Before the mist had cleared that morning, I got a puja—a Hindu blessing from a sadhu, complete with a daubing of paint on my forehead. “I bless your father, your mother, your brother, your sister. One hundred and one rupees,” the holy man said. “Good health, good money, good happiness. One thousand and one rupees.” Don't ask me if the escalating suggested donation (US$30!) was a standard part of an authentic Hindu puja, but I gave him ten or twenty rupees—less than a buck.

All images ©2002-2003 by Dietrich Neuman