Balaji Darshan

On 26th of May 2012 we family members numbering 12 went to Tirumala. The journey from Chennai to Tirupathi was good and we reached there within 4 hours by a private Tempo Traveller. From Tirupathi to Tirumala we went by Govt. bus. The entire journey was splendid. We thought we would finish Darshan of Balaji within 3 to 4 hours and return to Chennai by evening of 26th. But the Lord had other ideas. We stood in the queue for Rs.300 at 11.10 a.m. Slowly we meandered our way. We went from one shelter to another. No one knew where the queue ended. The shelters had been built in such a way that it takes you around the temple. While standing in the queue we helped ourselves with fruits, biscuits etc. Nobody had lunch except the morning breakfast. As time passed our hunger increased. We went on and on and on. Hours passed. one ,two, three, four ,five, six and so on. Our energy sapped. Hunger increased hunger turned to anger. Words were exchanged as my brother in law who is a diabetic and who had come from Mumbai for the Darshan, could not bear the strain and standing in the queue was demanding for him and the hunger. This was more so because he had on the previous day gone to Sholinghur Narasimha swamy temple and had climbed about 1320 steps. So the strain was double. At about 8 p.m. we were asked to sit in a big hall from where we would be sent for the Darshan of the Lord. Till 9 p.m. there was no activity only our captivity. Every one of us got exhausted. Children four of them were happy and playing and had not felt any strain. But the elders fumed. So we decided at 9 p.m. that we would go out as the Lord did not want us to see Him so we thought. But the Lord I assume must be laughing. He was testing our patience. To go out we had to get the photometric slip. At that time a middle aged person came and asked why we wanted to go out without the Lord's Darshan. My wife and sister-in-law said that all of us were completely exhausted and more so my brother in law could not bear the strain and hunger had aggravated it for him.Moreover we could not even get the free sambar rice which was served in the counter in the waiting hall. As there was no sign of Darshan within an hour we wanted to go out they told him. At that point the middle aged man introduced himself as the Manager and asked both my wife and sister in law to go to counter no.21 and tell the counter people to serve twelve plates of sambar rice mentioning his name and assured us that we would have Darshan of the Lord in an hour's time. So we went to the waiting hall in disbelief. Soon the gates of the waiting hall opened and we moved faster towards the Darshan. As mentioned by the manager we halted at Counter no.21 and were served sambar rice.But I didn't have it because my head was aching and I did not have the mind to eat anything. The queue moved faster and at 10 p.m. we had the Lord's darshan. My headache had vanished by then mainly due to the pushing by the heavy crowd I though or is it because of the Lord? All of us had a good darshan. We all came out exhausted but satisfied at 11 pm. Then we caught the Govt. bus from Tirumala to Tirupathi. At Tirupathi our Tempo Traveller was waiting for us. All of us fell on our seats inside the vehicle. We reached Chennai at 3 a.m. The whole trip was satisfying except the strain. A good experience. One thing that has stood out of our entire trip. The Manager. Had he not pursuaded us we would not have stayed back for the Darshan. Is it the Lord in the form of the Manager who had persuaded us to stay back? We cannot comprehend. The Lord takes care of His bhaktas they say. Is it that the Lord had taken care of us? Or is it a mere coincidence. No one can tell.