A man uses an umbrella for shade as he carries a dismantled car on a cycle rickshaw to a scrapyard on a hot weather day on the outskirts of Ahmedabad, India, May 19, 2022. (Photo by Amit Dave/Reuters)
A Hindu devotee drinks water from the Ganges River at the Sangam area, the confluence of rivers Ganges, Yamuna, and the mythical Saraswati, in Allahabad on March 16, 2021. (Photo by Sanjay Kanojia/AFP Photo)
A participant with a painted face takes part in Delhi Queer Pride March, an event promoting gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender rights, in New Delhi, India on January 8, 2023. (Photo by Adnan Abidi/Reuters)
Members of the Nepalese ethnic Madhesi community daub each other's faces with coloured powders during Holi festival celebrations in Kathmandu on March 6, 2015. The Holi festival of colours is a riotous celebration of the coming of spring and falls on the day of the full moon in March every year. AFP PHOTO / PRAKASH MATHEMA (PRAKASH MATHEMA/AFP/Getty Images)
An Indian girl wearing traditional attire takes selfie as others perform the Garba, a dance of Gujarat state, to celebrate the Hindu festival Navratri in Ahmedabad, India, Thursday, October 7, 2021. Navratri, or nine nights festival, began Thursday. (Photo by Ajit Solanki/AP Photo)
Men tackle a bull as they participate in the annual bull-taming sport of Jallikattu played to celebrate the harvest festival of Pongal on January 15, 2023 in Avaniyapuram, near Madurai, India. (Photo by Abhishek Chinnappa/Getty Images)
Rangoli, also known as kolam or Muggu, is a folk art from India in which patterns are created on the floor in living rooms or courtyards using materials such as colored rice, dry flour, colored sand or flower petals. It is usually made during Diwali, Onam, Pongal and other Indian festivals. They are meant to be sacred welcoming areas for the Hindu deities. The ancient symbols have been passed down through the ages, from each generation to the next, keeping both the art form and the tradition alive. Similar practices are followed in different Indian states: in Tamil Nadu, there is Kolam in Tamil Nadu; Mandana in Rajasthan; Chaookpurna in Chhattisgarh; Alpana in West Bengal; Aripana in Bihar; Chowk pujan in Uttar Pradesh; Muggu in Andhra Pradesh and others.
Scared of Heights. “Taken from the highest residential building in Asia: the Zenith in Busan. This was taken with official permission (which took me months to get) and safety measures were taken. I had to hang myself over the edge to get this shot. Not for the faint of heart! But when you’re at a height like this, the world below you just seems different. It takes away the fear one would normally have, and gives a sense of peace instead”. (Photo by Albert Dros/NatGeo Cities Travel Photographer of the Year 2017)