July 4th DC Fireworks

Its 4th of July and i am in Washington DC. What do you expect me to do this long weekend?

Well no trip on plane car, thanks to the spiraling gas prices. One way it was better as i decided to stay back in DC and see the local attractions. Then i came to know that many people actually travel to DC to see the fireworks and see some other stuff on this independence day. Obviously any country's independence is best celebrated in the nation's capital.

Being the first time (in DC on July4th), I thought to go to see the fireworks. But the weather report was not favorable. Yet i decided to go there holding an umbrella.

I Know that the traffic is going to be confined and don't even expect to get a parking place near by. I inquired a little and came to know that the fireworks will start at 9:00 PM. Having a look at the Metro rail and Metro Bus route and timings at http://www.wmata.com (Which also had the special July4th navigation Map), I set out at 7:30 PM.

Exactly at 9:00 PM we were at the mall ( I Didn't know till July 3rd that the area near the Washington monument is called 'Mall'. I always thought that there is some shopping mall , somewhere at that place, even though i didn't see it anytime.) The fireworks were awesome but only for about 25 minutes. I expected more! having seen the fireworks at Disney, which lasts for an hour, one can expect the independence celebrations for more than 1 hour.


Soon after the celebrations everyone rushed towards the nearest metro station. Sensing that and knowing the area well enough , me and my roommate took the fastest and not so crowded area and directly went to the entrance of the metro station, yet we have to wait for about 1 hour to get into the train. At last we came back home at about 12:00 PM



Things to remember:

• The fireworks start at 9:00 PM sharp (Unless there are delays due to weather) at National Mall
• Not all metro stations will be open. Check the Metro website for more information
• If you are a local candidate and can use Metro easily, don't take your car to avoid troubles
• There will be huge rush while coming back. So expect to be at home late
• Remember to eat enough before you leave to see the fireworks
• Always see the weather report and carry an umbrella if needed

Tirupathi Lord Venkateshwara Temple

Everyone wants to go there. Reason? Its believed that lord venkateshwara will stay there until the end of kaliyuga. The largest temple in India which has been ranked second in the world only after Vatican for the money it collects in the form of offerings from devotees.

When i went to India, a trip to Tirupathi was always on my mind. It has been about 8 years since i visited the temple. There was much discussion whether we should go in flight or in train. At last we decided to go in train so that we can have some good time together.



We boarded the Narayanadri express from Hyderabad. It starts around six in the evening and reaches tirupathi early in the morning. This is what we call ideal timings and travelling in train, you can be assured to get a good nap in the night. My Mom and my moushi packed all the eatables that can packed for the three day trip as they are very experienced in Yatras.


On the way we had lots of snacks. believe me, my moushi started distributing the snacks even before the train started. Our seats were distributed at various places and we had to request other passengers so that all our family can sit in one compartment. To my surprise i found out that Telugu cinema character actor Uttej was also travelling in the same compartment with his family. I ordered a full meals and didn't eat much snacks offered by my mom as i was expecting at. The meals finally came at 10:00 in the night and was good (because i was travelling in an AC compartment, the food packing was good. It wont be the same if you are travelling in a SC). After having a nice meal , i just fell asleep browsing through the Internet on my IPhone which had GPRS support.

I woke up when the train stopped at tirupathi. The moment we came out of the station we were surrounded by many taxi drivers each demanding there own money. At least we hired a jeep to go to the lodging (there is one specially for AryaVyshyas) for 100 Rs/-. It was about 5KM from the station and was a good business and livelihood for the jeep and taxi drivers.

We got ready to go to tirumala (Many who are travelling for the first time think that the temple is in tirupathi. The temple is actually in tirumala which about 25KM from Tirupathi on a hill). We first thought of hiring a cab which would cost us about 600RS, but we decided to go by bus as its always safe to go by RTC Buses. Road to tirumala is full of twists and turns (called the GHAT road) but that's what makes the ride wonderful. It took about 45-60 minutes to reach the temple.

Once we landed on the hill, we directly went to a office to get the tickets (As we have the recommendation letter from our MLA, we can have the VIP darshan, which takes less than 2 hours). We did not know that if u have VIP darshan pass and you go at 7PM, you will be having a direct darshan. We just entered the line after putting our belongings ( Slippers, mobile phones etc are not allowed inside the temple), after some pushing and arguments with fellow devotees, we finally had Lord Venkateshwara's darshan ( We were not allowed inside, from now on, i think you could not see the lord from close enough, which was disappointing).

I have learnt many lessons from this trip.

1. If you dont have the VIP tickets, go to the counter that issues tickets in TTD's in various cities, at least 1-2 days before the time you want to have the darshan. Better go in the morning.
   
2. Book your train tickets at least 7-9 days before the scheduled travel, so that your family gets all those seats in one place.
   
3. Don't expect the meals to be same when you travel in SC
   
4. Don't take any bags,purse,slippers,mobile phones etc. To keep this in counters it took us about 60-90 minutes! (This was the first time we went in a train, always we had a personal vehicle where we would leave our belongings)