Thank You everyone.
Reached back around 5.30AM Monday !
Thanks 'rekharam' ! (unfortunately, i didnt notice your post. checked on saturday evening. but didnt see any post. May be it just loaded from cache)
Started Sunday @ 4.30 from Hosakerehalli. Picked up friend n family from Ejipura @ 5 AM and left to Tirumala.
Route taken ->
Hosakerehalli -> Outer Ring road till Bannerghatta road->Jayadeva fly over ->BTM -> St Johns -> Koramangala -> Ejipura Signal
Ejipura - Domlur - Indira Nagar - Old Madras Road -> KR Puram -> Hosakote -> Mulbagal -> Palamaner -> Chittoor Bypass ->Bans The Hotel (Breakfast)
Bans The Hotel (Chittoor Bypass)-> Tirupati Road->Alpiri Bypass->Tirumala
Tirumala ->Alpiri Bypass-> Chittoor Bypass -> Palamaner -> Mulbagal -> Hosakote-> KR Puram - > Indiranagar ->Ejipura -> BTM -> Hosakerehalli
Total KM Traveled ->578 KM
As my friend got an year old baby, we had to take few more breaks than expected.
Road from IndiraNagar to KR Puram was patchy roads. Once you get into the toll road (they have not started taking toll yet), you get 100KM of tension free road till Mulbagal . So , You just do not worry till Mulbagal
I have taken Route map from Google Map and noted down few places in paper. I had the routemap set on my phone (sygic maps too). I didnt look till i passed Mulbagal as my friend was directing. Few km (may be 2km) was patchy after mulbagal and we looked at the map / enabled navigation.
(Once you end the KR Puram-Mulbagal road, you do not see 4 lanes road / divided road till Alipiri bypass )
As everyone said, chittoor bypass is having very less traffic and road is in good condition. First few km were recently repaired/tarred , but few km were bumpy (no potholes). It is not a difficult road to drive at all.
Once you enter Chittoor by pass, (as 'rekharam' said - you wont miss it) you will get Bans the Hotel on right side (around 5km from starting point of bypass). Had breakfast there. 115 for unlimited breakfast . (normally, free breakfast buffet is offered to the people stay over there)
As pointed about having heavy breakfast, tried tasting most of the stuff in buffet.
Had Dosa/Idli/Vada/Cake/bread. There was pongal / cornflakes / watermelon/ juice (mazza?) too. We reached around 8AM .
Left from there around 8.30AM. After few km, we joined the main road. From there , the traffic were more because of the trucks till we took right at Tirupati-Tirumala Road (Almost 14km) . In between , we took few breaks as the baby vomited. we did spend almost 2-3hrs on breaks onward(total).
We reached Alpiri Bypass (GATE) around 10.15 , and took the toll of 15rs . Later we were in the queue for scanning. That took almost 30-40 Minutes. Afterwards, visited the first temple (Vinayaka Temple) just after the "scanning entrance".
Spend 15 Minutes there and started the route to Tirumala . It was much better road than ooty ghat . Positive :-One way . Width of road. Only Negative :- Honking drivers / cars with TN registration (Nothing against my fellow tn friends). I didnt understand why they honk even if we give proper space with indicator to pass. It is 20KM / hr and we were going in 40-60Km , still people were honking. (again. only tn reg vehicles. AP guys were calm and were over taking either with bright light/after waiting my signal). May be because they were more eager to reach there . Over devoted ? [Just our observation]
Reached the car parking lot around 11.15. As he wanted to do tonsuring ceremony (Mundan) for his daughter, we kept on asking many guys. Nobody was sitting in Enquiry counter near the sheegra darshan queue. Asked few others and all were talking in Telugu. You can say very less or no help from official people there. One person from an office (where you take 10rs coupon for tonsuring) was saying to go down the road, the other was telling us to go up the road. We finally asked a guy who was selling water , and found that kids 'mundan' done near the bus stand . So we reached there and the person at the entrance told 'it is closed now, come later'. Then one guy (the person who do the 'mundan') called us inside and did it for her. When he saw my friend giving 100rs , he asked me too give the 'Dakshina' . I think money/influence got a major role in and around Tirumala
Then after taking her bath, we rushed to Sheegra darshan queue (300rs). It was almost closing time as it was 1PM. Later knew that the queue for Sheegra darshan is from 6AM to 1PM and then only on next day. We (un)luckily got into the queue along with few others and the queue got closed.
We felt so lucky to get into the queue before it closed. That impression lasted almost 7-8 hrs till the other group (50 rs queue) joined.
We were in queue from 1PM, and the guys whom we met from 50Rs queue were standing only from 5PM. That is, just 3hrs for 50Rs queue and 8 hrs for 300RS . As everyone thought 'higher amount, the early darshan' . But that proved really wrong in our case.
I read somewhere that who goes in normal queue will be seen god from far than those in 300rs. (I do not remember where i read). All the queues joins to a single point just before the main entrance. So 'if you have read that , just ignore' ! Same darshan for everyone.
Finally got darshan at 9 PM or so. People were pushing from left and right eventhough there was no need. Later the volunteer started pushing us and we were soon out from that darshan queue.
Actually, you can see 'The GOD' atleast for 4-10sec(the moment you start walking on the final queue). I think it is more compared to Shabarimala Darshan where you can see it for a second or two. (But you can visit twice or thrice in shabarimala after you see with 'Irumudi kettu' . Here in Tirumala, you can see only once.
After coming out, we got the free laddus (small ones) and wanted to get that 2 Laddus which they were giving for 300RS coupon. Collected and started towards the car parking
We thought of staying somewhere in Tirupati and to start in the Morning. I suggested that will drive down and see whether i can drive back.
I was really feeling fresh in cool breeze while coming down the hill. Glasses were lowered. Temp was 14 Degree C. Down hill was more challenging than up hill. But it was easy drive. Did not get any one honking (only few over took us were two-three cabs).
Once we reached Alpiiri gate , i felt more comfort of driving back and we decided to stop if i get any sleepy feeling. I was sure that i wont get that as i know the value invested in CAR :)
So, we stopped some local restaurant just before CCD (We didnt know that Masala Dosas were available in CCDs). That small restaurant was good enough for us. There plain dosas were really good. Definitely over charged as it was 11PM. Paid the money, took 2 bottles of water from CCD and started driving. Drove thru the same chittoor bypass and reached another CCD. Had a Masala Tea (29KM before palamaner). Set the GPS and followed the route. Everyone other than My wife slept on backseat.
We played some malayalam songs. As she didnt know the meaning of few lines, i was pausing and explaining the meaning. That turned out to be a good time pass for us
![[;)]](https://www.theautomotiveindia.com/forums/images/smilies/Wink.gif "Wink [;)]")
While coming back, we came thru mulbagal town. That is the road showed by Sygic Map. I think that was the correct route. While going, we didnt get that route though.
We took two more 5 minutes break as my wife felt kind of sleepy. I didnt feel sleepy at all. Reached KR Puram around 4.30. Couldnt believe that the road were full of vehicles. Dropped friend and his family at his house and reached home @ Hosakerehalli at 5.15AM.
Took bath and slept till 11AM. Ate breakfast. Went to sleep around 3PM and slept till 7PM :) ! I can stay without sleeping for a day or two. But once i hit the bed, i sleep badly. That is the only reason i didnt want to stay in some hotel and start driving at 3/4am. I would be more sleepy at that time than driving continuously.
Few tips/points for people like me who wanted to know few more information:-
1.Driving is not that difficult. Please do not try to overtake if you are not confident. Do not follow co-passenger advice while over taking
2. If you are reaching on Weekends, You can think of Normal 50Rs queue (am a victim of 300RS).
3. You get BisiBeleBath (Rice /Dal mixture (i am not used to it)) in queue. Need not worry about food.
4. You do see restrooms(toilets) in 300Rs queue - 2 of them in entire queue. So need not worry if you are traveling with family. (was worried as we were drinking lots of water).
5. You do get milk served by TTD for free in the queue. You can even see the chai guys selling you tea for 8RS (was unlucky to get as they were lots of guys going for it)
6. Queue for Laddus (if you have 300RS ticket) is different from the one you see just outside the temple. There is a separate complex for it.
7. If you are going by navigation, always note down few important places on a paper with distance. It may be useful at times
8. If you are visiting with wife and 1 year old child, you can go for 'supatham' queue. Only child/sibling/mom/dad can go in this. No grandparents /friends.
Again, I thank you all for helping out the way you could. Got lots of inputs from you guys.
Route Map
https://maps.google.co.in/maps?sadd...MYrWyOzH2vIdLa5mhhQ&oq=Tiruma&mra=pr&t=m&z=12
Finally - About Diesel . Put 2200 Rs . At least 600Rs or more diesel still there. So, 1500-1600Rs diesel.
29-30 Litres . Mileage should be around 20KM. Vehicle - Swift Dzire VDI. Total 5 + 1 kid
Looking forward ,
appus
