Tirupati

Tirupati is a land devoted to the Hindu god-Lord Venkateswara. By the looks of it, Tirupati is a small town, whose every aspect serves the millions of devotees that come to catch a glimpse of the Deity. Well, if you see Tirupati through my eyes, you’ll realise that this place is a travellers paradise.

The eerie majestic hills of the eastern ghats, rich in flora and fauna, always leave me awestruck. The sun rising over the hills, clouds swirling past thick forests, herds of deers grazing, and tigers wandering in universities. Yes, you read that right, “tigers in universities”. We had spotted a tiger in the middle of the night, about 30 metres from our bike. We froze in a tangle of fear and awe, and made it out alive.

If that wasn’t enough for a small town, a short drive from Tirupati leads to the beautiful Talakona waterfalls. Talakona features a dangerous trek leading to a jaw-dropping waterfall. While I don’t know how high the waterfall is, I can vouch for it by telling you that the water falling on your body hurts. Furthermore, waterways that cut through the Tirumala hills give rise to lakes and beautiful dams.

I could go on and on about Tirupati, as I hold it very close to my heart. A friend, whom I’d take a bullet for, who has always been there, through life’s ups and downs, used to live there and formed an integral part of my experience of the place. This made me realize two very important things in life, that there’s more beauty to places and people than what meets the eye and that if time is a currency that you “spend” and you spend it with the people you love, it gains in value. Time is relative in nature, Einstein was right all along.