A booking platform for India’s historic and sacred sites, built from scratch.

9and9 builds software for historic and sacred temples in India. I led its ticket booking app from 0 to 1 as Associate PM and Designer, starting with Srisailam, a centuries-old Shiva temple and historic site in South India. Srisailam’s revenue grew from $18.5M to $25M.

Timeline: 2021–20232026 AI redesign
Role: Associate Product ManagerDesigner
Team: 3 PMs2 UX3 Devs5 stakeholders
Tools: Claude CodeFigmaIllustrator

Impact

From a free pilot to the state model.

$18.5M→$0M

Annual revenue

INR ₹120 crore to ₹217.2 crore

3 hrs→0 min

Daily staff admin time

Historic sites onboarded statewide

85% less ticket fraud
85% staff adoption across 174+ sites
500K registrations at Srisailam
Multiple Indian languages supported
Adopted as the Andhra Pradesh state model

Background

A huge market, an outdated experience.

Visiting a temple or a historic site in India is a hassle: timed entry, long lines, and big crowds. Religious travel is one of India’s largest travel segments. The country’s faith-based tourism market is expected to reach $17.2B in 2026, and $46.8B by 2036.

Srisailam is one of 23,000+ temples under the Andhra Pradesh Endowments Department, and one of the most heavily trafficked. Every ticket was bought in person, on the day, after a 3 to 6 hour queue.

The Problem

Visitors wanted in. An outdated system kept them out.

Srisailam draws huge crowds, but booking a visit was hard. 65% of visitors gave up halfway through booking. Ticket fraud went unchecked, and staff spent 3 hours a day on admin work. In 2020 alone, Srisailam earned $18.5M (₹120 crore). The pandemic pushed that number down further, but it had never been strong: money leaked out at every step, long before anyone had heard of the virus.

Fraud & revenue loss

Manual paper tickets created untraceable leakage. Fakes were easy, and impossible to audit.

The thundering herd

With no digital slotting, visitors arrived in waves. Overcrowding turned dangerous at peak.

No shared language

Visitors came from all over India, speaking dozens of languages. Everything on site was in one or two of them, so most people could not read the instructions or ask for help.

2026

Rebuilt AI native, for its users.

I designed 9and9 between 2021 and 2023, for visitors on 2G phones who waited 3 to 6 hours in line for a paper ticket. Today, AI makes things possible that weren’t back then. So I asked: how would I build it now? I kept the brand and the booking flow, and added three things.

Speed

Fast lane for returning visitors

Saved details let repeat visitors rebook in seconds.

Crowds

Crowd-aware date picker

Shows busy and quiet days, so visitors can choose a calmer time.

Language

Nandi, a voice and chat guide

Answers questions in 11 Indian languages. Nandi is named after the sacred bull that guards Shiva temples.

principle

AI that respects the person using it.

AI does the heavy lifting, and the person stays in control. Nothing books, pays, or changes without an explicit confirmation.

Before

What I did in 2021.

Four steps: date and slot, personal details, review the rules, pay. Built to work on 2G, and for people booking online for the first time.

01
Choose date & service
A traffic-light heatmap shows real-time slot availability at a glance.

02
Enter details
Basic info only, with auto-fill for returning pilgrims.

03
Review
Dress code, rules, and visit details, confirmed before paying.

04
Pay & download
UPI, card, or net banking. The QR ticket generates offline.

wanna see more?

I’m happy to chat more about my process over a call. Reach out to me at shrutybrahmananda@gmail.com