Oonjal (Swing)

Whenever I enter my mama’s (uncle’s) house in Chennai, the first thing I notice or sit on is the oonjal they have in their living room. It’s strategically place in such a way that it does not hit any furniture around it even when swung very fast. I sleep there, I eat there, and I read there. Wish I can have one here in Mumbai. Unfortunately flats in Mumbai do not offer the luxury of space.

My Trip to Tirupati

History

My mother decided to visit Tirupati by walk, if my brother gets into IIT. He did, three years ago. We could plan the trip only now. We reached Tirupati by train.

The climb begins

After registering the luggage through their transportation service, we started our journey at 2pm. The hills were steep and initial climb was only through steps. We took breaks every 250 steps initially but it decreased to 100 later. We saw people with kids and infants walking up. Some were applying haldi & kumkum to every step. Some were lighting camphor on each step. It was hot & tiring. After 2300 steps & 2 km later the journey looked easy when I saw a road.

Shock

My parents, who have taken this journey before, assured me that the next few km will be through the road. But we saw lots of steps after a small walk, which seemed like an impossible task now. But another 500 steps later came the promised easy route. There were long and small steps. It was cool & there was breeze. We also saw a deer park on the way. It started to rain & the next 3 km climb was very enjoyable.

The mountains

As we moved up, we joined the road that can be taken if one is not willing to climb. Small droplets of water fell on our face; there was a breathtaking view of the mountains from the road. All the exhaustion vanished, but the legs were still aching. Around 2 km of walk & 2900 steps later we reached a big gopuram.

Another set of stairs

These final stretches of stairs were the worst. We were all very very tired. But we started to walk up with the final bit of energy we had. The following 400 steps almost killed my legs. Then we started to walk up the slope with longer steps. The final walk took us to the seventh hill where lord Balaji resides.

Total steps: 3600
Total length: 9 km
Total time: 4 hours 15 minutes
Lesson learnt: My parents have more stamina than me. I really need to work on it.

The Temple

After a night stay, we went to the temple at 4-45 am. Thousands of people visit this temple every day. The way the management manages accommodation and Darshan is simply amazing. After one and half hours of walking along a queue, we got a darshan of 1 sec. The entire shrine was plated in gold. People were standing in queue to donate money in the hundi. Lord Balaji is rich!