Service charge at Tirupati

Regulars at the Tirupati Devasthanam in Andhra know that if you pay an official fee of Rs 100 you are entitled to a special darshan and can jump the long queue. An investment banker who went to Tirupati recently found that the house of God is no longer free of corruption either. He was told that because of the heavy rush even the limited special darshan was unavailable. When the disappointed family went back to the hotel the travel agency helpfully said that for a `service fee' of Rs 150 per head plus Rs 100 each for the special darshan they could get into the temple.

Surely this service fee is no different from the black market that flourishes outside cinema halls. The Siddhivinayak Temple in Mumbai has another interesting facility. Mumbai has people who make some easy money by simply standing in the queue every Tuesday. They sell their place in the queue for a price and then go back to the end of it and start all over again. Have people stopped believing in the omnipresence of God that they insist onpersonal meetings at any cost?

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