Tirupathi.. The hills are alive!

Travelled to Tirupathi with my parents. Learned a lot of things and cherished some moments :

1) Travelling with parents can be fun at times. Unless of course you end up arguing there as well. In which case you have the three of us (mum, dad and I) walking our own ways up the hills, until dad cracks a joke to lighten the mood (as usual).

2) Glucose water is good.

3) There is no difference between Goli Soda and Paneer Soda.

4) People never grow up (yes ranj hard as it may sound ;)). Even if they are at a temple. We were walking up the hills as you know and there is a stretch of the road (towards the end) winding up to the temple. Now, the road is mainly used by the buses that transport people (who have already climbed the hill) back down to the foot of the hills. So as we were walking along the pavement, a van passes by with a bunch of guys in their late 20s and as they cross us poor souls walking in the heat, they scream and point out as if to say - "oh look! People climbing still!! We finished! Yay!!" And I was muttering - "Obviously you morons! We are still climbing. People still will climb. And even after I finish I know people are still climbing!!"

5) There is a huge diffrence between buying stuff, like water or even a chocolate bar at ground level and buying the same stuff at thousands of feet above. Yes.

6) You do not lose a lot of weight climbing 7 hills (hard to believe).

7) There is a second golden temple in a place 12 hours from Mumbai!

8) Kids have it easy at Tirupathi. All they need to do when they are tired of climbing steps, is stop, drop and roll.
9) If you need to get to any place in Tirupathi you have to, I repeat, have to climb atleast a two flights of stairs.

10) Karma doesn't work here.

11) The deer is very greedy. (O yes, there are lot of those along the hillls)

12) Basically you are travelling in circles. I remember starting out with windmills at my back. And when I reached the temple I saw the same bunch of windmillls right in front of me, on top of a hill.

13) All roads leads to the sanctum sanctorium. The only difference is the cost it takes. Pay a 1000 and you can take the shortest route.

14) Once inside the temple, everyone looks the same. Shaved heads is all you get to see standing in the queue.

15) Men and women are extremely immature when they visit temples.

16) People like to strike up conversations, which will lead to the topic of comparing the different temples. That's when you act as if a sudden lightning struck out of nowhere, leaving you speechless.

17) Riding down a curving multiple hair-pin road in the night, with the breeze hitting you is just an awesome experience.

18) Curd rice at Kalyan Residency - with finely chopped chillies, grape pieces... is yummy!

19) When you are checking your weight, be absolutely certain that you are not carrying a 100 Kg bag! I realised it after i read my weight slip and almost fell in shock.

20) After climbing every step, you will somehow be forced to take out your wallet and pay.. for something or the other.