Dear MEL Topic Readers,
Kumbh Mela: How to plan a festival for 100m people
Over 100 million pilgrims are about to gather at a northern Indian city of Allahabadduring during a seven-week Hindu festive period. That’s about the population of Japan or Vietnam and Cambodia combined, or just under one-tenth of India’s population. It is a mass Hindus gather to bathe in a sacred river to wash out their sins. The festival is indeed not only the largest congregation of religious pilgrims but also the largest peaceful gathering in the world.
How to accommodate such a massive temporary human migration in a short period of time? Furthermore, those 100-million-plus pilgrims arrive not evenly during the seven-week period. On the fourth of February, about 30 million people, nearly the population of Malaysia, are expected to attend to bathe in the river. Airports, stations, roads, police officers, tents, toilets, trash bins, road sweepers, hospitals, doctors, and lost and found camps and so on all need to be prepared, organized and operated, not to mention food, water, and medical supplies. Though the event itself is traditional, modern technologies are deployed to organize the crowd, such as CCTV cameras, drones, and AI. Organizers and officials of the even hope no stampedes or outbreak of anything would occur during the festive time.
Some may think it’s easier to live, or wiser to invest a property, in the place, so that you can bathe in the holy river whenever you like. But it is a matter of faith and tradition
Enjoy reading and learn about the challenges to deal with this massive human gathering.
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