Amongst pelgrims

The tempel on top of Tirumala hill is an important pelgrimage place. The pelgrims walk the path up the hill, 3000 steps in total. And if they're very devout, they bent down on every step to make a little print of sandlewood paste and red powder. Some even lit a little candle on every step. We have to admit, we took the bus to he top. There we looked at the gigantic line waiting to go into the temple and hesitated. We heard that there was a way to cut the waiting short by buying a special ticket, but after asking at several places and being send from one end of the hill to the other side we gave up on paying a visit to the Gods.
To experience some of the pelgrimage we took the steps down. That was beautiful. Because of the powder the steps were intensely colored. On the way there were many small temples to many different gods, each with their statues and rich carvings. Many pelgrims stopped to have a little conversation with us, which gave them a bit of a rest on their heavy way up. They all wanted to know how the God was doing. The first time we admitted honestly that we didn't see him at all. They were so devastated by that answer, that the next time people asked us this question, we told them he was looking great. And we got a happy smile from them and they continued their steps with new encouragement.