And Mona Lisa Smiles: December 2008

Giving goose bumps to the forgotten classical senses .
Like sitting in a music concert and nodding your head surrendering to the excellence of musical nuances …which touches your soul .
Listen-Piya tora kaisa abhiman –Shubha Mudgal from Raincoat.
Download female version from here and male version from here .

Baanwra Mann(Male) -Swanand Kirkire from Hazaaron Khwaishein Aisi , on similar grounds .
Hindustani was learned decades back when thyself was incapable of writing it’s script , but was able enough to sing.

PS0 : This blog's URL is going to change in few days .Interested or frequent readers (if any.....hmmm........chuck the "modesty"…...if many ) can contact the author for the new link. Others can now rest in peace. Nope , this time it shall not be broadcasted unless asked for …..will lurk around some where in the world wide web.
One needs some space ,
the one who writes ....
the one who reads .

PS1:Label-the-posts bug has bitten me recently.
PS2:The same way add-tools-to-your-blog sting earlier. Resulting in decors like National Geographic Pod and Cheeky Quotes.

Pre-requisite: PapikondaluTrip-part1 (Optional).Contradictory I am.

Disclaimer: The Martians can rest in peace as Venusians have decided not to pass any derogatory comments. Though, they hail from Mars and we from Venus , today we all coexist as Earthlings .Peace.White flag hoisted.

Places Visited: Tirupati + 40kms = And Talakona.

Note: Some travelers have been designated with new nicknames coz of their obvious hidden skills showcased during the trip.
The Travelers : Once DQ now Muneem Ji aka Kuber , Once JhansikiRani now balti , Comrade and thyself. Yup , once again a subset of- gang of girls.

Last minute tickets cum Darshan booking ->C/o JhansikiRani .
We all should have at least one uncle posted in some influential Govt. dept for such favors .

And the story begins……..
“Every day I want to fly stay by my side.............” sings my X –mobile around 11ish in the night .A voice from the other end speaks , we r planning Tirupati trip , u in?
Next day I inform the voice on the other side – yes, I am in .Same evening ,we are found in Padmavati express A/c coaches. Yeah , it all happened in 24 hours time slot.

All kinds of yummy eatables(read fattening) were bought for dinner and train was boarded . It was filled with families majorly crying babies for mundan and grand pa’s- ma’s for teerath. As everything as usual happened just-in-time, arrangement for water was not made. Anyhows ,pet pujja started .Result, thyself started feeling thirsty. one hour passed ……….no sign of panni wallas. Meanwhile ,we played one round of HOM (heights of misunderstanding - >bhai bandhoo of Pictionary minus the kit). Another hour passed , thirstiness multiplied. The very sight of a used Bibo water bottle of a co-passenger intensified my water craving. Comrade offered mints and Balti offered Binaca mouth fresher to curb it, but no vain .All I wanted was water and that too of Bibo brand . The news spread among the co –passengers and a “generous uncle” wait ! nope, I wasn’t offered water …we were just informed that Kachiguda station will come in sometime and there we can buy it. Undo “generous”.

DAY 1
Next day early morning we arrived at the holy land. Balram JhansikiRani’s old helper took us to a 3-star hotel and we checked-in. After an hour rest we started our quarter-life-teerath -yatra. Temple after Temple , Pooja after Pooja .This went on till we finished the 8th Mandir visit. They were mostly of goddesses –Wife’s of Balaji or some other avatars. Throughout this tour Comrade and JhansikiRani feed MuneemJi and thyself (the religiously challenged ones) with mythological gyaan .Of course Balram the guide added to it .Of which the most unheard was -one of the Balaji’s wife was a Muslim.

The uphill journey through the ghat road to visit the richest god’s temple commenced .Unusually we reached Tirumala before time. The weather was amazingly very Ooty type-chilled, foggy. we spent 1 hour in one of the various flora rich parks .After north-east exposure , the greenery here was very gardenly for me , but it had its own beauty.

We had another hour to kill. Ajj kal ek rupai mein kya milta hai? Nope , we weren’t running out of money .Our MuneemJi had Kuber ka khazana from which money kept flowing .We were running out of options and it started drizzling .
Ek rupai mein Tirupati Museum ka ticket milta hai. Sasta aur tikaoo barish se bachaney ka upay. The dekko of the exhibits slightly tickled the sleeping archeologist in me. The same way Columbia launch tickled the sleeping Astronaut .

Darshan
The sight of the free darshan queue -mother of all queues, housed in a three storey building , left me bewildered. We assembled and waited in a cellar for the privileged VIP break darshan inside the temple . After an hour the short break was announced and we swiftly walked through the fenced route towards the main. Suddenly on the way I realized I wasn’t carrying my wallet , Damn it ! I felt a strange sinking feeling, immediately I signaled Balram that I need to go back , he asked us to continue and himself headed back to the waiting cellar.
Twisted irony 1: An announcement was made “ Hence forth darshans with recommendation are being cancelled owing to heavy rush”.
Twisted irony 2: Balram had the tickets and ID for VIP passes , his presence here was undoubtedly needed .
Twisted irony 3: The small VIP queue with us sandwiched in the middle was quickly nearing the Balaji Idol.
Meanwhile I started listing what all I can lose->PAN card, 1 ATM card, office id card, some more random id cards , 2k cash , last but not the least my Bagget wallet L. Fortunately, when on travel I leave my credit and extra atm cards at home.
Queries wandered through the mind->How to contact (mobiles are inaccessible), whom to contact, where to get the card number from….etc….
Another thought knocked me - is this my agnostic belief or my take on Tirupati - commercialized saga, being questioned by the almighty itself.

Balram appeared just in time and signaled assurance. Jaan mein jaan ayee !
Immediately the D-moment arrived, small pooja-archana was done , we got the sight of Tirupati Balaji dressed up luminously with a divine aura around and Tathastu !
Must say it was magnificent and soothing.
After coming out we marched viciously towards the security and there , after some identity match they handed over my baby. Apparently I had left the purse in the waiting cellar while playing with a kid. The sweeper found it and handed over to the security.

DAY 2
Trip with no adventure ? Naah!
Next day we headed for a 2 hours on road journey to Talakona. The ride was pleasure as the car zigzagged through the 7 hills .
We reached a sanctuary and had to let go of the car as further journey was possible only on foot. Necessary stuff and clothes for change were packed , while we were preparing for all this , we heard a ghastly shriek .My ear drums were almost ripped apart as the source was sitting just next to me – JhansikiRani. Ok , we were in the middle of a jungle and it was their home , obviously the wild monkeys around dint liked it and one of them jumped inside the car through the open window, Luckily the shout scared the monkey as well and it drifted outside .All windows were rolled up and we waited it to go.
It started drizzling and we started our trek for the waterfall. On the way photo shoots were done , Comrade(bugged with new interest in photography)was the camera women most of the time. Next 15 minutes we were able to hear the sound of water thrashing on the rocks .After some more climbing we could see it ……amidst the woods ,through the green n brown curtains, their it was ,a watery delight ,a gravity of height . The shoes were thrown , pants were up rolled ,slippery rocky hurdles were crossed and splash. Few more click –click- click –click(s)………..and we attained nirvana.

After spending ½ an hour at the water sight , we descended back and went to a nearby habitat. Punnami jungle wooden guest house. Had our much needed lunch their , did a canopy walk, petted Deer’s and started journey back to Tirupati .On the way we halted at Chandragiri fort and digested some more historical dose. Way back JhansikiRani explained the fascinating fact about how invention of balti (bucket ) has revolutionized the way humans store and carry water. Period!