A pedestrian takes photos of an illuminated street ahead of forthcoming holidays in Kolkata, India, Monday, December 23, 2024. (Photo by Bikas Das/AP Photo)





Family members of the victims of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, offer prayers at a memorial monument on the 20th anniversary of the disaster, in Peraliya on December 26, 2024. On December 26, 2004, a magnitude 9.1 earthquake struck the coast of Sumatra in Indonesia and triggered a huge tsunami across the Indian Ocean that killed more than 220,000 people in a dozen countries. (Photo by Ishara S. Kodikara/AFP Photo)





Women perform rituals during a ceremony held on the 20th anniversary for the victims of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, at Pattinapakkam beach in Chennai on December 26, 2024. Tearful mourners prayed on December 26, 2024, as ceremonies began across Asia to remember the 220,000 people who died two decades ago when a tsunami hit coastlines around the Indian Ocean, in one of the world's worst natural disasters. (Photo by R.Satish Babu/AFP Photo)





Women perform rituals during a ceremony held for the victims of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, at Pattinapakkam beach in Chennai on December 26, 2024. (Photo by R.Satish Babu/AFP Photo)





Women perform rituals during a ceremony held for the victims of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, at Pattinapakkam beach in Chennai on December 26, 2024. (Photo by R.Satish Babu/AFP Photo)





Women light candles during a ceremony held on the 20th anniversary for the victims of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, at Pattinapakkam beach in Chennai on December 26, 2024. (Photo by R.Satish Babu/AFP Photo)





A man carries his bicycle as he crosses a railway track in a wintry morning near a train station in Jalandhar on December 26, 2024. (Photo by Shammi Mehra/AFP Photo)





Hindu priests perform prayers on the banks of the Ganges river at Assi Ghat on a foggy winter morning in Varanasi on December 27, 2024. (Photo by Niharika Kulkarni/AFP Photo)





A view of the Dome city luxury cottages for pilgrims during Maha Khumb on the confluence of rivers Ganges and Yamuna where Millions of Hindu pilgrims are going to attend one of the world's largest religious gatherings that lasts 55 days and falls every 12 years in Prayagraj, in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, India, Friday, December 27, 2024. (Photo by Rajesh Kumar Singh/AP Photo)





A man arrives to clear snow from his boat at Dal Lake in Srinagar , the summer capital of Indian Kashmir, 28 December 2024. The plains in Kashmir received snowfall on the second consecutive day, bringing to an end a much-extended dry spell. (Photo by Farooq Khan/EPA)





A student poses with her painted face, ahead of New Year celebrations at a college in Chennai on December 28, 2024. (Photo by R. Satish Babu/AFP Photo)





Camel riders walks at Sangam ahead of Mahakumbh 2025, in Prayagraj on Sunday, December 29, 2024. (Photo by Prabhat Kumar Verma/ZUMA Press Wire/Rex Features/Shutterstock)





Farmers shout slogans as they block a road during the “Punjab Bandh”, a statewide strike by farmers against the central government demanding minimum support price (MSP) for their crops, on the outskirts of Amritsar on December 30, 2024. (Photo by Narinder Nanu/AFP Photo)





People attend New Year’s Eve celebrations in Mumbai, India, on December 31, 2024. (Photo by Hemanshi Kamani/Reuters)





A Sadhu, or a Hindu holy man, applies ash on his face at the revamped Dashashwamedh Ghat on the banks of the river Ganges, ahead of the Maha Kumbh Mela festival in Prayagraj on December 31, 2024. (Photo by Niharika Kulkarni/AFP Photo)





Sikh devotees take a dip in the holy sarovar at the Golden Temple during the New Year's Day in Amritsar on January 1, 2025. (Photo by Arinder Nanu/AFP Photo)





A worker pushes a wheelbarrow carrying trash, past a wall mural ahead of the Maha Kumbh Mela festival in Prayagraj on January 2, 2025. (Photo by Niharika Kulkarni/AFP Photo)





A Panchayati Mahanirvani Akhara devotee performs fire breathing stunts in a procession towards the Sangam, the confluence of rivers Ganges and Yamuna, during the first “royal entry” (Peshwai)for the Mahakumbh festival, in Prayagraj, in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, India, Thursday, January 2, 2025. (Photo by Rajesh Kumar Singh/AP Photo)





A Kashmiri rows his Shikara, or wooded boat, on a cold and foggy morning in the outskirts of Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Friday, January 3, 2025. (Photo by Dar Yasin/AP Photo)





Indian army soldiers dance to the tunes of a military band as they take a break during rehearsals for the upcoming Republic Day parade on a cold winter morning in New Delhi on January 3, 2025. (Photo by Money Sharma/AFP Photo)