Re-Scheduling Travel Days

Dear Padayatra Members,

From this year onwards, we are planning to reduce the number of kilometers covered each day by limiting it to a maximum of 30 kilometers per day/ hence we have re-scheduled the total program from 4 days to 5 days as circulated in our WhatsApp group communication.

We request you to kindly go through the new schedule and provide a feedback in WhatsApp and also provide your choice of total pilgrimage days using link. 

Click to answer

Clicking the above link will take you to another webpage outside of this blog. By clicking this link you are accepting to submit & allowing the TTPT to use your details & responses for the questions listed in the Form.

Trust and Participating Member Agreement [TPMA-1]

Terms and Conditions

ANNEXURE - I

Acceptance of below clauses will bind the participating pilgrim to the Terms and Conditions of this event of “Chennai to Tirumala padayatra pilgrimage” and attendance to this said event indicates participant‟s acceptance to all these Terms and Conditions

A. Definitions

In these Terms, the following bold words implies the referred meaning

i. “Padayatra” refers to pilgrimage undertaken by the pilgrim, entirely by walk, covering the distance between a defined start location to defined end location.

ii. “Event” refers to the „Padayatra pilgrimage to Lord Venkateshwara Temple, Tirumala from Chennai.

iii. “We /Us /Our /Organisers /Trust /TTPT” refers to Tirumala Tirupathi Padayatra (ALF) Trust, its board members, administrative members, representatives and the Organisers of the event.

iv. “Participant” refers to the individual who participate as a pilgrim in the above event.

v. “Service Member” refers to the individual who provide necessary services during the event, to the pilgrims and the event.

vi. “Fee” refers to the Registration fee payable by the participant.

vii. "Padayatra Date" refers to the start date of the padayatra from the designated starting point.

viii. "Darshan Date" refers to the date on which the participants reach Tirumala and shall have the darshan.

ix. "Booking Date" refers to the date on which online advance booking for a particular Seva or Darshan or Accommodation get opened by the TTD (Tirumala Tirupathi Devasthanam).

B. General

i. This 'Tirumala Padayatra', is a padayatra pilgrimage to Lord Venkateshwara Temple, Tirumala from Chennai during which the participating pilgrims will be going on a "padayatra‟, organized and executed by "Tirumala Tirupathi Padayatra (ALF) Trust", a registered body.

ii. "Tirumala Tirupathi Padayatra (ALF) Trust", functions as a non-profit entity, solely involving in the activity of organizing Padayatra pilgrimage to Tirumala once every year.

iii. Every year our 'Tirumala Padayatra Pilgrimage' will be held in the last quadrant of the year, mostly in the Tamil Calendar month of Karthigai or Margazhi (December) unless and otherwise it is rescheduled and announced well in advanced.

iv. The Padayatra dates (start date & darshan date) will be officially announced in the Tamil Calendar month of Aadi (July-August) through our official WhatsApp Group.

v. The Trust or its Organisers or any person on their behalf, do not solicit or advertise this event for any kind of financial gain.

vi. Any participant joining this event is voluntary and completely on their own will and consent.

vii. Participants can be of either gender and there will not be any discrimination nor allowances based on the gender during the event.

viii. All participants must ensure that they are medically fit to participate in the event.

ix. The Participant Consent Form [PF-3] is a mandatory document and all participants must fill & submit this form before starting of the event either in hard copy or soft copy.

x. For minor participant, parent or guardian should fill and submit Participant Parent / Guardian Consent Form [PF-3A] along with PF-3.

xi. The Organisers reserve the right to contact the participants through the mobile number(s) provided by the participant, for any information required relating to this event and / or participation.

xii. Participants willfully give their consent to participate in this event and all arrangements for the event including food and accommodation are being done based on the total count of the participants; Hence, the registration fee paid by the pilgrim is non-refundable.

xiii. Similarly, if the participant withdraws from or not showing up for the event, the registration fee will not be refunded neither in full nor in part.

xiv. Participant cannot proxy or replaces his participation; the registration fee is non-transferable.

xv. At all times during the event, participant must adhere to all instructions given by Organisers from time to time.

C. Participation

i. The participant acknowledge and agree that:

a) this Padayatra is an endurance activity;

b) the participant should only undertake such an activity to a level which reflects his /her level of fitness;

c) the participant is responsible for taking care of their own physical fitness prior to and during participation in the event;

ii. Anyone completed age 18 and above can participate in this event. If the age is below 18, then the minor has to be accompanied by parent or guardian all through the event. Also parent or guardian should provide necessary undertaking for the minor participant. There is no actual upper age limit to participate in this padayatra.

iii. It is the responsibility of the participant to familiarize themselves with the event‟s details, itinerary, time and routes, break points etc., which has been communicated well in advance, to them through the official WhatsApp group.

iv. The timings of the event will include wee hours and it is the responsibility of the participant to be prepared for participating in such hours.

v. During the event, participants are not allowed to be accompanied by an external person who is not associated with the event or TTPT.

vi. Participants are not allowed to bring any pets along with them for the event.

vii. Participants are advised not to carry any valuables like precious jewellery, gadgets, natural or manufactured items or objects of higher value.

viii. Participants are prohibited from carrying any and all regulatory banned substances including but not limited to narcotics, toxin substances or weapons of any kind.

D. Cancellation or Alteration of event

i. The Organisers reserve the right to make alterations to the time, date and location of the event.

ii. The entire route or any part or some part of the route of this padayatra may be changed, if needed, by the Organisers due to situational or unavoidable circumstances.

iii. If any unavoidable situation arises forbidding the conduction of event, it may be cancelled and rescheduled by the Organisers.

iv. TTPT is under no obligation to hold the event and may cancel the event for any reason.

v. The Organisers will inform through the official WhatsApp group to which you have given your mobile number and you are a group member, of such cancellation, abandonment or postponement.

vi. There will be no fee refund if the event is cancelled for whatever reason.

vii. TTPT will have no responsibility for any losses, expenses or costs incurred as a result of cancellation, including any travel or accommodation costs participant might have incurred for taking part in this event.

E. Liabilities

i. TTPT will provide Food and Accommodation for all pilgrims during the event from the day 1 start location to day 4 breakfast location as detailed in the itinerary of the event. 

However,

   - It is the responsibility of the participant to be made himself available at the serving location in specified timings as per the itinerary.

  - Food will be available and be served at the specified location as per the itinerary only upto 2 hours from the specified timings.

ii. Accommodation will be common sleeping arrangement only & will not be provided with separate or private accommodation.

iii. TTPT will have a dedicated Baggage Van assigned to carry the luggage of the pilgrims from the starting location to the 3rd night stay location. Also, at every night halt location, bags will be unloaded from the Van and will loaded back on next morning before leaving the location.

iv. Event Organisers and service members will carry necessary Medical Kit. However all participants need to carry their daily medicines on their own, along with necessary medical kit (refer Padayatra Checklist).

v. In case of any unforeseen severe medical emergency, the participant will be taken immediately to the nearest Medical facility in our Service Vehicle for the treatment.

vi. TTPT advice the pilgrims to read and follow the "Padayatra Checklist‟ listed in the Blog Webpage and get in touch with the Organisers or Admin Team for any further clarification while preparing for the event.

vii. All information & instructions will be communicated through the official WhatsApp Group. It is the responsibility of the pilgrim to read and acknowledge those communication received through the WhatsApp.

F. Limitations

i. TTPT does not provide darshan ticket or accommodation at Tirumala. It is the responsibility of the participant to book the darshan and if needed, accommodation also, on their own, as soon as the booking opens for the respective darshan date.

ii. TTPT does not guarantee or assure the darshan at Lord Malayappa Swamy Temple, Tirumala. The Seva or Darshan ticket booked by the participant is an agreement only between the participant and TTD, whereas, TTPT does not hold any liability.

iii. TTPT does not make or provide any arrangements for returning back from Tirumala after completion or discontinuing midway of the padayatra. It will be the responsibility of the participant to arrange their own return transport.

iv. TTPT will not be responsible or liable during the event for any loss or damages to goods or items that belong to the participant.

v. TTPT does not provide or cover the participants under any insurance policy for taking part in this event.

vi. Whilst every reasonable precaution will be taken by the Organisers to ensure the participant‟s safety, participants take part in this event at their own risk and the TTPT shall not be liable for any loss and/or damage whether personal or otherwise, and however arising.

G. Responsibility & Undertaking

i. The participant recognize that there are foreseeable and unforeseeable risks and hazards directly or inherently involved in his / her participation in this event and that the event Organisers have no control over such dangers and they make no representations of safety. The participant further acknowledges to voluntarily assume all responsibility and risk, physical and emotional injuries, illness and/or conditions arising from participation in this event, accidents, property damage, injury to others, and other hazards.

ii. The participant fully accept and assume all such risks and all responsibility on own and understand that it is as a result of his / her participation only; He / She or anyone on his / her behalf, will not claim any damages or losses and fully release "Tirumala Tirupathi Padayatra (ALF) Trust‟, event Organisers, contractors, service personnel and other participants, any sponsors, and if applicable, owners and leasers of premises, from all and any such liabilities wholly.

iii. The participant hereby consent to first aid, emergency medical care, and, if necessary, admission to an hospital for providing medical care or treatment for any illness or injuries that sustained while participating in the event or any activity associated with this event.

iv. The participant also state that during this Event if he / she unable to act on own behalf, hereby authorize the event Organisers to take any and all action on his / her behalf as reasonably necessary.

H. Statutory

TTPT reserves the right to change these Terms and Conditions, as and when necessary, to ensure proper and safe conduction of the event.

Pilgrimage to Tirumala - Tirupati Padayatra 2020

Padayatra 2020

Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic situation this year, after working out on many travel itineraries and scouting trips, we finalized on our pilgrimage dates, for the much planned  year 2020 Tirupati Padayatra Pilgrimage. 

We planned to start from Chennai on the Saturday, 12 December 2020 & have our Darshan on Tuesday, 15 December 2020 Evening 5:00 PM. 

Accordingly we all booked our Darshan & Accommodation tickets as soon as the TTD Online Booking portal got opened on 30 November 2020.

So, with that priority task completed, we are ready for this year event.

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Day of the Padayatra

We all started, as per schedule on a cloudy day,  for the Padayatra 2020 on Saturday, 12 December 2020. Due to the heavy rainfall during these past few days, we expected the same weather condition to continue. We all were prepared for rough weather with Rain Ponchos and extra bit of dry clothes.

The starting point is Naicker Chatiram Residence (3 km from Redhills). Some of them started walking from their home and reached here whereas some reached via other transport. There were few expected to join enroute.

We planned to have 2 vehicles for escort or service to stay along with us during the entire trip. Generally we have 1 car & 1 van but this time since no on-site cooking was planned, there was no Grocery van coming along with us, instead we planned for 2 cars to follow. 

That lead to another complication of how the backpacks & bags of pilgrims will be transported. It was initially decided to load everything in one of the car but we found the car boot lock developed some issues so we decided to hire a Tata Ace transport in the last minute for carrying the bags & water cans.

A Note: All the starting and reaching time to a break point mentioned in this blog are average time  when most of the team members gathers. There are micro groups & individuals who cover the same distance in a shorter timing or they start early or some start late. So there may be difference of 30 mins to 1 hour in the timings mentioned.

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Day - 1

Saturday, 12 December 2020

Around 10:30 AM to 11:00 AM most of the participants came to the starting point. In spite of this being official starting point many of the participants had already started walking and covered nearly 12 to 18 km for the day.

After everyone had gathered, we all had lunch by 12:30 PM. It was standard 'South Indian Thali' kind of menu and everyone had mouthful and heartful. About the food & sponsors, I will write it another blog, in detail.

We had the lunch and started from there around 1:30 PM, after worshiping in the temple at the Naicker Chatiram Residence.  The weather had become humid from being cloudy in the morning. 

The next scheduled pitstop was for the tea break around 4 to 4:30 PM next to Kannigaiper Village, few kilometers before Periyapalayam.

Most of the members reached there by the scheduled time, except for the few laggers who too reached there before 5:00 PM

The break point was just a shoulder on the road, where the car was parked with refreshments. As the members come in as groups, they had their refreshments of Tea & Biscuits and after a few minutes of relaxation, they started to move on.

The next scheduled destination was a village called Thandalam, which is next to the famous temple town of Periyapalayam. This is our night halt place where we call off the day, have dinner & stay for the night. It is around 2 to 2.5 hours of walk from this point. 

Reaching Periyapalam, some of the members went inside the  Bhavani Amman temple and had darshan of the deity, Bhavani Amman. 

From Periyapalam, it is roughly a 4 km distance to our final destination of the day. By the time we reached Thandalam, it already became dark.

The stay was arranged in a marriage hall called 'Lalitha Mahal' , for us to eat & sleep for the night. 

The pilgrim members started relaxing after reaching the destination. There is no more walking for the day.

The dinner was served by 8:30 PM. 

Usually food will be served on the leaf, so some set of members need to be doing the serving process at every supper point. However this time, we got dinner plates for all the pilgrims so the serving of the food become easy like a buffet.

Finally, we had our team meeting - getting introduced to the new members, discussing and explaining about changes in the schedule, difficulties faced during the arrangements etc. and with that we closed the day.

Most or if any joining enroute, get joined here at this spot and we will come to know the final member count. And this time final count is 31. To know the details, visit post - Participants Details - Tirupati Padayatra 2020

Here, a brief introduction about the padayatra team members. All the participating members are friends, colleagues & family members. Few are from the first group of padayatra team members from 1988 & 1989 and many others are those joined later with the old group or with the new group and still participating every year. For more information about this padayatra group, visit the post - 'Tirupathi Padayatra - History of this Pilgrimage Group'.

So, that was the day 1. The next day travel is from Thandalam to night destination at Palamangalam village, at the opposite end of Pichatur Lake.

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Day - 2

Sunday, 13 December 2020

The day starts around 2:30 AM. We have roughly around 40 km of walk for the day, split into early morning session, post breakfast session & post lunch session. Each session has an in-between break point and a destination point which gives us a much needed rest during the walk. Lets start the day.

All the pilgrims woke up around 2:00 AM and got ready for the day ahead. It is a long stretch of walk in this session, of around 15 km to the breakfast destination at Surutapalli, border town in Andhra Pradesh, with a scheduled tea break in-between, at the village Tharatchi.

After having a tea, we started our walk by 2:30 AM. Our next pitstop is at the village on the main road called Tharatchi, 9 km away.  

After a brisk morning walk we all - either individually or as a small groups we reached the Tharatchi Village & halted near the bus stand for the tea break. Roughly around 4:00 AM tea & biscuits had arrived. 

We had the refreshments and again started our pre-breakfast morning session walk to the next destination point, Surutapalli,  Andhra Pradesh . 

It is a short session, roughly 6 or 7 km to the breakfast destination. During this leg of travel, we cross the Tamilnadu State border and enter into the Andhra Pradesh State, at the border town of Uthukottai. It is a big town which we come across after the Periyapalayam.

We reached Uthukottai around 5:30 AM and from there 1 KM to our breakfast destination of Surutapalli, village. This place is famous for the Surutapalli, Shivan Temple, attracting lot of pilgrims and devotees from both Tamilnadu and  Andhra Pradesh.

We reached the SPB Mahal marriage choultry opposite to the Shivan Temple the place where our breakfast was arranged. After having a bath at the choultry we went to the temple and had darshan. 

We came back and had some rest, by then the breakfast arrived. Had our breakfast, rested again for sometime before stepping on the road.

We started our walk around 9:00 AM.

Our pre-lunch session of walk is towards our next destination, Nagalapuram Village where our lunch is planned, which is around 10 KM from this place with a refreshment break in between at the Nandanam Village.

Though not scorching still the mercury started raising, making the walk difficult and tiring. Always or at least mostly, this is one the tiring stretch of walk. The destination sounds near but it always takes a considerable time of walk.

By 10:30 AM, at the bus stop along the roadside village Nandanam, we halted for a small refreshment break. 

Service Members distributed 'Rose Milk' here, bought & brought from Uthukottai, which made us feel refreshing after a tiring walk.

The lunch is at Sai Baba Temple which is located at the beginning of the village, immediately after the branching of the by-pass road. It is around 4 km from this place and will take another hour to reach.

We reached the Sai Baba temple at Nagalapuram, around 12 noon. This place is our usual lunch spot for past many years of padayatra and it is a comfortable, open, airy place for a mid-day rest. As soon as we reach here, we lie down and take a nap on the cool marble floors of the temple verandah.

For the past many years, cooks coming along with us, used to prepare the lunch & dinner for the day at this place. But this time the food was arranged from an local catering person and who had supplied us with the Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner for the day. 

From here we started around 2:30 PM for our last session of the day which is around 15 km, to the village called Palamangalam which is on the opposite end of the Pichatur lake. If the lake is dry or having less water, we will take the cart road which is inside the lake that will shortens the distance for nearly 3 km.

However this time we do not see the luck in our favor due to the heavy monsoon rains, so we have to walk around lake this time.

We crossed the Vedanarayana Swamy Temple, Nagalapuram which is one of a largest temple structure in this part of the state which is resided by the lord Vishnu depicted in Matsaya Avatar. 

We reached the Pichatur Dam around 4:00 PM and continued our walk around the lake to reach our destination, Palamangalam. 

We reached the Pichatur Dam around 4:00 PM and continued our walk around the dam to reach our destination. In between we had a small refreshment break enroute served with tea & biscuits at the Shivan Temple at the end of Pichatur Dam.

We reached the final destination for the day, Palamangalam Village by 6:00 PM and settled down for the night with a hot, tasty dinner.

Finally, we had our team meeting - discussing about next 2 days plans, feedback, suggestions etc. Suggestions are noted down which will be implemented during next year and the feedbacks will be attended. With that our day came to an end

 

So that was the Day 2. We have started by 2:30 AM from Thandalam, Tamilnadu and now reached the Palamangalam, Andhra Pradesh at 6:00 PM with breakfast at Surutapalli, Lunch at Nagalapuram, covering approximately 40 km for the day.

And we have a long day tomorrow. The next day travel is from this point, Palamangalam to night destination at Tiruchanur, which is like almost we reaching our final destination of Tirupati.

And to add, unexpectedly a situation had developed in our next day schedule due to which we were forced to prepone the timings and walking sessions. Usually we reach the last destination of temple town Tiruchanur in our own pace, visit temple for darshan any time before 9:00 PM or have a early morning 4:30 AM darshan. This time due to the COVID pandemic, the darshan timings in the temple got changed to strictly between 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM. Since the next day darshan starts only at 8:00 AM which is not possible for us as it will affect our Tirumala darshan timings,  we need to have the darshan at Alamelumangapuram Padmavathi Temple tomorrow evening itself. Hence we need to start early and reach the destination before 4:00 PM so that we can have the darshan.

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Day - 3

Monday, 14 December 2020

Once again the day starts around 2:30 AM. Since during the morning walk we  can cover lot of kilometers we start the day early, well, just 2 hrs past midnight  so that we will have a lesser distance for the remaining part of the day.

We have roughly around 43 km of walk for the day, via Puttur, Tadukku, Applayakunta and Tiruchanur and that too we need to reach before 4:00 PM. 

Lets start the day !

We got ready & left the Night-Stay choultry by 2:30 AM. It was dark & cloudy night with no moon visible when we started. The dew in the air was making the weather chill. 

The hot tea served at gate while starting was a stimulator & gave us a boot-start.

Our next break spot was to the morning refreshment point next to the 'Govindappa Naidu Kandriga Bridge' which we dearly call as 'Sridevi Tea Stall'. On its way, just a kilometer before Sridevi Tea Stall, we can come across a branching road to the hills on the left of the road, which leads to the famous tourist spot of Kone Falls, officially called as Kailasakona which happened to be the one & only waterfalls located near Chennai. Throughout the year this tourist location attracts lot of tourists but only for around 6 months there will be water flowing in this waterfalls. 

Okay, getting back to our pilgrimage, our next break point 'Sridevi Tea Stall' is just 6 km away. Since we covered a larger distance yesterday evening during the post-lunch walk, now we enjoy a short distance. Otherwise, couple of years back we need to cover a 12 km stretch for the tea break and another 6 km to the breakfast which is 18 km for a morning walk.

We reached Sridevi Tea stall by 3:30 am and within 15 mins our service vehicle came with the tea Can & biscuits. 

We had our refreshments and rest and again started our walk towards the breakfast destination at a Vinayagar Temple outside of the temple town, Narayanavanam.

Again, this is one of our regular spot for past many years during which we have seen this temple renovated from a small cramped stone structure with a stone paved flooring to now a modern roofed enclosure, having a very good clean toilets and baths, with ample floored space of dining. 

The reason this is being mentioned here is - one of our major hardship during the pilgrimage is finding and getting a good place with clean toilets and bath when we start a day or end a day. In our early years, we used to adjust with lesser sanitation since nothing like that was available in our route. However in recent years, we started finding good places with clean toilets & bath for our stay. They were either newly built or our regular places got renovated because of  the  developments and lifestyle changes happening in the villages and towns. We are traveling in this road on padayatra pilgrimage for, say, more than for 30 years now and we are seeing lots and lots of changes enroute. Saying that, visit 'History of this Pilgrimage' post to know more about our group's Tirumala Padaytra Pilgrimage.

We reached the temple by 5:00 AM, covering our last pre-breakfast stretch of 6 km and waited for sometime for the temple caretakes to open the gates. We got into the temple, refreshed ourselves and 'zzzzzz' slept.

Some of the members visited the famous Kalyana Vekateshwara temple in Narayanavanam before having the breakfast.

Breakfast arrived well before 6:00 AM, this time from Chennai, by one of our regular sponsorer. A point to mention, the distance between their residence and this point is more than 100 km which will take more than 2 hours of travel. They prepared the breakfast & reached here with a full breakfast menu items by the planned time. 

On all days during the pilgrimage, since we wake up by 2:00 AM and do a good amount of morning session walk, we grow hungry by 5:00 AM itself. Hence the breakfast will be most awaited food of the day and we all will be waiting for it, like a starved pack of lions.

As soon as the breakfast arrived we devoured the hot & tasty food. 

With the breakfast completed, we started by 6:30 AM itself for another long haul of walk to our next destination to our Lunch spot.

Most of the pilgrimage members in our group feels that, this & following stretch of walk session is the toughest of all because (1) it will be always scorching hot & tiring and (2) it is by-pass road without any shops or trees to rest. So we always want to quickly finish the breakfast here and reach the next point.

Our next destination is our Lunch spot at a Government Higher Secondary School, Seetharamapuram and this is a longest stretch of post-breakfast walking, in the entire trip, which is about 18 km with a refreshment in between. As I already said most of the members in our group feels this stretch of walk session is the toughest of all. Additionally, now we have the time constraint too.

From Narayanavanam, it is one straight road to Puttur town Railway level cross, crossing which you can enter the town. Just before that, the by-pass road branches in leftside of the highway under the Trunk Road bridge, which takes you directly to the outer of the Puttur town. 

Some members preferred the Puttur by-pass road & some walked via Puttur town main road. The distance is more or less the same or in fact town route may be a bit longer but walking via town will be entertaining whereas the by-pass road will be dry and scorching.

Due to hot weather, the usual refreshment here will be Tender Coconut, served few kilometers before the place Taduku. Everyone will be looking forward for this refreshment because the day temperature will become very hot by 8:00 AM itself, even during these coldest months. 

Since there is no place to rest here, we replenished our fluids and quickly moved on.  In another 2 km we reached the Taduku Railway station Road from where we took a detour towards Appalayakunta Road, a branching on the left side of the main road.

We covered 11 km since breakfast and reached the Taduku Railway Station Road around 8:30 AM and took our detour towards Appalayakunta Road. Since we were already dehydrated by then, bought a few soft drink bottles and moved on to find a place to rest a while. 

We found a stone bench under a Tree canopy opposite to a Govenment School  & took our much needed break and had our soft drinks. 

After a 15 mins of rest we started our walk towards the our Lunch spot at Seetharamapuram, Government school, which was around 7 km from here.

After a tiring walk in a humid weather & winding, inclined road amidst of farm lands and Mango Orchids, we reached the lunch point by 10:30 AM where surprise awaited us.

Being COVID pandemic time, we did not expect the school to be functioning on that day and even during our Scouting trip, we met the school authorities and got the permission to rest there and have our lunch. But to our surprise the school was functioning and we did not have place to rest or eat.

We reached the school and settled down to rest in one of the vacant corridors in a non-functioning school block but the school authorities came and objected to our stay there. Then we explained to them that we have already got permission with the school principle few weeks back, then they agreed and we were allowed to have food and rest in a small corridor in one of the school block. That was actually a the terrible corner in the school campus and a worst place  in this whole trip we rested & had food. "Sir, it was not fair".  

Since the place was not good to rest and anyway we were running short of time, we had our food a midst dogs and monkeys & left from that place quickly by 12:00 noon. 

We started our walk towards the Prasanna Venkateshwara Temple in Applayagunta which is 2.5 km from from this place. 

We reached Appalayagunta temple, had our darshan quickly. 

Immediately after darshan, we started towards Brahmanapattu village through the roads in between the fields. It is around 6 km from here & approximately in this hot, humid weather it will take 1.5 hours to reach that place. 

Due to the seasonal rains the fields were water logged so we took the cart roads in between the fields to reach the main road at Brahmanapattu, instead of cutting across the fields. We reached there by 1:30 pm, sweating and tired. 

We were desperately in need of a break with a chilled soft drink but the shops were not having shade to rest, so we bought few cool drinks and walked to a nearest tree shade and sat for a while.

After a 30 minutes of rest we started from there.

Now is our last session of walk for the day, towards temple town Tiruchanur which is 6 km away from here and we are well within our timings. 

We reached Tiruchanur aka Alamelumangapuram town, around 3.30 pm and reached our night stay choultry by 3:45 pm. The choultry located very near to the temple entrance and so immediately we refreshed ourselves with a quick bath and started to temple to have our darshan.

Fortunately the temple was not much crowded so we had our darshan quickly, came out and had a nice coffee in a restaurant and returned to choultry. Nothing much to do now and also we have a long break in between before we start again next morning, well, leisurely after 6:00 AM. So time for a long awaited rest.

We all had our dinner around 7:30 PM in the restaurant opposite our choultry. Due to COVID lockdown restrictions all food outlets here were getting closed by 8:00PM. 

The baggage transport van was relived from this point and from here all pilgrims should be carry their backpacks / baggage by themselves, going forward.

We had almost reached to the end of our pilgrimage. From this point mostly the schedule will be based on the individuals, according to their darshan timing, return plans etc. and it will be taken care by themselves. Morning breakfast alone we will be taking together, apart from that, this night will be our last night together. 

So the usual group meeting was conducted & concluded with the suggestions and feedback session for next year pilgrimage. And with that we called off the day.

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Day - 4

Tuesday, 15 December 2020

Good Morning. It is around 5:30 AM and good to wake up in our usual timing then being a "Night Walkers"

After a hectic previous day, this day will be simple uneventful day and there are only 2 things and that will be - walking up the Tirumala footpath and having our darshan at Tirumala. The total distance up to the foothills will be just around 8 km & from their another 9 km of walk in the steep and flat footpath located in the hills of Tirumala.

We refreshed ourselves and started from the choultry to Tirupati town by 6:00 AM. It is 4 km from Tiruchanur and will take less than an hour to reach. 

It was a swift walk of 45 mins covering 4 km. 

Almost all of our members reached Tirupati well on time, around by 6:45 AM and went to our regular restaurant, Balaji Woodlands, which bang opposite to Tirupati Central Bus Stand. 

But this time the restaurant was closed due to Pandemic and we settled in another restaurant 'Lakshmi Narayana Bhavan' next to it.

The breakfast was good and importantly, they it served quick, whereas in 'Balaji Woodlands' it will always be delayed.

This is our final breakfast together for this year pilgrimage and we all completed it. 

After this point, we may not meet many of the members until next year pilgrimage except those going to darshan together. We exchanged our pleasantries and goodbyes here and moved on.

We started to the Alipiri (foothills of Tirumala) by 7:00 AM at our own paces. 

It is a 3.5 km walk to the 'Alipiri Padahala Manadapam' which is a starting point of the footpath and it will take around 1 hour of walk in an inclined roads of this hill terrain.

We reached the 'Alipiri Padahala Manadapam' around 8:00 AM

We waited for few of the members to join us

The Footpath to Tirumala

The footpath to Tirumala is total of 7.5 km consisting of 3650 steps, distributed unevenly in flat & steep terrain. Also there is a stretch of footpath alongside the ghat road for some distance. The initial & final parts of the ascend is through series of steep steps, the starting ascend from the 'Padahala Mandapam', has 2050 steps through which you will reach a grand mandapam called 'Gaali Gopuram' & the final ascend called 'Muzhangaal Mudichu', immediately after the ghat road  has a final flight of step. 

There are few security & administrative check points through this entire walkway of footpath at various spots, for counting the pilgrims, frisking for contraband materials, providing free darshan tickets, authenticating the tickets etc. So the pilgrim has to go through these portals wherever they are installed.

The Ascend

The steps to the 'Gaali Gopuram' is the toughest part while climbing the hills due to its steep and continuous steps. The time taken to reach the 'Gaali Gopuram' is a test of the fitness & endurance of the individuals. Young, fit children and youths can cover this distance in 20 minutes whereas for some people it may take more than 1.5 hours or still more.

From here this blog will be mostly about our micro group of members because as I said before, members will reach the Tirumala at different times - mostly the schedule will be based on the individuals and when they reach the Tirumala, according to their darshan timing, return plans etc. and it will be taken care by themselves.

Our group started between 8:30 to 8:45 AM from here. 

Climbing the steep steps towards 'Gaali Gopuram'

A long way ahead...

As we ascend, the weather becomes very humid & sultry. In spite of a chilled climate there will lot of sweating causing dehydration.

Though there might be shops throughout the steps, there might be a urgent need of hydration, so keep a water bottle or Glucose pack handy...

Reached the 'Gaali Gopuram' in slightly less than an hours time...

Though we have already booked our Darshan tickets, we collected our Free Darshan Ticket too at 'Gaali Gopuram' & went to have some rest for few minutes with a chilled 'Lemon, Salt & Soda' preparation which will restore our body salts.

After a 15 minutes of break, we started again. From here the path will not be steep neither there will be much steps, except for another 100 steps coming  immediately and then the final steps at the end of the ascend. So its a 'cake walk' from here.

Lot of roof structures covering the footpath & its supporting pillars, side soil, got damaged due to the recent storm & torrential rains. You can see in pics they are getting restored...

Reached the Hanuman Statue point which is almost like midway...

After this place, somewhere before the road starts, there will be a security desk where the free darshan tickets collected at 'Gaali Gopuram' will be authenticated...

Reached the point where footpath connects to the ghat road (going downhill to Tirupati Town) and from here the walk will be on the sidewalk of the road to the final ascend.

Reached the last flight of steps, called 'Muzhangaal Muduchi' which is beyond the Gopuram in the above picture. 

Again, it is a steep ascend but a shorter version.

Stone carving artwork on the ceiling of the Gopuram

We started our ascend on the steps...

And this is the final step. 

We crossed the final step just before 12:00 noon. From here we will go to the CRO (Central Reservation Office) near Tirumala Bus Stand to confirm our accommodation booking and from there to the room allocated to us.

At CRO...

At our allocated accommodation...

We reached our rooms around 1:30 PM. The darshan is at 5:00 PM, so we have ample time to have our lunch, rest, refresh & start for the darshan.

With that, Tirupati Padayatra 2020 has come to an end. As said before we may not be meeting many members until next year, except those we see during the darshan. 

Those who stayed together or in the nearby rooms and blocks, had our lunch, refreshed & went to the darshan. At darshan queue we met few others from our Padayatra group and few friends came in car directly to Tirumala and joined us for darshan.

We all had a nice, wonderful, peaceful darshan this time.

Here, this write-up comes to an end. 

At this point I would like to sincerely thank all the members of the group, service members including cooks, assistants, drivers etc., of course the organizers and sponsors, everyone playing different roles every year,  for making this Padayatra a successfully continuing event year after year without any break, since 1988.

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Below are some of the pictures taken during our padayatra & at Tirumala.

Thank you all ! 

Stay Safe & Stay Well.

Tirumala Tirupathi Padayatra (ALF) Trust®

Disclaimer: In this blog write-up, if any specific or important event is missed or incorrectly mentioned or if any detailing, place or person is incorrectly portrayed, it might have happened inadvertently without any prejudice. I sincerely request the concerned to email me the details so that it shall be validated and corrected immediately. Thank you

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