Back home

Returned yesterday at around 1:30 pm. Went home, watched tv for a while and slept. Woke up at 9:30 pm. Didn't want to get out of bed, so I decided to forget dinner. Again watched tv for sometime and fell asleep. May be at 11. Woke up at 8:30 in the morning. Quickly got ready and started for office. My bike refused to start for a long time. Think the engine went dead because of the cold and 2 days of rest. Had a tough time getting it started. And by 9:40 I was at my seat again, trying to recollect where I had left off. Breakfast, a cup of tea, regular chores and a little work later, I'm back where I like to be - here. The trip was good. Initially we planned for only 3 or 4 guys to go but finally, we were 10. Myself, jack, kanna, madhu and 2 of Jack's colleagues and their cousin from bangalore. Subbulu, vasu (Madhu's bro) and his friend joined us from chennai. It was a horrible journey from bangalore to tirupathi. Started at 7 but it took almost an hour and half to get out of the city. And then he wouldn't stop for dinner. We were hungry and asked him several times when he would stop. Each time he said 1/2 an hour. Finally, around 10 pm, he stopped somewhere. Couldn't eat anything there, even though we were VERY hungry. It was that bad. After that naam ke vaasthe dinner, we started again. Everyone was sleeping. Me, as usual, awake, lost in my own world. It was 1:30 when the bus reached tirupathi. The other three were already there waiting. Seems all three came by the same bus. They even saw each other and wondered who they might be waiting for. And they were surprised that they were waiting for the same batch :-)). Then we started walking. Subbulu was shocked when I told that we were to walk. He asked why I didn't tell him beforehand. Why would I - I knew he wouldn't come if I had told him :P. We handed over the luggage at the cloakroom for transportation to tirumala and we started walking at around 2:30. Not much crowd, thanks to the land slide that was reported the day before and widely publicised by the newspapers. Therefore, the walk was pleasant, with the atmosphere cool and quiet. Being slow walkers, Kanna and subbulu started off early so they will not slow us down. We were surprised they covered so much distance, given their speed. We joined them maybe after one hour. They were taking rest, drinking glucose water :P. Here subbu received a shocking news, that I will be fasting the whole day and will not have anything other than tea. And that will be only after reaching tirumala. On the way, I'm not even going to drink water, and definitely I'm not going to sit and take rest. He asked me why, what was the reason. I wondered why. He knew very well how I used to be. And now why the sudden change? I said that's the power He wields over us. 25 years, I never bothered, even to question His existence. I never went to a temple and joined hands before God. I just told him we would talk about it later. By the time we reached the top, it was 6. Straight away, we went and joined the queue for the seva tickets. It was fun there, cracking jokes and pulling legs, subbu again being the worst sufferer. And so on it went, till 8 when the counter opened and we got the tickets. Then it was over to the room and preparing for the day ahead. We had booked two rooms online. So, we went to register and get the keys, myself, jack and subbu. Others went for the luggage. All 7 of us took one room while we gave the other room to the two girls and their cousin. We rested for a while and started getting ready. By the time everyone was ready, it was 11:30. So, we decided it's better to have lunch. Went to the restaurant nearby. I decided I'll have some tea and roam around till they finished lunch. I had some masala tea and went to my favorite place, the steps behind the temple where we always sat when we went there. There, I sat, in the sun and pondered subbu's question. Why this sudden change? And one by one, I recounted all the incidents in my life and how they had affected me. How after all those years, I suddenly accepted defeat and acknowledged His power, how I bowed before Him and begged Him to show me the way. Now, I have only my faith in Him to rely on. It was a good 1/2 hour there when I got a call from jack asking me where I was. I said I was on my way back. I met them near the restaurant and from there, we went on the sightseeing trip. More on that later.