Tuesday, August 11, marked the end of this year’s kanwar yatra. The thousands of devotees who thronged the national capital marked Sawan Shivratri with a jalabhishek ritual and ended their journey. Then there is the fear, perhaps justifiable but sometimes exaggerated, of safety being threatened by revelling young men, present across the city with seeming impunity. These anxieties are not unique to the kanwar yatra alone, and are almost part and parcel of a fear of crowds in a deeply stratified society. What is perhaps unique to the kanwar yatra is various government authorities, notably since 2014, trying to “facilitate” the yatris.