India - Varanasi and Tamil Nadu, January 2011

Temperatures were unusually low in Varanasi (morning temperatures in the 40°s ) and warming fires were very common.

Looking at his photo from Barbara.

Tea vendor

After the laundry is washed in the Ganges, it is spread to dry.

Foreground boat is moored and serves as a laundry platform; in the background. pilgrims set out for a ceremony on the Ganges.

Boat builders, Varanasi.

Shopkeeper.

Flute vendor, Varanasi.

Repairing a boat, Varanasi. The fire is to keep warm.

Hand drill.

A barber at work near the Ganges.

Fast food cooks, Varanasi.

Varanasi. Goats wander on the ghats on the banks of the Ganges.

There is always activity near the Ganges.

A saddhu on the ghats at Varanasi.

After being washed in the Gange, saris dry quickly when held to the breeze.

A scene along the Ganges. Marigolds are widely used in Hindu ceremonies.

Evening puja, Varanasi.

Performimg his own ceremony along the Ganges.

White Throated Kingfisher along the Ganges

Paan vendor, Varanasi. Paan is betel nut leaf smeared with slaked lime and areca nut paste and, sometimes, flavored with tobacco, camphor, cardamon, or mint. Paan vendors are ubiquitous in India; most of them operate from a small sidewalk cubicle while in a seated position.

A monk at the gate of Sarnath Buddhist monastery near Varanasi. Sarnath is where the Buddha first began preaching the dharma, his teachings.

Classical and folk dance festival, Mamallapuram, Tamil Nadu.

Mamallapuram dance festival.

At times, there seemed to be more acrobatics and contortions than dance.

Waiting in the wings. A dance group from Assam in the far northeast of India

Couldn't resist another version.

Close-up of dancers from Assam.

The Arjana bas relief, sculpted 13 centuries ago. At night this serves as the backdrop for the dance festival.

Sugar cane juice vendor, Mamallapuram.

Mamallapuram is the site of many scuptures, some dating from the 7th and 8th century.

Construction labor in Mamallapuram.

Onion wholesalers in Madurai, Tamil Nadu state.. January 2011 onion prices were so high they were the subject of newspaper stories.

In Madurai, preparing for Pongal, the festival of the first harvest, celebrated in south India, principally in Tamil Nadu. The kolam signifies happiness and prosperity and is made with rice powder, plain and colored.

Vendor of colored powders to make kolam for the Pongal festival.

Banana market - wholesale, Madurai.

Madurai spice shop.

The north wall gopuram from inside the temple. The center area is usually filled with water but was under repair in January 2011. Red and white vertical stripes are very common in Hindu temples - red for prosperity, white for purity.

Resting outside the temple. The men are pilgrims; black dhotis signify they are devotees of the Hindu god Ayyappa. December and January are big months for pilgrimages. Devotees of certain deities will set off on journeys of several days or weeks, usually in a group, with the ultimate destination being a temple that is important for their deity. The route is not direct but is chosen to visit other important temples. These men were probably from the north, headed toward Ayyappa's main temple in Kerala on the southwest coast of India, but they chose a route to include the temple of Shiva and Meenakshi at Madurai in Tamil Nadu