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)

Members of Panchayati Akhara Bada Udasin take part in a religious procession as they head towards the Kumbh Mela festival ahead of the royal bath near the Sangam, the confluence of three of the holiest rivers in Hindu mythology – Ganga, Yamuna, and the mythical Saraswati – in Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh, India, 12 January 2025. Every 12 years, Hindu pilgrims gather for ritual baths at the river's banks during the Maha Kumbh Mela festival. (Photo by Rajat Gupta/EPA)

A man tries on a face mask with his portrait printed on it, amid the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), at a photo studio in Gandhinagar, India, May 27, 2020. (Photo by Amit Dave/Reuters)

Commuters wearing face masks jostle for a ride on a bus discarding social distancing guidelines in Kolkata, India, Tuesday, July 21, 2020. With a surge in coronavirus cases in the past few weeks, state governments in India have been ordering focused lockdowns in high-risk areas to slow down the spread of infections. (Photo by Bikas Das/AP Photo)

A participant of the Delhi Queer Pride Parade poses for a photograph during the march in New Delhi, India, Sunday, November 26, 2023. This annual event comes as India's top court refused to legalize same-sеx marriages in an October ruling that disappointed campaigners for LGBTQ+ rights in the world's most populous country. (Photo by Shonal Ganguly/AP Photo)

Flocks of seagulls swarm small fishing boats in the first decade of January 2024 like a scene from Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds. Colonies of Heuglin’s gulls can be seen almost every morning on the Yamuna River in Delhi, India. (Photo by Raghav Rai Ralhan/Solent News)

Bollywood actor and animal rights activist Dia Mirza interacts with school children during the launch of 'Ellie', a life-size animatronic elephant part of a People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) nonprofit organization campaign, in Mumbai on May 5, 2023. (Photo by Indranil Mukherjee/AFP Photo)

A Hindu pilgrim takes a holy dip at Sangam, the confluence of Ganges, Yamuna and mythical Saraswati rivers during the Maha Kumbh Mela festival in Prayagraj on February 5, 2025. (Photo by Idrees Mohammed/AFP Photo)