time he brought all of us safely back to the base camp and got us transferred to Sugama Travels Volvo, he took care of everything. Hats off to this gentleman for conducting the temple visit in such an exemplary manner.

But for the coordinated tasks each member carried out in the chain of events that slowly unfolded in front of our eyes, a visit to the temple town at such short notice could not have happened in such a comfortable manner. Each member amongst the service providers have a specific role to play and each of them played their part beautifully well, much like the way one would see in a symphony orchestra. Not one wrong note was played and it was joyful music at its very best!

We wish to take this opportunity to thank all the people for the services rendered and while we prayed to the Lord for all our desires, we also prayed for all those people who orchestrated each event with perfection, and for having made our journey so special, memorable and comfortable.