Children dressed as Santa Clause play with a soccer ball as they celebrate at their school ahead of Christmas in Chennai on December 23, 2021. (Photo by Arun Sankar/AFP Photo)

An artist (R) gives finishing touches to a New Year mural painted on his house in Chennai on December 29, 2022. (Photo by Arun Sankar/AFP Photo)

A Hindu holy man is reflected on a mirror as he prepares a bowl of vermillion powder for devotees near “Sangam”, the confluence of holy rivers of Ganges, Yamuna and the mythical Saraswati, during the annual traditional fair of Magh Mela in Allahabad, in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, India, Tuesday, January 6, 2015. Hundreds of thousands of devout Hindus are expected to take holy dips at the confluence during the astronomically auspicious period of over 45 days celebrated as Magh Mela. (Photo by Rajesh Kumar Singh/AP Photo)

Labourers carry a basket packed with vegetables through a wholesale market in Kolkata, India, February 26, 2016. (Photo by Rupak De Chowdhuri/Reuters)

Indian men sleep in the shadow of an overflowing cloth container of hay, to be used as animal fodder, on a truck on a hot summer day in Ajmer in the western state of Rajasthan on May 30, 2018. (Photo by Shaukat Ahmed/AFP Photo)

Indian people bang utensils and clap from the balconies of a residential building in Mumbai, India, 22 March 2020. Prime Minister Narendra Modi asks citizens to impose self-curfew to fight Coronavirus COVID-19 and also ask them to clap, bang the bells and utensils at 5pm Indian time to mark of respect and to thank the medical staff and others working 24 hours, during Covid-19 outbreak to keeping the Indians safe. (Photo by Divyakant Solanki/EPA/EFE)

A watchmaker waits for customers during a government-imposed nationwide lockdown as a preventive measure against the COVID-19 coronavirus in Chennai on June 29, 2020. (Photo by Arun Sankar/AFP Photo)

Men dressed as Hindu deities from the epic Ramayan wear face masks before going on a public awareness campaign against the spread of the Covid-19 coronavirus, on the occasion of the Hindu festival “Ram Navami”, in Bangalore on April 21, 2021. (Photo by Manjunath Kiran/AFP Photo)