Are you ready?

Here is (as we say in Anguilla) a representative cross section of attendees at the Thrissur Pooram (aka Elephant Festival). They were expecting at least 10 lakh (1 lakh is 100,000) to show up, and I'd be hard-pressed to argue that number.
We arrived around 10:30A to witness the arrival of some of the smaller temples' elephant delegations. It was BEASTLY hot. And around 1 o'clock we broke for lunch and retired to the 'gallery' which was the viewing grandstand outside of the south gate where they isolate the 'international tourists' from the true revelers.
And dare I say that once the crowds filled in every other available square inch of the area and once we quit trying to calculate the load-bearing capacity of the structure on which we were all standing, we were damn grateful to be where we were.