At India's Venkateswara Temple in Tirumala, pilgrims waiting for free Sarva Darshan are managed through compartments and lines in the Vaikuntam Queue Complex. Temple officials say waits can run five to ten hours even in lighter periods and exceed thirty-five hours during heavy influxes. An official board record notes peak attendance of up to 150,000 a day and considered numbered identity cards to preserve priority for pilgrims carried into the next morning.
The queue is therefore not one rope-lined path. It is a small city of holding compartments, time slots, food and overnight arrangements, engineered to preserve order around a few seconds of darshan.