(Amidst grand
Hyderabadi wedding)(6th to 9th Dec.14)
The month of November had been a
month of rest for me; I mean I did not take any outstation trip, rather I spent my week days with full attendance
in Office, and spent the weekends visiting friends, partying, going for movies, sleeping
etc. In a nutshell; a full month break from travels & trips! ;-)
And then came December, when I
came back to form, and the first opportunity came in the form of Rishika's (My
Roomie cum friend) wedding. I along with Deepali, my friend cum travel partner,
had already booked tickets, for how could we miss such a golden chance, bole to
'ek teer se 2 nishana'! :P The best part about Rishika's wedding was
that her marriage ceremony was to be solemnized in Tirumala, as per her
Mother-in-law's wish, and the reception was to be held in her home city,
Hyderabad, the city of Nawabs. So, with all the tempting bonuses, here goes the
account of our tour:-
Day: 1, Tirumala, Tirupati
(6th December)
We flew by 6:30 am early morning
flight to Chennai, which is the nearest Airport to Tirumala, from where we were
supposed to take a road trip to Tirumala. We were already excited, and the
magical sunrise, after 5-10 minutes taking off of the flight, from up above was
real treat to our eyes. The deep Orange rays, breaking the early morning Grey
below, held our gaze, till we lost sight of it. :-)
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| The blessing! |
After almost 2 hours
flight, we landed at Chennai at 8:30 am, and got out of the airport quickly. But
then, it wasn't an easy job for us to get a cab, go to bus station and have a
smooth travel to the dream destination. Oh, the language barrier! We checked at
two of the nearby taxi booking counters, but they denied in Tamil, which we
could read through their gestures only. Walking a little ahead we inquired from
a security officer, about how to get a bus from Chennai to Tirupati, and he
tried his best to explain to us, using Tamil and English, of which we could
catch 1 words only 'CMBT' which we took for CMPT. We assumed that CMPT would be
a place next to Tirupati and the bus would drop us at Tirupati. Later, after
talking to 3-4 other Tamilians, we came to know that CMPT is CMBT (Chennai
Moffussil Bus Station). LOL :P Finally we managed to board a Local bus (No.
80A), struggling through the crowd to CMBT, though we had to go standing. Hmm.
Then from CMBT we got into Andhra Pradesh State Transport bus to Tirumala.
Well, here we came to know that Tirumala is some 25 kms farther from Tirupati.
(Andhere me teer maarne ki hamari aadat hai, we can't help it) Lol. It took us around 3 hours to reach Tirumala,
and by that time it was already 2:00 pm. We took a cab from where the bus
dropped to the guest house. Rishika came to receive us at the gate, and there
we saw the bride, all excited about her weeding, looking gorgeous in her Telugu
avtaar; wearing a beautifully simple silk saree and accessories. She took us
first for the lunch, introduced us to her parents and cousins and then showed
us our room. Have you seen a bride, who is so busy running here and there on
her own wedding day? Well, I have not. Lol, and indeed we teased her a lot for
that, but she was more concerned about
our as well as her other friends' comforts that she was playing more the role
of a hostess than a bride. Cute, isn't it? Of course, it is! ;-)
Well, after the lunch and getting
fresh, we left for exploring Tirumala. As far as darshan was concerned, we came
to know that it's not possible to have one, due to so mush rush and all, and
also we didn't have that much patience to stand in queue for hours to just have
one glimpse of Lord Vishnu's statue inside. So not knowing where to go, we
followed our own steps. We kept walking on the road, till a gate attracted our
attention, and we said in unison,”Let's see what’s there.” And then
what, we had already entered the premises of the Tirumala temple. It was so
huge, and beautifully built and managed. Though there were lacs of devotees around, who would have come
from all over India, but amazing to see that the entire temple complex was neat
and clean. So, we started taking parikarma of the temple, and got a chance to
have darshan in on of the temples 'Varahmira Temple', though we had to stand in
queue for half an hour. We had that much of patience and stamina at least. :)
Then we went up the stairs, towards the area where we saw people lighting
butter lamps and praying to the Lord. We bought one lamp and lighted it. The
sun was at the verge of setting by then, and the entire area looked beautiful.
After that we roamed around the shopping area, from where Deepali bought some
bangles and stuffs, had our evening tea and then started our return walk. It
was quite a memorable experience. Though we missed the darshan of main temple,
but we were more than satisfied with the other awe-inspiring sights it gave us.
It was really amazing to see people's faith in the Lord, inside Tirumala
temple, for I have seen many people including men and women, who had shaved
their hair and donated it to the temple, at the same time praying for the
special wishes to be fulfilled that they
hold close to their hearts, and when the wish gets fulfilled at some point of
time, they come back again to the temple to Thank the Lord. 'Jai Tirumala! Bless your devotees!'
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| The magnificent temple and two happy faces! |
Day: 2, The wedding day & Tirumala Hills
(7th December)
We got up at 5:30 am, as the
marriage was to be solemnized at 8:45 am, and Rishika had instructed us to be
ready by 7:00 am. When we reached the marriage venue, the people had already
assembled there, and the function, I mean the Pandit’s recitation of mantras
for groom, in the accompaniment of some musical instruments, being played by a
group, just at the entrance, had already started. We took our seats and sat
there for a while, then went at the backstage to see Rishika, who was looking
damn beautiful, in a green Hyderabadi silk saree with minimal make-up, unlike
many of Indian brides, who hide their real selves behind huge bridal make-ups.
Lol. As it was our first ever experience to be a part of Hyderabadi wedding occasion,
it felt quite interesting and unique to us; the way the pandit was reciting
mantras in Telugu with full energy, hooked everyone's attention, and two of us
kept laughing when others were laughing, though we didn't understand a word of
what was being said. But everything looked quite beautiful and fun-filled. We
enjoyed a lot and didn't get bored even for a second, and were there throughout
the marriage ceremony, for which later we got praises from Rishika and her
parents, as she told when she came back to Mumbai. Cute us, I know! ;)
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| The unique Hyderabadi Shadi! |
The wedding ceremony was over by
10: 15 am, and the couple left for the darshan, while we set out for our next
exploration; this time taking the other direction of the road. We had tea at a
nearby stall, and asked the tea vendor about the places to see around there,
but he was like,”No english, no hindi, only Telugu.” We had no
words, but to sip the tea quietly. Lol So, after finishing the tea, we left on
our own, allowing our feet to take us wherever they wanted, and they took us
towards a beautiful path, leading to the highest point of Tirumala hills, named
Niyamagiri hills. We had no idea how far it would be, still we kept climbing.
Suddenly, we found a Taxi wala, and asked about the hills, and he offered a
package tour to show us 3 places; Shirivari Padalu, Rock garden and a temple.
Though we wished to walk that stretch of 3 kms, but due to time constraint, as
we had to be back by 12:30 pm, we decided to hire the cab. And glad that we
took that decision, as those places were worth a visit, and we saved our time
as well. At Shirivari padalu, we took darshan of Lord vishnu's foot-steps,
around which a small temple had been built on hill top, and from there we could
have a good view of entire Tirumala, including the temple. Then at rock garden,
we took delight in watching different types of rocks, of different geological
formations, and took our time to pose for photos. The 2500 million years old
arch shaped rock, which claimed to be world famous looked quite intriguing, but
we couldn't go near, as barricades had been formed around it, in order to
protect it. But it looked beautiful. Hmm. Then, at descending down and down, we
reached the small temple, dedicated to Lord Shiva, paid our obeisance, and
returned back to the guest house with beautiful memories. We had our lunch, and as there was still some
times left, we took our walk towards third direction, and walked on the
beautiful road, which led us to the dam, the scenic beauty around which
mesmerized our souls.
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| Glad that we took the right path! |
As per schedule, we were to leave
at 3:30 from Tirumala to Tirupati, from where we all would be traveling along
to Hyderabad, which is an overnight train journey from Tirupati. So, we
finished all our sight seeing on right time, and joined the wedding group for
the memorable journey to Hyderabad. Memorable, cuz, it was my second train
journey, that too after more than a year. So, I was excited as usual. So, here
we said good bye to Tirumala; the magnificent temple, the beautiful 7 hills,
and the meeting point of our country's very twin sisters 'western ghats and
eastern ghats. :-)
Day: 3, Hyderabad Darshan and the grand Reception
(8th December)
We reached Secunderabad railway
station at 7:00 am, from where the pre-booked bus took us to Hyderabad. As the
reception was to be held after 7:30 pm in the evening, we had already planned
to explore the city of Nawabs. But before that we had a warm welcome at
Rishika's house by her parents for breakfast. It's so sweet of them to arrange
for our comfortable stay and cab for our sight seeing. The warmth with which
aunty ji put tilak on our foreheads, and gifted us suits, was quite touching
and full of love. They took full care of us amidst of their busy schedule, for
which we pay our full gratitude to them. God bless them!
Well, the city of Hyderabad like
every other city, has its own charm. But let me tell you one thing, the city is
overcrowded, there are buildings all over
spread over a large area, and the traffic, it was huge. We got stuck in
traffic at every few interval. Still, we
were able to cover all the places, like Lumbini garden, Hussain sagar lake,
Char Minar, Chohmalla Palace and Golconda fort on time. All these places have their own attractions
and history, mostly connected with the Deccani nawabs, the same nawabs about
whom we had already read in our history text books. So, it was again like,
history coming alive in front of our own eyes.
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| Nawabi sheher ki seher! |
After whole days fatafat-fatafat
Hyderabad darshan, at night we attended the Grand Hyderabadi Wedding reception.
We had been so punctual to reach every place on time, including the reception,
for the Bride and Groom came over to stage after 5 mnts of our arrival at the
hall. Unlike the wedding, in the reception, there were no limit to the people
coming. There were flood of people around, coming and going, coming and going.
And everybody lined up for their turn to go to the stage and wish and bless the
newly wed couple. And the couple deserve all appraisal for their stamina to
keep standing and greeting and receiving wishes from every single person,
smiling at everyone, and posing with every group for pictures. I guess they had
been standing like this for more than 3 hours, and I can never imagine myself
in their position. Hats off to the beautiful couple for that, and here I leave my
wishes and blessings to them for the new journey they are going to undertake in
their life. :-P
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| The Grand Reception! |
Day: 4, Ramoji Filmcity
(9th December)
Our taxi was supposed to pick us
up at 9:00 am, but it reached at 9:45. I guess, no fault of the driver, the
traffic in Hyderabad was such that. We reached Ramoji at 10:30, which was
around 40 kms from the main city. As its away from the main city, located at
Anajpur village, it was a different world in itself. There was whole lot of
tourists around, but no need to pull and push through the crowd, as it was very
big, with full arrangement for buses at tourists’ disposal. They charged entry
fee for Rs. 800/- each, and it was worth that. We had already heard a lot of
words of praises of the film city from those friends who had visited it
earlier, and yes they were all right. It
has a record in Guinness book of world records, for being the largest film-city
in the world. The city would have been created from tourist point of view as well
as from film-making point of view; smart Ramoji of course! It was Tuesday, not
a holiday, still people in lacs were there with families and friends, not to
speak of or guess how many tourists it attracts on a weekend. The bus dropped
us at Eureka, from where our fun time started. Dome theater show, magicians
show, stunt show, spirit of the Ramoji show, lights camera action in Hollywood
style show, the 4D free fall at Ramoji tower and many more at Eureka, took us
almost 4 hours to finish, though we were running from one point to another, as
we wanted to cover the entire film city and also we didn’t want to miss our
flight. Lol We two were the fata-fat girls out there! Then we ran to the red bus, which would take
us for sightseeing around the Film-city, which would take 1 hour to finish. The
bus took us around, showing various make-shfit sets of films, replicas of
Mughal gardens, mysore palace, vrindavan garden, gateway of india, airport,
railway station etc. We were given chances to alight out of the bus and take
walking tours of some beautiful gardens,like Japanese garden, hawa mahel, birds
park, butterfly park, Budha's caves etc.
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| The Ramoji fun! |
We got free by 4:30 pm, and
started our return journey with tummies full of exciting memories. Visiting the
film-city, we felt we got back to our childhood, with the same fun, thrill and
shrill, without caring for what the next person will think if we shout or chirp
like kids, for here everyone becomes a kid himself. So, here I end the note, as it's already quarter past eleven, and I have to catch 6:00 o'clock early morning flight to Madurai for my next tour. Good night and God bless you all. Keep smiling."~ Nawi.
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