Climbing the Tirupati Hills

After much procrastination, I and my wife Sudha finally made our trip to Tirupati last weekend. This is the third time we climbed the Tirupati Hills on foot. In the first instance, I felt giddy and had to take a 20 minutes nap to recover. In the second instance, I suffered cramps in both legs. Thinking back, I realized that lack of sleep due to overnight travel and lack of salts caused the giddiness and cramps respectively. So, this time I ensured that I reached Tirupati early enough to have a good night’s sleep. I had a good breakfast and started the climb at around 8:30 AM. To prevent cramps, we took frequent sips of water mixed with Electrobial (Oral Rehydration Solution). The initial part of the steps is very steep. For a person like me, who leads a sedentary lifestyle, the climb was very challenging. The simple formula I used was to take a few minutes of pause after every 100 steps. It is during these trips that I have realized the real meaning of the phrase “uphill task”. After nearly 2000 steps, the slope is less steep and the journey becomes smooth. The final phase again becomes very steep and challenging and the overall fatigue adds to the difficulty.  We covered the 11Km climb from Alipiri to Tirumala in 4 hours, which is the fastest we have done so far. Towards the end of the course, there is a lamp where camphor is lit and the feeling when one bows before that can be summarized in just one word – “divine”.

In all my trips I have noticed that during the steep climbs, the air is filled with chants of “Govinda” from the devotees, including me. But when we reach the level roads, we break into chit-chat with each other and resort to munching, only to get back to chants once the climb becomes steep again - a perfect analogy to life in general. During the tough phases of life, we seek the Lord ardently and when troubles ease, we forget the Lord, only to be jolted back into devotion when life springs unpleasant surprises.

The TTD administration deserves all credit for the excellent construction of a canopy over the entire length of the footpath and concrete pathways, so that pilgrims can climb comfortably in rain or shine. At the “Gali Gopuram”, there is also a counter to issue Darshan Coupons, so that the pilgrims climbing on foot have an easier and faster Darshan. Please make use of this opportunity, since the other modes of Darshan can get more time consuming.

After spending several hours climbing and more hours jostling with thousands of fellow devotees in the queue, one gets the glimpse of the Lord for less than a minute. But those seconds give the ultimate joy and provide the energy to undertake the uphill journey that is life.