During this Songkran holidays I was in Mumbai with my family. We decided to visit Tirupati Balaji Temple. The temple happens to be the richest temple in India and the 2nd most visited in the world after Vatican. For the earnings this temple receives an annual income of Rs. three thousand one hundred crores (1 crore is equivalent to 10 million) in the form of direct cash collected from various sources. In the Financial year 2007-08, the total collected 2400 Kilograms of Gold 2,33,000 Kgs of Silver and 543 Kgs of other Precious Stones including Diamonds, Rubies etc. from the devotees.”

Thursday evening we started off by road at around 7.30 pm and reached Thirumala around 6:30 pm next day. Journey was filled with beautiful scenery, mountains on both sides and greenery all around. On reaching there we found out that the tickets for the temple will be available at 2 am the next morning.

We waited till next morning, freshened up, got our tickets and started for the temple on foot. Cameras and cell phones are not allowed inside temple so had to leave them in the car. There were 3 lines to the temple, which merged at different locations on the way, the free one, Rs50 line and Rs100 line. We had got tickets for 100 Rs one and everything looked to be smooth, we were thinking of finishing the temple visit by 2.30 pm. But the things did not turn out as we had expected, finally we managed to get to the temple where the main deity was kept. The deity was at a distance of about 15 m from where the people could view. There were around 10-15 member staff in the temple premises pushing people around to move forward and not stop for long to pray, while being in the temple premises 3-5 seconds was the time one could get to stand in front of deity and pray. Finally we were done with temple visit and collecting the Prasad (offered food stuff) by 5.30 pm. All were too exhausted but effort worth spent as we made it to temple visit.

We went back to our hotel and again next morning on Sunday started back for Mumbai. I was so tired and exausted that spent most of the time sleeping on way back. We arrived back Mumbai early morning on Monday. All together this temple trip was a wonderful experience and took about 4 days. As being my first visit to any south Indian temple…I found a great variation in the temple architecture compared to those I have seen in the Northern and Western part of the country.

Indian Temple Do’s and Don’ts:

Hindu temples ask visitors to remove their shoes, which can usually be left in a shoe storage outside the entrance. Western visitors should also remember that appropriate dress for visiting a Hindu temple means covering shoulders (a large scarf is handy) and wearing long trousers or skirts. Some South Indian temples may charge for entry but others rely on donations.