Aryan's Mundan at Tirupati

This weekend we went to tirupati for Aryan's Mundan.We includes both of us and Anupam's parents.When we planned for the trip I was too apprehensive about it because it was 6-7 hours journey and long queue before darshan.We were told that people pour like anything over there. Aryan is small and still on bottle feed.I was not sure how will we manage all.I agreed because everyone insisted.

So we started our journey at 6.15 am on Saturday in our dear car. Just 4 kms from home we realized that we have forgotten something at home and had to drive back.So effectively we started at 7 am.The road was too good but there was some traffic till Kolar. We stopped at Woody's in Kolar for breakfast.It was a okay kind of place with south indian cusine. Food was not too great though but we did not expect better.

After breakfast we resumed our journey. There was too little traffic after Kolar. I and my MIL utilized our time by clicking the rocks on the way and ofcourse playing with our cutiepie, as my husband drove the car along with chatting with his Father.

We reached Tirupati at 11.30 Am which was earlier than what we expected. We were told by some experienced experts in our offices that we will get some wrist bands at Garuda dwar after showing our tickets which will serve as tickets for us further.We could not find the Garuda dwar initially and reached the TTD office. The people there were too ignorant about the wrist bands and they could not understand what we were talking.Finally we were told that they cannot help us with anything and we should go to Garuda dwar. When we reached Garuda dwar , we were sent to a checkpost where the security guard was too lazy to do any checking and we were directed to the way to Tirumala (without any wrist bands ).

The way to Tirumala was very well maintained.Road was good , one way ,well maintained and tidy beyond expectations. It was a smooth ride to Tirumala. In Tirumala we spoke to some policeman (we had a reference for him). The guy sent a constable with us who was supposed to help us find a stay, escort us till we get darshan and help us get the same.

That guy named Naryana took us to Mini Kalyankatta , the place for Mundan.We were told that as the name suggests this is Mini venue for Mundan and the actual Venue is BIG and has 2 hours queue.Aryan was placed in his dadu's lap for mundan. His dadu holded him tight as the blade moved over his head and he cried his heart out. He was moving a lot and so I helped to hold him tight. His crying was making me shaky ,never heard him crying like that and for a moment I decided to cancel his mundan , leaving him half bald :) Well, that was a momentary thought though and mundan was soon completed.The baby was so scared after the event that he clinged to me hard and sobbed for sometime.

After that we went over to find a stay and we got a small room temporarily. The guest house owner promised to get us better rooms or atleast another room after the darshan. Aryan was given bath and we all got ready for the darshan after having some bread and butter for lunch.Naryana was smart enough to break all rules and we were in queue soon. He said that the queue from here will just take 45 mins to temple instead of 6-8 hours (if we had followed the rules). He was right and we could get the darshan within an hour. Standing in front of idol was a great feeling and we all felt a cool breeze.

Aryan was in happy mood by now and had forgotten about the mundan and has had a nap in anupam's lap.While getting out from the temple , he took the liberty of feeling the head of another bald child who walking next to anupam.The child was scared and then amused as Aryan moved his hand over the child's head twice.

So we were done with the event in 1.5 hours and were back to our guest house (after saying good bye to Mr. Narayana), where we could just get another room of same kinds. The room was not bad though and since it was cool in Tirumala , we did not need AC. All of us slept over for about an hour. After that we went out to a local handicraft shop which was very much like Cauvery Emporium in Bangalore and bought sovenier for the family members. Then began the struggle to get a place in a restraurant to have some dinner. The restraurant , WoodSide , was too crowded and food was real spicy. After dinner we returned to guest house and slept over till 6.00 am next morning.

Sunday we got ready , had good south indian breakfast at Mayura(finally I say good .. :) ) and went for some more sightseeing. We could not find much except some temples with long queues. None of us felt like standing in queue and we decided to start our journey to Bangalore.

Soon we reached Tirupati but forgot the way to Highway and roamed around the town asking for directions.It was tough to find the way as we did not know local language and they did not know English and Hindi.On the way back we stopped over at several 2-3 places to click snaps and buy some clay items. We ate a fruit which looked like Brinjal (and tasted like Litchi which is not sweet). Could not get the name of the fruit though. Clicked some snaps of the fruit's tree also. We had our lunch at Reliance A1 plaza and touched Bangalore at 4.00 pm

As a whole it was a short but memorable trip.