Couple of weeks back, I had a chance to attend the Mahamaham festival on 22nd Feb. 2016 in Kumbakonam town in Tamilnadu state, India.
It is one of the great Indian bathing festivals which happens typically once in 12 years. As against the other ones like Kumbh Mela or Godavari Pushkaram, which happen on a river this one happens in a huge tank.
This tank has multiple approaches and unlike with a bathing festival in a river, a tank offers limited space for devotees to take a dip. There is the auspicious day and within that day - the suitable time. Around the "holy hour" there is a huge rush and a huge possibility of a stampede. In 1992 event had a history of stampede related deaths. Typically half a million to one million devotees converge on the given day.
Now, to what stood out in terms of crowd management that day:
- There was one entry and one exit - a practice widely followed in most events. Entry through the eastern side and exit through the western side.
- There were 14 gates in the streets leading to the entry. These gates spatially well positioned, with the intent of curtailing peak crowding in the vicinity of the tank. During the peak bathing day, crowds were held in these different gates and released in batches. So at any point in time, the number people taking dip within the tank was well regulated.
The public authorities were clearly thinking in terms of how many people could take a dip at any point in time and entry into the tank area was based on that - clearly WIP limit in action.
I am actually reminded of the practice in a Tokyo Park about the token system to keep a tab on the number of visitors narrated by David Anderson in his Kanban "Blue Book".
Good showcasing of Lean Principles in Public domain.
Photo Credit: The Hindu / Web Edition / Feb. 22, 2016
It is one of the great Indian bathing festivals which happens typically once in 12 years. As against the other ones like Kumbh Mela or Godavari Pushkaram, which happen on a river this one happens in a huge tank.
This tank has multiple approaches and unlike with a bathing festival in a river, a tank offers limited space for devotees to take a dip. There is the auspicious day and within that day - the suitable time. Around the "holy hour" there is a huge rush and a huge possibility of a stampede. In 1992 event had a history of stampede related deaths. Typically half a million to one million devotees converge on the given day.
Now, to what stood out in terms of crowd management that day:
- There was one entry and one exit - a practice widely followed in most events. Entry through the eastern side and exit through the western side.
- There were 14 gates in the streets leading to the entry. These gates spatially well positioned, with the intent of curtailing peak crowding in the vicinity of the tank. During the peak bathing day, crowds were held in these different gates and released in batches. So at any point in time, the number people taking dip within the tank was well regulated.
The public authorities were clearly thinking in terms of how many people could take a dip at any point in time and entry into the tank area was based on that - clearly WIP limit in action.
I am actually reminded of the practice in a Tokyo Park about the token system to keep a tab on the number of visitors narrated by David Anderson in his Kanban "Blue Book".
Good showcasing of Lean Principles in Public domain.
Photo Credit: The Hindu / Web Edition / Feb. 22, 2016
