Tryst with Timma

In one of my earlier posts, I had mentioned that my younger brother has a strange way of addressing GOD. Yeah!! Timma stands for "Tirupati Timmarayaswamy" or "Lord Venkateshwara".

We had been to Tirupati in the last week on January. Most of us know that Tirupati is the world’s most visited religious centre. We may also know that Lord Venkateshwara is one of the richest GODs in the world ;D If you thought, my post would give you more such “Did you know?” gyan, you are wrong!! More about history, geography, philosophy and economy of Tirupati can be found here :D

The highlight of our Tirupati visit was that we (my parents, my brother and myself) climbed the seven hills to reach the main temple. This post is a photo journey of our climb to the ultimate destination (that sounds so clichéd).

The total distance is around 10kms and the average time taken is around 3.5 hours. There are seven hillocks to pass and the first and last hillocks are pretty steep to climb. As we had booked a hotel room at the foothills, our entire luggage stayed there. We carried some basic things like a water bottle, some fruits, camera, “Kaanike” to donate etc. I had just one worry when we woke up to get ready that morning. My mother has some health concerns and has pain in her leg joints even when she walks small distances. I asked her a zillion times if she wanted to climb the hill. She was adamant and insisted she is determined to climb as she had made a “Prarthana”. I shall discuss more about this in a later paragraph.

On 22nd January 2006, we started for the foothills at around 6a.m after having breakfast. After performing the initial puja by lighting camphor at the first step, we started the climb uphill.

The first hillock to climb was “Narayanaadri” – a very steep one. The first interesting sight was awaiting us. There was an Anjaneya temple which had small stone heaps all around.

As per the lore, these stone heaps are formed by people to help Hanuman to build the stone bridge to Sri Lanka. Also an addendum to this is that when you start building your own house, the “Vaanara Sainya” would help you find the stones for your house. Maybe that’s the secret behind taller heaps ;D Later, we saw stone heaps over tree branches.


While my brother was wondering what’s the logic behind this, I was quick to react, that was for a tree-house :D

We completed the Narayaandri climb at a Gopuram which had a Shankha, Chakra and Naama.



After climbing a steep Narayaanadri, we stopped to have a lime soda. I must say that was the most refreshing drink I have ever had!! We ate and drank a lot of things on the way. My mother was into a non-stop tirade. She kept reminding that this is a religious climb and not a pleasure trip. All her advice went in vain :D We had samosas, home made milk khova, gooseberries, guavas and lots more on the way.

The next hillock was “Anjanaadri”; mostly plain road walk with a lot of shops around in contrast to Narayanaadri. The entire path has a lot of Telugu mantras on the side pillars. Religious people keep chanting that all along the way. Opposed to my expectation, the entire path was pretty clean for the population it supports.




“Vrushabhadri” was the hillock to follow. We saw a very old stag here. I was very moved by its bad state. My brother took a snap of it which keeps me reminding the pain it was going through.


“Vrushabhadri” also had this wonderful “Hanuman” statue.

The subsequent hillock was “Sheshadri”. The path was adorned with a beautiful and old Banyan tree. The entire region has various parks and gardens maintained by the Forest Department.

The next section was “Neeladri”. Here, the walk was along the bus used roads.

We could capture some scenic snaps here.

“Narayanaadri” (same name as the first hillock??), the next hillock, was quite steep again. People were lighting camphor at each step here. “Venkataadri” too had similar scenes.

After an enjoyable hike for around 4 hours, we reached the main temple complex. Lots of people on the hot Sunday afternoon. Late afternoon, we had our darshan.

I went to Tirupathi after almost 16 years. It was family trip after a long time too. It was quite satisfying, as the whole trip went on as planned. Also, as I had mentioned earlier I was pretty worried about my mother. Surprise!! Surprise!! She could climb successfully. More surprising is that she had no pain at all!!! From then, my mother’s devotion towards Timappa has grown leaps and bounds.

My brother and I are not great devotees. However, we too were surprised about this fact. We kept discussing this for almost a week after we returned to Bangalore. Some of the theories exchanged about this strange feat were:

1) Will power: My mother’s dormant will power might have surfaced. I am one of the staunchest believer’s that anything is possible with immense will power.

2) Positive Energy Circle: Though I am not a major devotee, I believe that these spiritual centers are enveloped by a positive aura.

OK… A little about my personal take on God. I know some of you might be ranting “Whos asking your view?” I belong to the shameless and insensitive category. So, I am going to tell you even you don’t like it!!!! Here, it goes. I do not believe in idol worship or any rigid rituals. I get restless when I have to stand in queues to see “God”. I am against donating in kind like “Gold Plate”, “Vajra Kireeta” etc. I am against donating huge amounts of cash.

Am I against God? Am I an atheist? NO. There are many Gods walking, talking and breathing around me. Thanks to my Yoga teacher, Parameswaran Sir, who changed my perspective of God. I have realized that God lives in and around us rather than way up above in "Heaven". Blessed I am for whom God cooks. Blessed I am with whom God shares and listens. Blessed I am to be helped by so many unknown Gods in all places I have been.

As I wind up my yet-another-long-post, I remember two movie dialogues which sum up my take on God

1) One of my favourite dialogues from Upendra’s movies (for the uninitiated, Upendra is a Kannada movie actor). In Uppi’s own style, “I am God. God is Great”.

2) Another dialogue from the movie Bruce Almighty - "If you want to see miracles in your life, be that miracle yourself to others lives"

Signing off!!

Movies of the Moment:

Anbe Shivam (means Love is God. A classic Kamal Hassan starrer Tamil Movie)

Bruce Almighty (One of the sensible movies of my favorite Jim Carrey).

Next to Come: Look Who’s Riding

Note: After ten posts on my blog, I should say I have good response compared to what I had expected. In fact, I had no expectations at all as the reason to start this blog was totally different. My blog hit 100 unique visitors in less than 20 days I added the counter. Thanks to all the people who visit my blog. Apologies too if you are waiting for a regular update from me (one of my blog visitors complained about this :D). I shall try and be more regular going forward