We drove from Hyderabad, leaving at about 7.20 am on Saturday morning. I drove most of the way, with Nana (my father-in-law) taking over for a stretch just before the first Ghat section before Srisailam.
Arrived at about 12.00 noon and checked into the AP Tourism's Punami hotel. The rooms were okay. Double bedded, AC and clean. Not worth the 1000/- rupees they charge but they are the best available.
We took a ride on the Patal Ganga Rope way that afternoon. The ride is short but nice. Very crowded though, with the usual Indian disregard for queues. I had to shield Mamli (my daughter) and literally push people away so that we get in. Anyway, that is nothing new. You find similar behavior where you go, be it a tourist place or the newest Mall. The only difference is the people who push you around. In the Malls they are expensively dressed but as uncouth as their poorer counterparts elsewhere.
The temple experience was the typical South Indian commercialized bullshit. Temples here are no longer places that you go to worship. There are money generating machines where the poor Gods are prostituted to the populace for money. Rather sad. I have seen the same thing in Tirumula and other South Indian temples. And even when you fork out cash, you are still cheated by the Temple authorities. They behave like a pimp that wants to get the maximum number of clients each night for his "girls".
The Shri Shri Jaganath temple in Puri, Orissa (my home state), provides a sharp contrast. You have to be a Hindu to enter. But you can enter at will and stay for as long as you want. There are no queues or Darshan Tickets! My time with my God is ours. And I don't have to pay anybody for the privilege of seeing my God and praying to him.
