Opinion: Pilgrimage for departed souls, an outsourcing marvel

As I set off to four small cities in India as part of a pilgrimage, little did I know that I was becoming part of a different type of tourism. The trip took me from the south of India to the north and back. It started at Rameswaram, goes to Varanasi (or Kashi or Benares as it is called) and also to Allahabad and Gaya and ends in Rameswaram. It takes close to ten days to complete the whole circuit and the entire programme is structured around offering prayers to all the departed souls that you know and want to pray for. Typically, people do it for their parents and prior generations, but, when you get in to the meaning of the prayers you realise that you can offer prayers for any departed soul – could be a friend, a pet, a tree – and they could also be offered to souls that you do not know!

The experience I had was amazing and I now call this “Tourism for Death”. These four small Indian cities survive and thrive on this tourism for departed souls. It is remarkable to see how people have generated employment – and built an ecosystem that has thrived for centuries – on death. Well, the model used in this business is very interesting and is one of the best uses I know of outsourcing services based on professional capability. 

Typically, a priest (or a family of priests) is contacted by someone who wants to go through with this pilgrimage. The priest gets into action and offers a complete package with all services from the time the person reaches the location. Other than the prayer services that he provides, all other services are outsourced. He has tie-ups with hotels, conveyance and travel services, city tourist guides, other priests for special prayers, outstation priests (eg. if a priest in Varanasi is the one you have contacted, he will work with priests in the other three cities), cooks for special food preparation, clothes shops if pilgrims need clothes for the prayers, etc. I was amazed to see how the co-ordination between the different service providers works. 

This is outsourcing at its best. They work based on what they are good at doing and do not step into each other’s shoes. It works on complete trust and everyone has a share of the pie. It works like any multi-sourcing deal but with one service provider taking the lead. Typically, it is the priest that leads the deal, but they let the professionals handle their part. What I also noticed was that if there is a family of priests handling many cases, they seem to have invested into downstream and upstream businesses such as conveyance providers, caterers, clothing shops, hotels, etc. It’s an amazing web that works well to deliver the services required. 

There is very little technology usage – I saw that they had a manual system although they used the mobile phone quite often. However, I believe that to scale this to a much larger level, they would need better use of technology. Technology could play a huge role in taking this game international should they choose.

The priest does a wonderful job of setting clear expectations with the customer on how the ten days will unfold. There are a few surprises, of course, when some hand-offs don’t work, but, generally, I noticed that what I got was well in line with expectations. 

Pricing is a very interesting aspect: the pilgrimage package is made based on what the customer can afford. So, what prayers to offer, how many days, which hotel to stay in, the type of transportation, etc. are all a function of what the customer says s/he can afford.