Our Sabari Malai trip - transportation, the weather etc.

We boarded the train at Tirupathi to go Ernakulam (Kerala) on Sep 17th. It was an overnight journey. Very comfortable journey and the fellow passengers were young and helpful. We arrived the next morning and Nirmala's niece's husband Sudarsan picked us up at the station and dropped us off at the Prasanthi hotel, which was walking distance from their apartment. Due to the rains, the climate was cooler than expected. After freshening up, we walked over to their house and had lunch there. On the 19th-20th night, we were to go up the hills. A taxi was arraned to pick us up around 3 a.m. Nirmala decided to spend the day time with her niece's children. Rao and I had good rest in the hotel room itself.
The taxi arrived on time and the journey to Pampa near Sabari Malai was very comfortable. Rao started trekking and Nirmala and I hired the doley. The altitude of the hill is close to 3000 feet, steep and path not so easy to trek. The four men that carried each doley wore very loose slippers. The doley was made up of one bamboo easy chair and two long rods. No cushions, no belts to hold you. They took a short cut and it was the most uncomfortable ride. The cost varied from 2000 to 4000 rupees. After some bargaining, we agreed to pay 2200 rupees each. Throughout the way, there was no problem for bathrooms. You just release anywhere you like.
My palanquin (=palki, doli) carriers, after dropping me off told me that they would be right back in 10 minutes after taking another lady (who had darsan the previous night and who was waiting for them to take her back) down the hill. It took about two and a half hours for them to bring us up the hill. By then, I learned the India unit of time. No matter who says it, when they say 'five minutes' it could be upto five hours. I tried to argue with them, but they left anyway. We had great darsan and we finished it in 40 minutes. We were not allowed to go near the idol anyway. The darsan was only from a few feet away.
Now, after walking over to the doley parking area, Nirmala's doley was ready and my people retuned only after 2 hours. Then they put me on a different chair, smaller and more uncomfortable. It was a scary ride coming down. I will never go on a doley again. Rao was blissfully walking and enjoyed the beautiful vegetation!!!
I will write about the actual darsan in detail in my next post. Don't forget to click on Pampa in the second paragraph. Click here to see the scenic beauty of the place.