Road to Tirumala

Tirumala is a range of seven hills. From Tirupati bus station every 15 minutes there is a bus that goes to Tirumala, a distance of 22 kms to the top of one of the hills where the Famous Lord Balaji Temple is. The road is very picturesque and here are some photos.

Here they actually check the cars by asking people to come out and even have a luggage scanner.

People actually walk up the hills too- and for them these sheds for walking exist.

Tirupati town from above the hills.

Slide show below and pictures of some places inside Lord Balaji's Temple City at Tirumala are here. Natually we are not allowed to take photos inside the temple.

Lord Balaji Tirumala

The Lord Balaji Temple Dome from far using my Telephoto lens. It is fully covered with real Gold Folks!
Lord Balaji is Krishna of North India. Same God you find in ISKCON people worshipping all over the world.

This is the richest God in India with a total collection in donation of more than Rs 1 crore per day.

One cannot take camera inside so you have to do with this from me. Do not think the temple is small. It is only the main dome from afar. The temple is a huge building and the temple city TIRUMALA is India's Answer to the Vatican City, except that the latter is treated as a country and this is just a place in a city called Tirupati in the state of Andhra Pradesh in a country called India.

The size of the Prasad or Offering to God tells it all !!
"Prasad" means  any food offered to God in worship. God is supposed to eat it and bless it. So you eat it later with reverence. Here it is the Famous TIRUPATHI (Tirupati) Laddu (sweet called "Laddu")

Ok. Here are some photos of the Temple City or Town - very much self sufficient with its own adminstration etc.

This was round. I had eaten a part before I remembered to take the Photo. This is not sweet but good! This is also got from the Temple.

Look at those solar panels. This town run by Tirumala Deva Trust (TTD or something like that) and feeds more than a lakh devotees free every day when there is peak rush. They also hve houses to house the devotees who can book their stay in advance. Max one day they can stay.

You have got to see the Laddu Counters to believe it. I went to the temple in the night paying VIP entrance fee of Rs 500/- (that itself is another story. as I said even in VIP category you are different types of VIP. - Basically here VIP means you are not free devotee and so you can avail one hour in the morning and one hour in the evening on Monday to Friday only when it is called VIP break- no free entrance allowed. Hence you get less rush. But do not fool yourself. I was lucky because this was exam time!

You even have a SUPERINTENDENT LADDU! IMAGINE the HR of this Organisation!! Maybe the so called HR professionals can take a leaf out this and learn something.

Here the Ratha or Chariot is taken and people can sit around and see.

This is the backside or behind.. or whatever...

They are offering Coconuts here. Hundi means? Well whatever you understand..

Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams

Oh My God!
Tirupathi!
Lord Balaji's Temple!

• Tirumala!  The place where the Temple town is.
• Seven Hills! The hills, one of which bears Tirumala.
• 600 Yrs old!! The temple structure made of stone.
• 60,000 Pilgrims / Visitors on an ordinary weekday when there is NO RUSH to max 100,000 (One lakh) on rush days Or is 3 lakhs!!
• 1.5 Crores (10,000,000 INR) collections in cash alone from the "Hundi" (Collection Pot or cloth made collection bag) per day. Forget the other daily contributions flowing in every day from all over.
• Gold plated temple walls.
• With its Gold collections suspected to be the second largest, if not larger than Indian, Gold Reserve in India.
• A Laddu (round sweet - Tirupati Laddu attains the size of a tennis ball!) distribution area with counters looking like bus ticket counter on ground floor and first floor
• 20 Kms by road if driving, 8 kms if walking from Tirupathi Town to the Temple area on the seven Hills.
• 1 to 1.5 kms height of the  hills.

Stupendous!
I am here! At Tirupati.
I never go inside any temple for one simple reason.. the Crowd!! and of course I also subscribe to the belief that I do not have to visit temples to meet God!
But I came here for work, and due to our connections here I was taken to the Temple and WOW WOW WOW!
When I went inside  awe filled inside me!
I was carried away to a different world!
Amazing!'
I cannot explain without photographs! Because without photographs you will not realise what Tirupathi Lord Balaji's temple is!
I will try to collect photos from booklets sold outside and shoot my own photos from outside and host them here.. but for now.. enjoy the information.

In conclusion I can only say folks.. Tirupathi or Tirupati is the nearest Answer of India to Vatican City! Because it is complete in itself and has a separate administration and earnings and so on.

The only difference is that Vatican City is treated as country while Tirupati is very much a part of India  and also state of Hyderabad!!!

Here are some links
and some more information. These are the official sites.
Pilgrims can visit Tirupati very easily. Everything is well arranged.

You can see the photos exhibited by them since I have none.... here

Let's see if I can get some photos next  Yesss.. I got some photos they are posted in my next post here!

Pulicat Bird Sanctuary

Indian Pond Heron.

Indian Open Billed Stork.

Above are some photos of Birds I saw at Pulicat. The boat ride I took will be hosted later.

Frankly, there is a lot of information about Pulicat and how to reach there but nobody seems to be telling the full facts that Birds are not easily seen here! In fact somewhere, maybe on the Forest deptt web page I saw Flamingos breed at Pulicat, but I saw not a single Flamingo. The sites says Oct-Nov are best season, but when I come here I am told Flamingos will be seen in March only. So there you are!!!! Facts vs Fiction! And then maybe the Birds have stopped Coming?? But who will acknowledge that from the Authorities?

Here are some links for example

http://www.indianetzone.com/6/pulicat.htm, 

http://www.asiarooms.com/travel-guide/india/chennai/excursions-from-chennai/pulicat-in-chennai.html,

http://frissko.blogspot.com/2009/02/pulicat-aka-pazhaverkadu.html

http://srgopalan.livejournal.com/

What I learnt from these sites and also from personal attempts to reach the Right Place are these:-

1. There are at least three entry points to the Pulicat Lake and also more which are not very marked or known.
1. Tada - A right turn under the Flyover at TADA (there will be a Liquor Shop on the left side when you are facing towards Nellore- since most look for such things so am using this landmark provided of course the shop exists in future). Take a right turn under this flyover and then take Left turn. Where to take the left turn? Drive slow and ask. It is near. This will take you to a boatinf point.
2. Sulurpet - A round turn junction road 3km after Sulurpet and there towards Sriharikota. You will not get any boating point here. But this will be better as you can see Birds on the marshy lands both sides of the Sri Harikota Road and also before Sri Harikota you will find a Right turn which takes you on a untarred road inside by the side of the water area and here there are chances you will see birds.
3. Ponneri - Both above are in Andhra Pradesh State since Pulicat Lake is the water between the mainland India and the Sri Harikota Island formed from the Bay Of  Bengal entering at open points. The point to turn right turn from NH 5 road towards Ponneri  is 9 kms from the 1st Toll Gate from Chennai and from there again you have to travel 13 kms to Ponneri and then 17 kms towards the Pulicat Village.
4. There are some other points to reach the lake too I am sure. Because I went to the Pulicat lake through another point, cannot say where I took the right turn now, because there is no mark and by chance I had asked someone standing on the road and he said 'oh you just take a U-turn back towards Chennai and immediately on the left side you will find a road (there is a shop or shops at the entrance point and the road is one that looks like one going into a village) and the road actually crosses a railway crossing (there is a Bump which is rectangular and touches the bottom of low bottomed cars!! SHIT!!) but this take you to a point where you can boat.. but do not want to see birds.. here you cannot. Just boating..
2. 
   
   
   The Pulicat Lake got its name from the name of the Village. The lake water is placid with no waves. There are places where the depth is not much and here are the places where you will find birds. But be warned... Oct-Nov is NOT the best season as everybody says... if you want to see birds easily. I mean birds are there, but not so openly on the lake..All you will see are seagulls.. and that too frm far. If you go near the boat engine sound will make them fly away and you cannot go near because of the shallow water. So you need VERY powerful Binoculars or at least 500 mm Telephoto!
3. 
   
   You can see some birds near the Ponneri-Pulicat Road too. But if you want to see more, I am now thinking you need the right gear like Knee High Gum Boots and Walking Stick to support you in the marshes! Yes! Because you should actually go into the marshy lands and bushes and trees to see or else if you think you will just boat (they will charge 400- 500-600 depending on your ability to haggle) and birds will make an appearance for you, then you are highly mistaken! 

In fact the best places to see birds and feel happy that you have seen are

1. Vedanthangal-  in Tamilnadu this place is a closed place and lots and lots of birds are here- Plus you can see some Peilicans and Painted Storks. which are so large that you can see them clearly.. Here you can just walk around and see.
2. Nelapattu - in Andhra Pradesh where you can see lots of birds again being a closed place and you can see Open Bill Storks which are bigger birds. Of course both here and at Vedanthangal you can see other birds too. Here too you can just walk around and see.
3. Kodikkarai or Point Calimere.. This is the best place to see Salt Water Birds and even Flamingos if you are lucky. Here you can go by boat and to islands and get down to the islands and then see birds.. Here there are many places to see, more in my post that will come up later.. Please read there.

Now the Flash Slide show of the Birds.

WISHING IN THE NEW YEAR 2010

I used one of my own images from the pending collection of Images from India that I am yet to host here.. I am so lethargic nowadays.. Let's see if the new year changes me!!

Belum Caves, Andhra Pradesh

After one night at Horseley Hills I started at 7 am downward and after 6 kms hill drive reached the plains to the fork area where right goes to Madanapalle and back to Chennai. I took the left road to Anantapur. One thing you will notice that the land is all barren around you.

I wonder why Tatas did not build Nano Factory here! Mamata Banerjee of Trinamool Congress is right. Business people building factories on crop land when we have so much barren land and yet not that far from cities too (Bangalore will be some 100 kms? or little more? from this place at least) is not accepted. Anyway I diverted from travel to Politics and Economics. Let me come back.

So here as you see on both sides of road no greenery but only barren land and rocks. You drive on NH-219 to Anantapur till Vattalapalli (Palli means Village in Telegu - this point is around 30 kms ahead of Anantapur and 66 kms or so from Madanapalle) where you turn right to Tadipatri at the signboard below- 59 kms from here.

This is Anantapur bypass road to Tadipatri. after driving along this narrow road, of 34 kms and which is not difficult because you will be allowed to overtake by the trucks at places where they can. Once you reach a main road T Junction where left goes to Anantapur - this is the Anantapur Tadipatri Road. From here Tadipatri is 25 kms exactly takes 40 mts to cover.

From tadipatri Belum Caves is 30 kms. Tadipatri is a large town but do not expect it to be anything like towns near metro cities. This is an area where only mining is done. Eg Cement and Granite so the town and the rest of the road will be covered by white dust only. From Tadipatri go straight and at the first junction (a big one) take left turn. You get a bridge, cross it and then turn right after that immediately 2-3 kms near an IndianOil Petrol Pump. The road then will go through Granite Cutting factories on both sides.

You reach a T-Junction. Here you turn left straight to L&T -Ultratech Cement Factory after 10 kms.

At the factory take a right turn & go straight to a junction again where there will be a small signboard pointing ahead to Belum Caves. 4 kms from here. Take the straight road. Here you will find all hills devastated by granite mining and cement mining.

A set of Hills look like the Sphynx of Egypt!

Finally after driving this barren road you can see Belum Caves from afar.

Belum Caves is the second largest cave in Indian sub-continent and the longest caves in plains of Indian Subcontinent. Belum Caves derives its name from "Bilum" Sanskrit word for caves. In Telugu language, it is called Belum Guhalu. Belum Caves has a length of 3229 meters, making it the second largest natural caves in Indian Subcontinent. Belum Caves have long passages, spacious chambers, fresh water galleries and siphons. The caves reach its deepest point (120 feet from entrance level) at the point known as Patalganaga.

These underground caves are located under a flat agricultural field and have three well like cavities with the central one being the main entrance. The exquisite stalactite and stalagmite formations and the imaginative colour illumination are the main attractions of the Belum Caves, which were adjudged as an "Unique Eco-Tourism Project" by the Government of India.

Belum caves is located at Kolimigundla Mandal of Kurnool district which is about 320 kms from Hyderabad.These caves present a breathtaking view.Attractions. Around 2km are now open to public.*Main passage, which is horizontal begins after descending 20 metres through convenient steps provided for safe entry. Awe-inspiring stalactite and stalagmite formations throughout the caves. The cave system consists of spacious chamber, fresh water galleries and siphons. Soft illumination throughout, enhancing the beauty of the caves.Andhra Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation (APTDC) has provided pathways through the length of the caves and has created fresh-air-shafts for the convenience of the tourists. Canteen, washroom and toilet facilities have also been created near the entry point.Tourist can spend an hour or two visiting the caves.

Main Sections of Belum Caves:

Simhadwaram — Simhadwaram means lions gate. It is a natural arch of stalactites formed in the shape of a lion’s head;

Kotilingalu Chamber - This section contains stalactite formations which are akin to shiva lingams. This section has thousands of such stalactite giving it a surrealistic look. It has one huge pillar formed due to stalactite and stalagmite joining together.

Patalaganga - It is a small perennial stream which disappears into the depths of the earth. This stream flows from the southeast to northwest. It disappears and is believed to be heading towards a well at the Belum village, located 2 km away from the caves.

Saptasvarala Guha or Musical Chamber - Saptasvarala Guha means chamber of seven notes. The stalactite formations in this chamber reproduce musical sounds when these are struck with a wooden stick or knuckles. This section was opened to the public in 2006.

Dhyan Mandir or Meditation Hall - This section is near to the entrance. An interesting formation at Meditation hall looks like a bed with pillow to recline. The local legend has it that in ancient times many sages use to live here. This section was used by Buddhist Monks. Many relics of Buddhist period were found here which are now housed in museum at Ananthapur.

Thousand Hoods - This section has amazing stalactite formations shaped like hood of Cobra. The stalactite formations on the ceiling looks as if thousands of cobras have opened their hoods.

Banyan Tree Hall - This section has a huge pillar with stalactites hanging from the ceiling. This gives a look of Banyan Tree with its aerial roots when seen from below. The locals call it "Voodalamari" since it looks like a Banyan Tree with its aerial roots hanging from the branches.

Mandapam - This is a huge area inside the cave with magnificent stalactite structures on the sides giving it a look of a hall with pillars.

Slide Show for other photos.

Belum caves are located in Kolimigundla Mandal near the Belum Village 110 km from Kurnool via Banaganapalle ont he state highway. It is l85 km from Ananapur, 30 km from Tadipatri , 270 km from Bangalore, 320 km from Hyderabad and 500 kms from Chennai. Chennai distance measured in my route as above.

Some more links