Tirupathi - My experience

This article was published in Deccan Herald dated 26th Feb., 2011.

Temples are meant for peace of mind

The number of stampede incidents that have been happening of late in crowded religious places is shocking. I recently visited Tirupati-Tirumala and had a first hand experience of bad crowd management.
Tirupati-Tirumala Devasthanam authorities have been doing a lot to improve the infra-structural facilities on the world famous temple hills and at the foothills. This temple is supposed to be one of the richest temples in the world and the collections made by way of offerings (both cash and kind) in the Hundi are mind-boggling. Tirupati Balaji is dear to millions of Hindus across the world and is known to be blessing his devotees and answering their prayers with compassion. It is a sight to see a sea of devotees pouring into this temple town all around the year and all through the day and night. It is well connected to almost all major towns and cities of South India. At any point of the year there are devotees numbering lakhs, while on special occasions like the Brahmotsavam and during holiday season, the number of devotees rises to unimaginable figures.
The temple management has done a lot like constructing a number of comfortable cottages and rooms to cater to different categories of visitors, constructing a number of rest rooms even en-route the queue with good maintenance, putting up a number of information boards and placards all along the roads, putting up shelters all along the route uphill for those who climb the hills on foot and also all along the route of the queue, which extends to a few kilometers, permitting a number of good and hygienic hotels to open their branches and making so many other facilities. All this is highly appreciable. The most striking factor one has to appreciate is the cleanliness that is maintained everywhere, despite the huge crowds that throng the town and keep littering the roads with plastic, paper and organic stuff.
With an awe for such a wonderful administration, I entered the queue paying Rs.300/- for special darshan. The electronic board announced that the expected wait-time was three hours. I kept moving in the queue with great hopes up to a point when we were all let into a cell, where we could sit. But I was shocked how bad the system was from this point onwards. About 200-250 devotees entered this cell, which seemed like a mini-stadium, where we could sit anywhere. Thus after a wait of about twenty minutes, when the gate was to be opened, all the 250 people rushed to the single exit point and it was a free for all situation. The fittest survived and strong men, youngsters and some strong women had their way and went well ahead of us. Thereafter, we had to stand for nearly four and a half hours, putting up with the stronger people pushing us aside and moving ahead. There was nobody to monitor or guide. The space was not meant for a single queue. So, we had no way to prevent people squeezing through and going forward. Though there were bathrooms along the queue route, we could not venture to use them, because the space was jam-packed and we could not get out of our place. We were shocked to hear from the free darshan devotees and devotees who came walking up the hill that they were in the queue nearly 3 to 4 hours before us. There were many infants and children in the queues, who were crying out of hunger, fear and thirst. Due to security reasons, our water bottles too were snatched away before the main entrance. Many adults were giddy and tired of walking, standing and hunger. Nobody could even go out of the queue, as it was like a jail and there were no security persons around to help such people in distress. What if somebody swoons of low sugar or heart attack?

At the entrance, even that barricade which could hold 4 to 5 persons from left to right vanished and there ended all order. People rushed inside, pushing the weaker ones aside, though they kept chanting ‘Govinda’. Nobody bothered to monitor or check the crowd. My feet were almost above the ground and I was being jostled in a direction without my effort. I was in tears that after a wait of five hours in my case and about 10-12 hours in the case of so many devotees, all that we got was a momentary glance of just the face of Lord Balaji. We were pushed out in no time.
What sort of crowd management is this? Despite so many mishaps happening all around the country, how can the TTD authorities be so lax in this aspect? Even a minor incident like a child or senior citizen falling off could cause a major stampede inside the temple premises. Should there not be some arrangement for people in the queue to get out mid-way, if they are in trouble? Should there not be security persons along the stretch of the queue to handle any unforeseen eventuality? As I was edged out of the temple, I prayed, ‘Lord forgive me. I don’t think I can ever visit your holy temple if things are this way. I would rather sit at home and chant your name peacefully.’
The authorities should give a serious thought to this aspect and see that barricades for queues are such that they can accommodate only one person at a time all along the route until every person has a darshan of the Lord. After all, in front of God all the devotees are equal, whether they stands in the free darshan queue or pay hefty sums for some Seva!