The US Immigration Experience in TTD

Yesterday’s visit to the Tirupati Tirumala Devastanam (TTD) office at Chennai reminded me of US immigration. Rememer when you land in the US and have to pass through the immigration counter where you get photographed and finger-printed? We had to go through a similar exercise right here in Chennai.

We had gone to the Venkatnaryana Road temple to buy the darshan tickets and book accomodation for our trip to Tirupathi. My second daughter is nearing her first birthday and we need to tonsure her head. We stood in line at the booking counter and when our turn came up..yes, you are right, we were photographed and finger-printed. This surprised me. Looks like the officials are getting very security concious.

Sure, I appreciate the security measures. The only downside is that its mandatory that all members be photographed and fingerprinted. This means that I can’t go alone and book tickets for my family. I had to drag my entire family members for the exercise.

They also have online booking. No identification or credentials checked here. Beats me.