Scenes From India

Scenes From India

Devotees carry a statue of the Hindu elephant god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, for immersion in the sea, on the last day of "Ganesh Chaturthi", in Mumbai September 14, 2008. Clay statues of Ganesh are made two to three months before this popular religious festival in India. The idols are taken through the streets in a procession accompanied with dancing and singing, to be immersed in a river symbolizing a ritual sendoff on his journey towards his home. (REUTERS/Punit Paranjpe)




Protestors challenge the police during a victory rally in Jammu, India, Sunday, Aug. 31, 2008. Hindus on Sunday suspended their two-month-old protest over allotment of land to a Hindu trust to build facilities for pilgrims in the Indian portion of Kashmir, which had triggered some of the worst violence in the region in more than a decade, officials said. (AP Photo/Channi Anand)



A policeman throws stones at protestors during a victory rally in Jammu, India, Sunday, Aug. 31, 2008. (AP Photo/Channi Anand)



Catholic nuns from the Missionaries of Charity order sing hymns for a special prayer during the eleventh anniversary of the death of Mother Teresa in the eastern Indian city of Kolkata September 5, 2008. Mother Teresa was a Nobel Peace Prize-winning nun who died in 1997, and was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 2003 at the Vatican. (REUTERS/Jayanta Shaw)



A damaged church, seen in the village of Raikia, India, after it was allegedly stormed by Hindu fundamentalists, on August 31, 2008. Indian authorities insisted they had halted deadly clashes between Hindus and Christians in the east of the country that have exposed it to stinging criticism. At least 10 people have died and thousands have fled their homes as a result of the violence in the coastal state of Orissa, with the Catholic church accusing police of failing to protect defenceless priests and nuns. (DESHAKALYAN CHOWDHURY/AFP/Getty Images)



Monsoon rains have caused a great deal of flooding throughout low-lying regions of India. Here, villagers wade through a flooded road near Mithapur village, 67 km (42 miles) west of Ahmedabad, September 19, 2008. (REUTERS/Amit Dave)



A man is airlifted onto an Indian Air Force helicopter at a flood-affected village in the eastern Indian state of Bihar September 3, 2008. The floods have forced more than three million people from their homes, destroyed 250,000 acres of farmland and killed over 150 people. (REUTERS/Indian Defence Ministry)



Workers arrange bottles of drinking water before an air-drop in flood-affected areas at Purniya air force station in the eastern Indian state of Bihar, September 3, 2008. (REUTERS/Rupak De Chowdhuri)



Forestry workers look on as a male Royal Bengal Tiger leaps off a boat into the water after being released back into the wild in The Chamta Forest District of The Sunderbans, in India, on September 4, 2008. The tiger was declared fit for release by veterinarians after it was recently rescued from a nearby village. (HO/AFP/Getty Images)



A view of the illuminated Golden Temple, Sikhs holiest shrine, in Amritsar, India, Monday, Sept. 1, 2008. This year, Sikhs mark the 404th anniversary of the installation of the Guru Granth Sahib, the sacred book of the Sikhs. (AP Photo/Aman Sharma)



Indian Hindu devotees pay their respects after pouring milk water onto an idol of Hindu God Lord Krishna at the Shivala temple in Amritsar, on August 24, 2008, on the occasion of the "Janmashtami" festival, which marks the birth of Lord Krishna. Devotional songs and dances mark the celebrations of the festival all over northern India. (NARINDER NANU/AFP/Getty Images)



Hindu devotees, try to form a human pyramid to break an earthen pot filled with honey, milk and curd, as part of festivities to celebrate Janmashthmi, or the birth anniversary of Lord Krishna, in Mumbai, India, Sunday, Aug. 24, 2008. (AP Photo/Rajanish Kakade)



Young Indian devotees of Hindu God Lord Krishna attempt to make a seven-tier human pyramid in the 'dahi-handi' (curd-pot) contest in Mumbai on August 24, 2008, as part of celebrations of "Janmashtami" which marks the birth of Hindu God Lord Krishna. Scores of Hindu devotees of Lord Krishna partake in the dahi-handi celebration during which a large earthenware pot is filled with milk, curds, butter, honey and fruits and suspended from a height of between 20 to 40 feet. Sporting young men and boys come forward to claim this prize by constructing a human pyramid till the pyramid is tall enough to enable the topmost person to reach the pot and claim the contents after breaking it. (PAL PILLAI/AFP/Getty Images)



People fish for wood for domestic use at the Naraj barrage on the Kathjodi River in the eastern Indian state of Orissa, Friday, Sept. 19, 2008. The flood situation in Orissa worsened as the government launched a massive evacuation operation to shift the residents of low-lying areas to safer places, according to a news agency. (AP Photo/Biswaranjan Rout)



Kashmiri Muslim protesters shout pro-freedom slogans during an anti-India protest in Srinagar September 19, 2008. Thousands of Muslims demonstrators shouting anti-India slogans took to streets in Kashmir's main city on Friday and resumed protests against New Delhi's rule in the disputed region. (REUTERS/Fayaz Kabli)