[figo_gpb]

Had been to Tirupati on Thursday and back on Sunday. Took the usual Blr-Kolar-Palmaner-Chittor route. While going, went through Chittor city as it was around 4.30 in the evening and was not expecting heavy traffic. Took around 15 min to get back onto highyway. On the retrun trip, took Chittor bye-pass road. 25%-30% of Chittoor bypass road is in bad state with gravel and small rocks.

Had very good darshan at temple. We attended Kalyanotsavam followed by Darshan on Friday. Also did Angapradakshina early Sunday morning. Huge rush for this though.

[speedsatya]

Planning to drive to TPT this weekend. Any updates on the chittor bypass? Has anyone driven through madanapalle recently. Pics of the second route look very inviting

[HighOctane]

Originally Posted by speedsatya

Planning to drive to TPT this weekend. Any updates on the chittor bypass? Has anyone driven through madanapalle recently. Pics of the second route look very inviting

Well, Chitoor bypass is still in the same condition. Patched up potholes for at least half way. This was noticed during August first week. But still I would suggest you to take this route slowly instead of getting into Chitoor traffic.

I think you need to avoid Madanapalli road as it is very time consuming. I do not know the condition of road here.
Happy Journey

[audioholic]

Sathya sir,
Went there last month and also going in October again. Please take the NH4 itself, as it is quite good. You can do BLR-TPT in five hours maximum. Also, there is no harm in passing through Chittor rather than taking the byepass. It increases the distance as the route unnecessarily goes around the town and then joins the highway. You wont spend more than ten minutes going through chittor. Madanpalle is not so frequented and though the roads are good, there are villages in the middle and youwill find stray animals people etc coming across your way.

I recommend NH4. You could also stop inside chittor for a tea.

[HighOctane]

Originally Posted by speedsatya

Planning to drive to TPT this weekend. Any updates on the chittor bypass? Has anyone driven through madanapalle recently. Pics of the second route look very inviting

Well, Chitoor bypass is still in the same condition. Patched up potholes for at least half way. This was noticed during August first week. But still I would suggest you to take this route slowly instead of getting into Chitoor traffic.

I think you need to avoid Madanapalli road as it is very time consuming. I do not know the condition of road here.
Happy Journey

Mods: the mobile apps posted twice as I pressed "send" twice when it was hanging.

[audioholic]

BTW, has anyone tried booking e-seva tickets in TTDSevaonline? It looks to be impossible these days. Before, one could book tickets for the 90th day from that date at 12AM. I have myself booked many tickets in this way. This kind of arrangement helps us visit tirumala without worrying about the darshan as you have the ticket in hand. However, these days, I see that E-Seva is either under the status "Not released" or "Quota full". The site goes down at 23:30hrs for Routine maintenance daily.

Ideally, when it comes back online at 00:15hrs, there must be at least some tickets available for the 90th day from that date. Only Rooms, E-Sudarshan and some sevas are available. But Archana, Thomala Seva, Suprabhata etc are already red . That means there is something going on during routine maintenance. How can the tickets be booked almost instantly? Has anyone managed to book them? Recently, a person known to us offered to get us tickets for which ever seva we wanted, in the legal way. He did not reveal how it is done. He assured that an E-ticket in our name will be sent through mail directly from TTD. This makes the whole advance reservation system flawed. From what I can say, I think they bring down the site and book whatever they want, before releasing the tickets to the open public.

[speedsatya]

Thanks everyone. Just back from the drive. Yeah I avoided madanpalle as it took me 45 mins to reach KRPuram from Koramnagala. Reached TPT in 3 hours from KRPuram.

I have always felt this stretch of NH4 to be one of the most dangerous stretches I have driven on. Dunno if it's the fast road with sudden curves or whether it's the idiots who get carried away and dunno on basics. Had a couple of close calls with double and triple overtakings on a 2 laned road right in front of me.

The return journey was superb with me starting from Srikalahasthi at 8 pm an reaching Koramnagala at 1 pm in very heavy rains till mulbagal. NH4 is actually easier to drive in the night , provided you plan your timings to avoid bangalore / chennai bound traffic. And you won't have 2 wheelers as well.

About the road , the Chittor bypass is manageable with a few bad stretches. Most petrol pumps in Tirupati don't accept debit / credit cards , so advisable to have cash on you.

The MMI maps weren't very accurate as well. Maybe it's the new bypass roads that were confusing the GPS device. We went around in circles to find the Padmavati temple ( finally asked some local people ).

One also has to be careful for unmarked speed breakers on the road between TPT and Shrikalahasthi.

[speedsatya]

The Chittoor bypass

[rki2007]

Hi people i just need a clarificaition.

Where will be the entry point for Sudharshanam ticket. Is it near the parallel 4 rows which starts before the counter where people buy Rs. 300 ticket. Or is it right from the Vaikuntam Q Complex itself. If it starts at just before the counter where Rs. 300/- is bought or the place where were mobiles are deposited, then the immediate things that starts is the compartment kind of thing like compartment no 23, 24. Is it right?

[audioholic]

It depends upon how much long the queue has become. Basically, tickets are given at the point where one enters VQ complex. But before that point, if the queue is large, it will fill the four parallel rows, and even be directed towards other stacks or rows depending upon the management decision. First go to the place where you deposit mobiles and if there is a heavy queue follow the queue until it ends and join it.

[ravib]

Originally Posted by rki2007

Hi people i just need a clarificaition.

Where will be the entry point for Sudharshanam ticket. Is it near the parallel 4 rows which starts before the counter where people buy Rs. 300 ticket. Or is it right from the Vaikuntam Q Complex itself. If it starts at just before the counter where Rs. 300/- is bought or the place where were mobiles are deposited, then the immediate things that starts is the compartment kind of thing like compartment no 23, 24. Is it right?

IIRC, sudharshanam ticket means Rs. 50/- ticket which is not sold in Tirumala.
You have to buy ticket either in Tirupati itself, where counters are available in bus stand, near railway station etc or buy it from Bangalore Vyalikaval office. Alternatively, you can buy from ttd website also.

-Ravi

[audioholic]

I am sorry I overlooked the Sudarshanam part. I saw the entrance word and 300 and I concluded it to be seeghradarshanam. There are certain counters as said above as well as online booking facility. However,the entrance is near the four parallel rows just some distance behind the entry to VQ complex.

[rki2007]

Originally Posted by audioholic

I am sorry I overlooked the Sudarshanam part. I saw the entrance word and 300 and I concluded it to be seeghradarshanam. There are certain counters as said above as well as online booking facility. However,the entrance is near the four parallel rows just some distance behind the entry to VQ complex.

Please clarify.
So the entry point is from four parallel rows, the one which is just before the place where mobile phones are deposited and the counters where Rs 300 ticket is sold isn't it . And after this one directly enters the compartment kind of things .I hope unlike sheegra darshan there will be no need to come on those staircase mounted above the road .

[srimath]

Any Darshan will be either through VQC1 or VQC2 and you have to use the staircase unless you are going for the Senior Citizen darshan.

[audioholic]

Originally Posted by rki2007

Please clarify.
So the entry point is from four parallel rows, the one which is just before the place where mobile phones are deposited and the counters where Rs 300 ticket is sold isn't it . And after this one directly enters the compartment kind of things .I hope unlike sheegra darshan there will be no need to come on those staircase mounted above the road .

From my experience of visiting tirupathi multiple times in a year, the queue management depends upon the decision of the controllers. So, the routing of the queues depends upon the rush, the type of darshan and the expected inflow. I haven't availed sudarshan facility lately, but IIRC around a year back, we had been allotted the sudarshan time in the ticket. At that time, we just had to walk in to a designated chamber in VQ complex. After that it was the regular queue. Usually, sudarshan will not have a large crowd outside, as the tickets have a time stamp and people will be directly led into the chambers in Q complex according to their allotted time and then let forward.

Coming to Seeghradarshan, many a times, we did not face any outside crowd, and the queue lines were empty until we entered the cellar. So till there, it was a casual walk. However, if there is a huge rush to Seegradarshan, there will be a crowd right from the cellars, to the entrance of Q complex, and the ticket vending stall and before that. Hence, in these situations, the queue will extend to the bridge, and the roads.