I know this is coming really really late considering that the trip happened sometime mid Sep, but I had to write this post ! Had to coz of a multitude of reasons , the adventure , the planning , the wait , the fun games , the amazing driver and on and on. So the story begins..
I think it was Pooja and Shilpa who came up with the plan all of a sudden and I said a yes to it as I had never been there and also coz Shilpa assured that we would not have to wait for long in the queue as she would arrange vip passes. Well when some one from The Deshmukh Family says it you do believe it :D Gattu also agreed , but the most surprising part was when Rahul also said yes! The fun just began as Shilpa clearly told at her place "it is me lipi and 2 couples " , well how are we to get 2 couples , and then started the various permutations/combinations and we were finally ready with the 5 of us and Pooja's friend Amrita. The D day comes and we are supposed to start sometime in the afternoon. Now let me mention this first , I have this weird night-travel-0-phobia (esp 4 wheeler) and desperately wanted to reach the place before late evening, threatening everyone that otherwise we halt on the way for the night. Though I was mostly engrossed in my book , it was fun watching the others struggle to guess movie names especially gattu , and that too accompanied by Pooja's enlightening comments during the journey !
Anyways after some 4 -5 hours and darshan at the Ganesh temple on the way we finally reached Tirupathi and then started the frantic calls to Mr(Basha/Pasha/Badshah) to confirm the hotel for us only to realise it was already full. And so the group spilt , me and shilpa with the driver in the car and the other 4 in another group. Something I would never forget was Shilpa's statement at one lodge "aap ghante ke hisaab se charge nahin karoge" !! Anyways , the others were luckier and after 1 and hr hours of hotel hunting we found a very good place to fit in all of us very comfortably.A good dinner and all of us tired souls off to bed knowing that the next day would be hectic.
In the morning we planned to visit the Lashmi Temple first and then head for the main temple on the hill where (lets call him this) Basha would be waiting for us with the darshan passes. While on the way we got to know it was Hindi Day , and started the game of talking in 100% shudhh hindi having decided that the one who loses would treat the rest at coffee day. Rahul was smart , didnt say a word , I tried and gave up, it was too tough for me. I think Pooja was the clear winner.
And so we reached the Tirumala town where Mr Basha was no where in sight :( and we kept waiting at MBC-25 , was that it ? Guys please correct me !
A lot of confusion , wait and finally we managed the passes. I would not go into details coz everything is well that ends well :) And then the darshan , it was truly amazing, despite the crowd and the wait. And by 6 we were done, also kinda dead tired .I must mention here that our driver was a really nice chap , did not complain even once as we kept oscillating from one place to another although did redirect us towards the free darshan queue couple of times!
And so we started back from there late in the evening , with gattu assuring me that night travel is absolutely safe and he would ensure the driver doesnt doze off, thx gattu !
Most of us managed some minutes of sleep before we reached home close to midnight . Oh yeah , we all did plan to bug Mr.Basha with missed calls for all the trouble he put us through :D , and believe me we actually did that !
Before I forget ,
@shilpa , I pity all those people you blasted on phone :) , but am so glad we all had the darshan.
@pooja, you are an awesome organizer, a must include for all outings!
@rahul, I agree with u , we must do these trips more often, and yes, sorry for the funny pic on the way :D
@amrita , amazing enthu and thx a bunch for arranging all the passes.
@gattu , thx for being awake almost all night during the return journey and taking care that the driver is awake as well and playing all those lovely songs :)