Faith

Disclaimer: Anything said is writer’s personal opinion and not written to hurt anyone’s feeling or defame a holy place.

FAITH after HOPE is the second most optimistic virute of the human race.And unfortunately the most exploited sentiments of human by the fellow beings

Faith a parent has in their progenies ability.
Faith a child has about the unwavering kind nature of his/her mother.
And faith that everyone(read Theist )has that one day God would redress his sufferings.

So in good faith , I decided to skip the HOLI colours this year and went to the abode of LORD TIRUPATI.

Before I narrate about my tryst with his self appointed PR’s,his devotees and the lord himself,I will take a moment to reflect about the sacredness of the holy place.

“It is the richest and the most visited temple (of any faith) in the world” considering the FAITH and the legends associated with the temple ,its’ apt that

“The temple of Sri Venkateswara has acquired unique sanctity in Indian religious lore.The Sastras, Puranas, Sthala Mahatyams and Alwar hymns unequivocally declare that, in the Kal Yuga, one can attain mukti, only by worshipping Venkata Nayaka or Sri Venkateswara. “

So people abound the shore of Tirumala in huge numbers. This year on “Holi” day at 4 am along with hundreds of people ,we were in the queue to get the tickets for the “darshan”. There were two lines one was “free of cost” and other was worth 50 bucks.The 50 buck premimum one pays to bypass the long queues at the darshan.Well i had reservations about the commerical angle of this gimmick ,but “when money talks, let it shout” and so with pride and arrogance we distanced ourselves from the “lesser mortals” .

It was after an hour of waiting , I realised that we had not moved more than 15feet in the 400feet long queue and we were getting anxious if we might be able to get the holy “darshan”.

So our enterprising tour guide applied the ingenuity and asked the whole lot of tourist at his mercy to leave the “elitist” Rs 50 queue and mix with the “freebie -holics” because the free darshan queue was moving faster . It actually was and it made me ruminate about the validity of the adage “There is nothing called free lunch”

And within 35mins we had our ticket for tirupati darshan,but not before we were clicked ,finger printed and profiled. You might wonder why does one need to be photographed for a darshan.It’s security.Not ours,but THEIRS (VVIP’’s like Bachchans,Chandra babu naidu) So at 11:30 am darshan we were there at footsteps of the diety,waiting for the gates to open.At about 1:00 pm the demi-gods “self appointed PR’s” opened the gates.We were allowed in,but not without another security frisking and were lead to identiy verification.Leading our tour team ,I gave my ticket and the person scanned the barcodes on it and up came on his monitor
a photograph,but it was not MINE.So i was debarred from entering.So was my accompanying friend,So was the person after him and so was the preson after him.So yet again from being a “freebie-holics” we were the persona non -grata or exaggerately “terrorist”. Actually what had happened was ,the “free ticket queue” was being awarded the tickets by an efficient person who clicket photograph of one person and gave his ticket to the next person in the queue.We tried convincing this to the incharge authority,who was demonstrating the high handedness typical to a person of authority in India. He was in no mood to listen to any explainations
or accept the mistake of the ticket issuing person.He branded us as the “potential threats”and It was only when we greased his palms with 400 bucks that we finally entered the temple.

As we were crossing an empty hall,I had the feeling that atlast the darshan is close at hands.And as we exited the hall, we entered into a portico,swarmed with thousands of people,thronged with people,abundant with people. It was like a huge wave of people ,like a water current,all you need to do is enter this current and the direction of current would throw you in the right direction.This could have been a case of a potential stampede situation,but no sir you cannot have a stampede.There was not enough space for you to fall,the person infront of you and the perosn behing you are you support system , they will keep you upright,tight.
So we ventured into this human wave at the mercy of the lord.

Since we were the “free ticket holder” ,we had people from all walks of life.People who were carrying their buckets,their baggages, people who had no money to stay in hotels and have to walk with all their belongings.So it was not only the usual elbows,kicks for the menu,but pointed edges of the steel boxes packed with the forceful punches of the “old rustic women”.This human wave of devotees was more like a race for the survival ,it seemed like we were on “Titanic” and people are trying to get onto the deck to board the boats to safety.It truly epitomised Charles darwin theory of “Survival of the fittest”.

Then we reached a point ,where the “free ticket” people came face to face with the “50 ticket” people and so as they  proudly proclaim ”In Tirumala, it is very common to find that every pilgrim, invariable of his status, stands in the queue for  hours together to get the darshan of Lord Balaji for a few seconds.”

We all wrestled to stay in hunt for the darshan,fought to not be left behind ,but the FAITH was still there which culminated with the momentarily “darshan” of the encompassing benevolence of the almighty.And the ordeal of 4 hours of standing,pushing and fighting was over or was it?

So we finally took the “prasadam” , took our two “famous tirupati ladoos” ,but not without standing in a queue.There was a provision of “free lunch” in the temple,but the travail of “free stuff” had taken it’s toll on me. I was appalled by the managment and the trustees.The lack of basic amenities and the unregulated human traffic. The commercialization of the temple to the extentthat one needs to purchase a packet for keeping the “ladoos ” for Rs 2,
a paltry amount ,but for wat ? The inherent “inequality” in the supposed “Equality” of standing in the queues of the “poor”,”the rich” and “the elite”
(Bachachan family or if you can procure a letter from some minister).If that’s not enough ,the ramapnt corruption,high handedness of the authorities and to what end.

All in the name of FAITH ?