A supporter of BJP dances during celebrations after learning of initial poll results outside the party headquarters in New Delhi, on May 16, 2014. (Photo by Anindito Mukherjee/Reuters)
Varanasi is a city on the banks of the Ganges in Uttar Pradesh, 320 kilometres (200 mi) southeast of the state capital, Lucknow. It is holiest of the seven sacred cities (Sapta Puri) in Hinduism and Jainism. Hindus believe that death at Varanasi brings salvation. It is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world and the oldest in India.
In this Tuesday, March 31, 2015 photo, Indian women walk carrying firewood they collected from a forest at Gobhali village on the outskirts of Gauhati, India. Every evening, hundreds of millions of Indian women hover over crude stoves making dinner for their families. They feed the flames with polluting fuels like kerosene or cow dung, and breathe the acrid smoke wafting from the fires. (Photo by Anupam Nath/AP Photo)
A taxi driver waits for passengers inside his taxi parked on the side of a deserted road during the first day of the two-day state-imposed lockdown as a preventive measure against the surge in COVID-19 coronavirus cases in Kolkata on August 20, 2020. (Photo by Dibyangshu Sarkar/AFP Photo)
An Indian worker makes a roll of the kite thread being prepared on a roadside on the outskirts of Amritsar, India, 24 November 2020. The kite string or the “Dor”, in the local language, is made of crushed glass, glue, colors, and egg to make it strong enough to hold the kite. (Photo by Raminder Pal Singh/EPA/EFE)
Madras Engineers Group (MEG) soldiers perform “Kalaripayattu”, a traditional martial art from Kerala, during celebrations for the India's 74th Republic Day in Bengaluru on January 26, 2023. (Photo by Manjunath Kiran/AFP Photo)
People smeared with colors play Holi at Nandagram temple in Nandgoan village, 115 kilometers (70 miles) south of New Delhi, India, Wednesday, March 1, 2023. (Photo by Deepanshu Aggarwal/AP Photo)