For free India’s 1st Kumbh, Rlys printed ‘cow’, ‘fish’ on tickets
A total of seven enclosures were set up at the railway junction, and three each at Naini and Vindhyachal stations.
In 1954, Indian Railways adopted a unique code-based crowd management strategy at railway stations for the smooth conduct of the first Kumbh Mela in free India.
Records at Regional Archives show for first-class passengers, whose count was very few, special waiting rooms were made available at platforms.
For the “third class” ticket holders, who travelled in ‘General’ compartments, enclosures were set up tagged with symbols. These tickets had specific symbols such as cow, axe, fish, aeroplane/elephant, monkey, snake and tree printed on the back. Volunteers at railway stations, on the arrival of trains, were instructed to guide passengers to their respective enclosures marked with the same symbol.
For instance, a passenger with a ‘fish’ ticket was supposed to be directed to the enclosure with the symbol of a fish displayed on its gate. A total of seven enclosures were set up at the railway junction, and three each at Naini and Vindhyachal stations. As per a railway document, Railways had released an alphabetical list of stations for which symbolised tickets were available.
The directives for volunteers mentioned: “As soon as a passenger enters a circulating area, ask him the station for which he wants to buy the ticket for. Consult your alphabetical list of stations for which printed tickets are available and tell the passenger the booking window number and its position...along with the symbol for his respective station.’
For the passengers of first class and other categories, the guidelines for volunteers mentioned: ‘Direct the upper-class passengers and other class passengers to their respective entrances and waiting rooms. Direct third class ‘Ordinary’ passengers to their proper enclosures by examining the symbols on the reverse of their tickets.”
The list finds mention of seven symbols printed on the reverse of tickets of ordinary class passengers alighting at Allahabad-Sangam station. They were cow, axe, fish, aeroplane/elephant, monkey, snake and tree. Tickets of passengers who deboarded at the Allahabad junction had cow and/or bicycle, axe and/or railway engine, fish and/or lantern, rising sun and/or elephant, monkey, snake and tree printed on their back.
Similar arrangements were made for passengers alighting at Naini and Vidhyachal railway stations.
