"When i saw Tirupati Balaji" is Balaji" is an exemplary book written by Mr P.V.R.K.Prasad an !# o$$i%er who serr&ed se &ed as the the exe exe%uti %uti&e &e o$ o$$i $i%e %err o$ TT' TT' (Tirumala (Tirumala Tiru Tirupa path thii 'e&a 'e&asth sthan anam ams) s)$o $orr many many year years. s. !t is a beauti$ul %olle%tion o$ essays by Mr Prasad %ountin* his experien%es as the $irst ser&ant o$ *od in the %apa%ity o$ exe%uti&e o$$i%er o$ TT'. !t is a hi*hly re%ommended book $or belie&ers as well as non belie&ers. The book is so %ompellin* that i %ompleted it in + days. The book has rein$or%ed my $aith in *od mani$olds. ,&er sin%e i ha&e read that book i ha&e been wantin* to *o to Tirupati.
My last trip to Tirupati was in +--. /owe&er a$ter +-- i %ould not &isit Tirupathi $or some reason or the other. 0rom +-- my many plans $or lord1s darshan $ailed. !n +-2+ i made yet another attempt to see the lord at Tirupati. ,&erythin* was set. We had booked $or the se&a $or the a%%ommodation and the taxi. We were s%heduled to lea&e early on the +th o$ 3une. ! was all ex%ited sin%e this was my &isit to Tirupati a$ter 4 years. 5n the e&enin* o$ the +6 3une +-2+ i started $eelin* %old. By 6 PM i started *ettin* se&ere %hills and within $ew minutes i was under 4 blankets. By 7 PM i was lyin* in the emer*en%y ward o$ Manipal hospital. #o yet a*ain Tirupati plan *ot %an%elled. 5n the mornin* o$ + 3une two lu%ky people $rom my $amily who 2- hours ba%k had no plans o$ ha&in* lord1s darshan took my pla%e and pro%eeded to Tirupati $or the lord1s blessin*s. We planned to *o to Tirupati a$ter my weddin* on 8 9o&ember +-2+. But e&en be$ore we %ould %halk out somethin* my wi$e $ra%tured her le* and she was in plaster $or 6 weeks. Many e&ents throu*hout +-2: did not *i&e us an opportunity to plan $or any trip.
ll the e&ents just buttressed my $irm belie$ that nothin* works as per our plan. We were just not destined to *et the ;ord1s blessin*s. Tirupati remained a distant dream $or us. !t was on one $ine day in pril +-28 that the thou*ht o$ seekin* Balaji1s blessin*s %ame to me. My brother too was plannin* to *o to Tirupati $or many years but had not materiali
t Manipal /ospital + 3une +-2+ The se&a has to be booked online.The portal $or the se&a opens =- days in ad&an%e and the se&as normally *et booked within an hour o$ portal openin*. #in%e two $amilies were *oin* we had to *et two ti%kets. Mysel$ and my wi$e sheethal %reated two di$$erent a%%ounts to book $or the se&a.
We had planned to *i&e $or the se&a on the +7 3uly. #o on the midni*ht o$ pril +7 we were sittin* and waitin* $or the portal to open. The portal opened at 2+>+- M on the +7 pril. We were all set to book $or the se&a. But when we %li%ked on the "Book" button we were *ettin* some error messa*e. 5ut o$ desperation we tried $rom di$$erent %omputers and $rom di$$erent internet %onne%tions but o$ no a&ail. #o i %alled up my brother in the ?# to try. ! had to send him all the details and passwords. We did all that but $or some reason photo*raphs were not atta%hin*. $ter a while we were su%%ess$ul. Meanwhile the se&as were *ettin* booked &ery swi$tly and our hopes were dimmin*. My brother %ould operate one a%%ount at a time. /e $inally mana*ed to *et to payment *ateway. ! had to *i&e my %redit %ard details. $ter all in$ormation was entered i did not re%ei&e the password $or the payment on my mobile phone. !t $inally arri&ed a$ter mu%h delay and we were lu%ky to *et a %on$irmed bookin*. #o two ti%kets $or two %ouples were booked =- days in ad&an%e. ! was $inally relie&ed by 2>:- M and thanked *od. We booked our /otel and taxi well in ad&an%e. We were pre prepared $or the %haos and %rowd. We were tra&ellin* with two kids. 5ne about 22
months (My son) and the other 8 and hal$ years old (My Brother1s dau*hter). 5ur plan was to lea&e on the a$ternoon o$ + 3uly. Rea%h Tirupati by late e&enin*. Relax in the ni*ht and head to lord1s darshan the next day mornin* (Kalyanothsa&a was s%heduled at 22 M on +7 3uly). We had a small %eremony at home on +6 3uly. #oon a$ter the %eremony my always %harmin* and play$ul nie%e %omplained o$ stoma%h a%he. #he was in bad pain and we took her to the hospital at 8 PM. The do%tor said there was nothin* to worry about and sent us home with some medi%ation. 'o%tor did not ad&ise us to %an%el the trip. t around 7 PM my nie%e !sha started &omitin*. We thou*ht it was some $ood poisonin*. But she puked a $ew times and at 22 PM we %alled the do%tor who asked us to *et !sha to the hospital. t 22>:- PM we were at the emer*en%y ward o$ Manipal hospital. $ter some pro%edures medi%ation and @ ray she was dis%har*ed and we were ba%k home by 2 M on + 3uly. The do%tor said my nie%e was ok and she should not &omit a*ain. But at +>84 M on + july !sha started &omitin* a*ain and we had to rush her to Manipal hospital. #he was admitted at the hospital. #he was put on
intra&enous $luids and medi%ines. !roni%ally i was admitted at the same hospital and same ward exa%tly +4 months ba%k (+ 3une +-2+) with almost the same symptoms and i too was put put on intra&enous $luids and medi%ines. #o at 7 M on + 3uly my little nie%e was sleepin* at Manipal hospital. Aet another Tirupati plan was %an%elled. ! %alled up the hotel and %an%elled the bookin*. The %ab dri&er %alled and i asked him to %an%el the trip. /e too was disappointed. /owe&er i asked him to %ome o&er so that it will be easy $or us to %ommute between home and hospital and $or other odd jobs as reuired. ! was not destined to *et the lord1s blessin*s. My many attempts had $ailed and i told mysel$ that i will *o when the lord wishes.
!t was a sad day. Phone %alls were pourin* all day to enuire about !sha1s health. #he is a pre%ious baby $or our $amily. #o all were %on%erned. We shuttled all day between home and the hospital. !sha was dis%har*ed at 4>:- PM. #he was all ok and play$ul.
The idea o$ Tirupati was still %lin*in* on my brother1s mind. !sha was normal and &ery ener*eti%. #he was more than %ompensatin* $or the pre&ious day. t 7>-- PM my brother santosh said lets us *o. $ter a $i&e minute dis%ussion we unanimously de%ided to head out to Tirupati without a se%ond thou*ht. We %alled the %ab *uy and he a*reed to show up at 8>:- M the next day (+7 3uly). 0rom somewhere we *ot the *rit to make it. !sha my nie%e is a &ery pre%ious *i$t o$ lord to our $amily. We %an ne&er a$$ord to %ompromise with her health. But somehow we thou*ht we %an make it. We were well aware o$ the %rowd and mayhem at Tirupati. But we still wanted to make it. ! *ot up at :>-- M the next *ot ready. ! was mysel$ not &ery well. ! was on medi%ation $or last two weeks. But it did not bother me. The thou*ht also did not %ome to me. ! am realisin* that i had $or*otten my medi%ine only as i am writin* this. t 8>84 M we were o$$. We were 6 o$ us. Mysel$ my wi$e sheethal my son #hri Krishna my brother #antosh my sister in law Vijeth and my nie%e !sha. !t was a &ery %om$ortable journey. We had to stru**le a little inside Tirumala to *et o the ri*ht pla%e but by and lar*e it was mana*eable.
s expe%ted it was &ery %rowded and people were pushin* $rom all dire%tions. We were &ery %on%erned about Krishna and !sha. But both the kids beha&ed extremely well. !nspite o$ so many people amidst all the s%reamin* and %haos the kids kept their %alm and beha&ed. We $inished the kalyanothsa&a. By that time both the kids had slept. By the time we were headin* towards the sanatorium $or ;ord1s darshan the kids woke up. To our surprise Krishna was all %heer$ul and smilin* in the middle o$ the mayhem. /e was %lappin* and enjoyin*. We *ot into the sanatorium and had a &ery satis$yin* darshan o$ the Cod. We *ot into the temple at 22 M and we were out by +>:- PM. We were surprised and deli*hted by the seuen%e o$ e&ents. ! *ot into the %ar to $ind a $ew missed %alls $rom the relati&es who were anxious to know how !sha was doin* (9o one knew we were *oin* to Tirupati). They were surprised to learn that we did make it to Tirupati. ,&eryone were appre%iatin* our %oura*e to ha&e made the trip. My se&en year lon* wait %ulminated with the lord1s darshan on the +7 o$ 3uly. ! ne&er ima*ined that we %ould make it a$ter all the e&ents that pre%eded our &isit. ! do not ha&e any explanation $or the
e&ents. ! did not ha&e anythin* to say to our relati&es as well but just "Naham Kartha, Hari Kartha" .
