Tirumala Tirupathi Padayatra Pilgrimage: Padayatra 2021 - Pilgrimage from Chennai to Tirumala

Tirumala Padayatra 2021

Saturday, Day - 01

This day - Saturday, 18 December 2021, at 8:00 AM we started our Padayatra from our Naicker Chattiram Residence.

This year, we started from here in the morning hours itself which gave us few additional hours on our first day.

All participating members were informed to reach here by 6:30 AM, so that breakfast can be served before 7:30 AM and we can start by 8:00 AM by which we can stay on schedule. Almost all members reached on time by public or by their own transport.

So before starting our pilgrimage, everyone had their first breakfast here.

Last year during our pilgrimage, due to lesser participant count, for all our food requirements, we sourced the food from the local places wherever we stayed / halted. This time due to the higher count we decided & went ahead to hire a caterer, to prepare and serve us food for all 3 days of our pilgrimage.

Food getting prepared for the breakfast and lunch for the first day

Members arriving and gathering.

And we started with our breakfast in the terrace of our house.

For the escort and service purpose we had 2 vehicles this time, 'Tommy' Siva's Honda CRV driven by Yuvaraj & Balaji's Honda City driven by Vezhavendhan. And also a mini truck was arranged for carrying pilgrims luggage & water bottles.

Also the caterer brought a separate mini truck for carrying his team & kits.

After breakfast we started our pilgrimage by 8:00 AM.

The schedule of the day is to assemble here at Naicker Chattiram for breakfast, start from here, Lunch at Kannigaiper, afternoon tea break near Periyapalayam, dinner and night halt at Latchivakkam, covering roughly 35 KM for the day.

In an hours walk we reached the Kosasthalaiyar River bridge next to Karanodai village. Due to the recent rains, it is beautiful to see the water flowing bank to bank in this river after decades.

Crossing the bridge, we took the left road at Janapan Chattiram going towards Periyapalayam temple village.

After 2 hours of walk, our service members served us with buttermilk on the way. It was a good refreshment for the early heat of the day.

In another 30 to 45 minutes walk we reached our Lunch point at Kannigaiper Village. This being a new location in our schedule, in spite of being told that it is at the end of the village few members had difficulty in finding it. But in a while the service vehicle arrived to the spot and it was parked outside the gate for spotting the place.

By 11:30 AM itself, most of the members had reached the location and they had time to relax, rest and stretch before having lunch.

Usually during the previous years, we cover this entire distance from our start point after lunch to the night halt point at Thandalam in a single long session. But this time, having a break in-between exactly at the point where you start getting tired is a welcoming change in our schedule and many felt this to be a comforting.

In an hour, catering vehicle arrived and the lunch was served.

This time too, similar to last year, we used the opalware plates for having our food. So it was easy and comfortable for serving like a buffet.

After finishing lunch, part of the pilgrims started immediately since the weather was cloudy and also the night stay place was a bit further than our regular night halt location, though some stayed back for an extended rest before starting again.

We reached the temple town Periyapalayam around 4:00 PM and visited the Bhavani Amman Temple. There was no crowd in the temple and we were able to have our darshan quickly without any queue.

From there we started towards our night halt destination which is around roughly 10 KM at the place called 'Latchivakkam'

We reached our night halt place, Latchivakkam, around 6:00 PM.

All the pilgrims refreshed and had a good rest before dinner and around 7:30 PM dinner was served.

With that, Day-1 had come to an end and we retired for the night to start afresh tomorrow.

Sunday, Day - 02

The schedule for the day is to start from here (Latchivakkam), Tea break near Uthukottai, Breakfast at Nagalapuram, Lunch at Pitchatoor, Dinner and Night halt at Palamangalam.

We started around 2:30 AM after having a hot tea.

After a 2 hours of walk, around 4:30 AM we reached Surutapalli village which is the border between Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh state, located next to the town Uthukottai. We had our tea break there.

After the tea, we rested and waited there at Surutapalli till 5:30 AM, and had morning first darshan at Sri Pallikondeswarar Temple.

At temple, they provided us 'venpongal' as lord's prasadam.

From there we stated towards our breakfast destination which was roughly around 10 KM.

We reached Nagalapuram around 7:30 AM and reached the Sai Baba Temple

Had our breakfast, as soon as the catering van arrived with food

After breakfast, and a short rest, we started from there towards the next destination which is Pitchatoor Shivan Temple.

On the way, we visited the famous Nagalapuram Shri Vedanarayana Swamy Temple and had a good darshan

Nearing 12 noon we reached the Pitchatoor Lake

And in a short while we reached our lunch destination - Shivan Temple on the shore of Pitchatoor lake.

Lunch was ready & getting served

After lunch we rested sometime until the heat of the day subsided.

We started around 3:30 PM towards our night stay destination which is only 8 KM from here and we had ample time before sundown to cover that distance.

With a leisure walk, we reached Palamangalam around 5:30 PM and had a nice long rest before the dinner.

Just before the dinner, we had our group discussion (or call it a meeting), and discussed about the planning, scheduling and organizing of this pilgrimage; updates regarding our Tirumala Tirupathi Padayatra Trust and the other initiatives taken etc. Also had a suggestion and feedback session where many participants shared their suggestions and feedback about this yearly pilgrimage and the way it is being organized.

All suggestions and feedbacks received from the participating members were noted down and those feasible and help us to improvise this annual event will be implemented in our future pilgrimages, appropriately.

After the meeting, the dinner was ready & all had our food and we retired for the day.

With that, another day, Day-2 had come to an end and we retired for the night to start afresh tomorrow.

Monday, Day - 03

The schedule for the day is to start from Palamangalam, Tea break somewhere in between Narayanavanam Bypass, Breakfast at Punnami Junction at the end of Puthur Bypass, Lunch at Appalayagunta, Dinner and Night halt at Thiruchanur.

Started around 2:00 AM from Palamangalam after a cup of nice Tea.

Since we did not decide on a particular point for Tea Break, we stopped by 3:30 AM somewhere in between the Narayanavanam Bypass for the break and had our Morning Tea.

Started from there & reached the breakfast spot of Punnami Junction which is at the end of Puthur Bypass at around 5:30 AM.

Had enough time to rest and refreshing ourselves, before breakfast.

Breakfast was ready by 7:00 AM

After the breakfast we started from there towards Appalayagunta which was our next destination.

Usually we come to this stretch of our journey at post lunch in scorching sun but this time due to revised schedule we were able to cover this stretch during the early hours of the day.

However still it was one of the longest, toughest & tiring part of our journey.

On our way to Appalayagunta Temple.

By the time we reached the Appalayagunta Temple it was around 11:00 AM.

After darshan at the temple we went to the choultry which was nearby, where the lunch was arranged.

After a short rest, around 12:30 noon we all had our lunch and some started immediately and some rested a while before starting the final segment of walk for the day.

The walk from Appalayagunta to the next village Bramanapattu, our route goes through some fields, stream and a muddy terrain so it was hectic and challenging.

On our way to Bramanapattu village through a muddy canal.

Reached Bramanapattu village around 3:00 PM and continued our journey towards Thiruchanur.

During our second scout trip in December we came till this place to ensure the route is safe and commutable for pilgrimage after the heavy torrential rain and found it to be good to continue with our plan.

However now while walking from Bramanapattu to Thiruchanur, we found at two places the bridges were washed away and temporary arrangements were made for the travelers to cross that place.

Reached Thiruchanur aka Alamelumangapuram by 4:15 PM and went to the choultry where the night stay was arranged.

After freshening up, we went to Sri Padmavathi Ammavari Temple and had nice darshan there.

Around 8:00 PM, we had our dinner in a restaurant opposite to the choultry we stayed.

With that we retired for the day with a long night rest since tomorrow we do not need to start as early as other days in the past. A good 8 hrs. of sleep.

Tuesday, Day - 04

This day is our last day of this pilgrimage and we are almost at Tirupathi and the schedule is to start from here Alamelumangapuram, Breakfast at Tirupathi, reach Alipiri & start our ascend to Tirumala through footpath. After reaching Tirumala, all pilgrims to have darshan according to their pre-booked darshan slots & return back to their home as per their own arrangements.

We woke up by 4:30 or 5:00 AM and freshen up ourselves to start our last day of this pilgrimage and last leg of our journey towards Tirumala.

We started from Thiruchanur Choultry around 5:30 AM towards Tirupathi.

Thiruchanur Temple Tank - 'Theppakulam'

It just around 4 km distance & we planned to reach Tirupathi around 6:30 AM for breakfast at our usual hotel located opposite to the Central Bus Stand.

Walking through the town of Tirupathi at the early hours of the day.

Reached our Breakfast location - Balaji Woodlands Hotel opposite to Central Bus Stand.

At restaurant, waiting for breakfast & the remaining members to join ...

Though the pilgrimage is yet to complete, technically this is our last place where all our fellow pilgrims will be meeting each other or having food together. Also this is the last place were TTPT organizers will be available next to you for any immediate assistance.

After this point, the pilgrims will reach the Alipiri (foothills of Tirumala from where footpath and Ghat Road starts) at their own pace based on their darshan booking time, have their darshan and return home on their own.

After breakfast we started towards Alipiri which takes another 45 minutes, roughly.

On our way to Alipiri, through the Tirupathi town at busy morning hours.

At a point, enroute to Alipiri, we can see the 'Gaali Gopuram' which will be our first staging point while ascending the sacred Tirumala Hills.

Near Alipiri, at starting point of our ascend.

After a short rest, we started our ascend.

On our way towards 'Gaali Gopuram'

After nearly an hour of steep ascend, finally reached the 'Gaali Gopuram'

Having a short refreshment break at one of the shop at 'Gaali Gopuram'

Started our ascend after the short break

Reached the Hanuman Statue point which is roughly halfway to Tirumala from Alipiri.

And that was the final step of our ascend and also the 4 day pilgrimage - we reached the sacred adobe of Lord Venkateshwara, the Tirumala.

After this point we go to the Accommodation booking office (CRO) and collect our respective room allocation slips which we have already booked.

After refreshing at room we went to the darshan and had a nice, wonderful darshan of the lord Venkateshwara.

With that we have come to the end of this year (2021) Tirumala Tirupathi Padayatra. Here would like to thank all the members, participants, sponsors, organizers & admin group, support members including Drivers, Catering team, Service members etc. for their tireless efforts and coordination for making this yearly pilgrimage a successful event.