At 3 PM on that hot early-February day in Bangalore, I was waiting for my turn at my SBI home branch. I had come there after pre-requesting for a Demand Draft, DD, for Rs 100 via their online application system on the previous day. I required that DD to send to the AE’s office at Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD), for reserving for an accommodation for us. I had stepped out of my office during work hours, and come there driving 2 KM. When they called my name to handover my DD I went forward and collected it.
Earlier, in January, as soon as we chose the mid-March date for Darshan at Tirumala Tirupati, when we tried online e-accommodation of our usual Rs 500 type, it was all sold-out till end of April. That was very unusual because we had never had such a situation in the previous 3-4 years; every year around January time-frame we had always got the e-accomodation at Tirumala Tirupati without any problem for a March date.
This year, our plan was to climb the Hills by foot on Monday, 11/Mar/13, stay that night at Tirumala in an accommodation, and then to go for Darshan on Tuesday, 12/Mar/13, morning, and head back home on Tuesday night. Though the online e-accommodation for Rs 500 type was fully sold-out, luckily I saw just one Rs 1500 type room available online with a check-in timing of that Monday midnight. Though we needed a noon check-in on that Monday to suit our schedule, I still grabbed that room with mid-night check-in. And then I also booked Rs 50 e-Sudarshanam Darshan tickets online for that Tuesday morning.
We were still looking for a room with an afternoon check-in for that Monday, because we would reach up the Tirumala Hills by walk as early as 3 PM or even earlier on that day. After the walk up, we would surely be tired, and to wait till midnight to get into the room for rest would be tough.
To try our luck again for reserving a noon check-in room, we drove down to TTD office at Malleswaram, Bangalore. We expected that they might have some direct counter sales quota available. But, they also sent us away as it was all sold-out till May.
Over the next 2-3 days after that, we kept checking for various room booking options, but we did not have any way to call anyone or find out from any other authorities regarding advance accommodation booking at Tirumala.
We finally found from
TTD website that there was another option to book accommodation in advance: By sending a DD for Rs 100 to the AE’s office in TTD, Tirumala, 30 days in advance. It was mentioned that they can reserve / allot a Rs 100 type room, on a first-come-first-served basis. Though it would be a lower type room (old building, reduced amenities, no hot water in the room, etc.) when compared the usual Rs 500 type e-accommodation we normally book online during our trips, we still decided to apply for it.
As required, some 33 days prior to our Darshan date, I swung by my home branch of SBI Bank to get the DD for Rs 100. And, they issued it to me within about 10 minutes.
Once I collected the DD from the delivery counter and walked away a few steps, I verified all the details on it quickly, and, instantly caught an issue: They had missed to mention it as “payable at Tirupati”. I went back to the delivery counter and asked them to correct it. I had mentioned it clearly in the online application form I submitted the previous day. The officer tried to tell me that the DD would still work anywhere in India. Since my DD was crucial for my room reservation, I did not want to take a chance. I insisted them to correct it for me. The officer mentioned that the online application they actually received did not have that mention, and that they would have to cancel this Rs 100 DD and issue a new one. I instantly agreed for them to do that. But they said there will be a ‘cancellation’ charge for me. I asked them how much that would be. The reply was: Rs 100!!
That was lame, a loss for me, and moreover putting me through a fresh, manual, longer, application process now. I had actually submitted the online application for the DD on the previous day itself mainly to save time, so that they would keep the DD ready, and I can pick it up as soon as I come there and then go back to my office quick. Now it appeared like I would have to lose Rs 100 in one form or other, to trash the DD on my hand or cancel it by paying Rs 100 as cancellation fee, and then also fill-up a fresh paper application for a fresh DD, and wait for it to be prepared!
Since I did not miss '"payable at Tirupati" on the online form, I wanted to avoid losing the Rs 100. I slowly moved away from that delivery counter, and went to the issuing counter. I explained the issue to the officer there. They could actually help me, and they finally issued a revised Rs 100 DD against a fresh paper application form from me, without charging a cancellation fee!
Since TTD would not accept the DD by Courier mode, I sent out the DD by normal snail-mail postal service, exactly 30 days prior to the accommodation date. I sent it with a written request letter attached, mentioning the date of accommodation required, our residential address, etc. We felt very positive that they would reserve a Rs 100 type room. But we would only know after we arrive on the planned Monday, after our walk up the Hills. If they did keep a room reserved for us, that would help us to take rest as soon as we reach Tirumala by foot around 2 or 3 PM on that Monday.
But... things did not go smoothly. After 8 days time the DD came
back to us by post! They had attached a reason-card that said I had missed to include ‘proof of identity’. When I checked their website to reconfirm, that was indeed true. They expected a copy of identity proof document, which I seem to have missed. Quite a few days of time had ticked away by that time, and probably our chance of getting a room was fading, if not fully out already. I promptly created the proof copies, re-wrote the request letter, and then re-sent the papers with the DD by postal service again.
We were hoping that everything was in order this time, and that there was some quota of Rs 100 type rooms still available when our DD with documents reach their hands.
Over the next 3 weeks, we had this issue at the top of our talks frequently. We kept wondering what if we end up without accommodation from 2 PM till midnight on that Monday after we walk up. We were thinking about various possible options to be without a room till mid-night: Passing time at one of those free choultries or Pilgrims Amenities Complexes or at a dormitory and so on. We also kept catching this up in our conversations during the travel by train on the previous Sunday night from Bangalore to Tirupati, and during our hop-stay to refresh at a hotel in Tirupati town, and all the way during our 5 hour walk up the Hills by foot on that entire Monday morning as well.
When we finally reached Tirumala around 2:30 PM, we were quite anxious to get the room. We rushed straight into the computer center on the 1st floor at the Central Reception Office (CRO) building. The officer there keyed-in my, very fond, DD number into his system. It searched through the data for a few long seconds making us nervous. And then it finally said -- No. It said there was no room allotted for us. The reason it said was: Insufficient advance notice period. My son and I started to walk away slowly... acknowledging that, yes, the delay was very much known to us due to the DD’s travel back and forth twice. It would have finally reached them only some 2 weeks before the date, while their criteria is 30 days in advance. As we just moved away from the officer, he suddenly told us that we did not have to worry. We were puzzled and asked him how. He said we could just go to the current booking counter in the next building and get a room. I quizzed him if that was really true. He said there was not much visitors in Tirumala that day. I looked at my son and raised eyebrows; we were kind of bemused.
When we finally went to the current booking counter -- after searching the way from the computer center -- we were in for a huge pleasant surprise. There was hardly any queue there at the two counters in operation, and just after 2-3 people in the queue, within just about 10 min., I got our Rs 100 type room allotted without any hassle! That, after all the difficulties in driving all the way to Malleswaram only to be sent away, and after all the difficulties in getting through the DD payment route for an advance reservation for the very Rs 100 type room we did 30 days in advance, and after all the difficulties at the bank who missed the ‘payable at Tirupati’, and after all the Rs 100 cancellation fee drama, and after all the DD going back and forth due to the missed out proof of identity, and after all the perplexes we had gone through in the previous 4 full weeks time! It was just a 10-minutes effort! I paid the refundable caution deposit (CD) of Rs 350 that I would get refunded within 12 hours of vacating the room.
And then, again, we were lucky one more time: The Rs 100 room for us was also allotted in the very next building -- some 30 steps from that allotment counter! Hurray!
We rested well in the room from 3 PM onwards having decided that at 12 midnight we would shift to the other Rs 1500 type room which had a midnight-check-in criteria.
Around 12:30 AM midnight, after we checked-out, I wanted to ensure that we get back the Rs 350 caution deposit refund immediately. At the CD refund counter that was located just across the street in front of the same building, the light was on, and the computer was on, but the clerk was already sleeping on the floor! I tried calling him a few times loudly through the counter’s wicket grill. No decibels of my voice seemed to wake him up. I finally left the place thinking that I would have to find another CD refund counter early in the next (Tue) morning before going for the Darshan. Because, by about 12 noon on Tuesday the 12 hour cut-off time for refunding will be missed.
But, it so happened that, the Rs 1500 type room allotted for us was far away from that location, and, on Tuesday morning, we searched around only to find that there were no CD refund counters located in that entire area, including the entire route that we walked up to our Rs 50 Sudharshanam queue complex. We could not get the refund before going for Darshan.
We had a good Darshan within 3 hours of queue time. After the Darshan, later in the afternoon around 5 PM, we vacated our Rs 1500 type room, took the free bus service, came back to the same CD refund counter where I had been at 12:30 AM early that morning, in order to get the refund of Rs 1500 caution deposit. I asked the clerk there to refund the Rs 350 also. I explained to him that I had come there at 12:30 AM early that morning and that the clerk was fast asleep and never woke up to my shouts. He quietly showed me the computer terminal: It announced that my caution deposit refund time limit had already
lapsed as it was beyond cut-off time. He said: The amount had automatically been credited to the Srivari Temple Hundi by the computer. I just chewed my lips, and did not have any other option.
We traveled back to Bangalore by train that Tuesday night with the satisfaction that during this visit this year we could Donate a more-than-usual amount of fund to the Temple.
More than two weeks later after that: I received an envelope by post from the AE’s office at TTD, Tirumala. It contained the same DD I had sent to them. They had returned back to me along with a reason-card that read: “Request Rejected – Due to the reason: Insufficient Advance Notice. Letter and DD Enclosed”.
The envelope is still lying on my desk. I look at it and wonder what I can do with that Rs 100 DD present in it. May be, one day... before its validity period gets over... I could again step out of my office during work hours, drive to the home branch SBI bank 2 KM with it, and give them a request to Cancel it. They will promptly Cancel it... and give the Credit of Rs 100 into my account... and then... they will also promptly charge a cancellation fee of... Rs 100 from my account!!
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