India, April 9 -- The "saree stakeout" tradition recently went viral again thanks to a reel by Shourya (@off.script). She captured a massive crowd lining up in the middle of the night at a KSIC (Karnataka Silk Industries Corporation) store, where people waited over seven hours just for the doors to open.

"It's 3:45 am and we're heading to a place no one talks about," she says in the reel, adding that despite arriving early, a long queue had already formed. "I stepped out briefly for coffee, and when I came back, 53 names had been added ahead of me." While waiting, she spoke to others in the queue-one woman had arrived at 3:00 am, while another man claimed he came the previous night at 9:00 pm to be first.

Despite the dedication, the sto...