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TO LOVE AND TO CHERISH

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TAROT

TAROT

An image depicting the cherishing and honouring of young women has won Indian Link’s Independence Day photography contest #myIndianlink for 2023.

It was taken by amateur photographer Pranab Basak during the Bhagoria Festival in Madhya Pradesh, central India. The event is sometimes called the ‘match-making festival’, because one of the main attractions is a local version of the ‘Bachelors and Spinsters Ball’, in which young people find their partners.

This week-long event has been held uninterrupted for centuries by the Bhil, Bhilala and Barela indigenous communities during the time of the Festival of Colours, Holi. It is essentially a ‘haat’ or market enterprise, with music and dance festivities thrown in, and the match-making is an inadvertent but happy by-product.

Nonetheless, the decisions made by young women at the event are particularly honoured, Pranab Basak told Indian Link, in what might seem at odds with popular belief about women’s place in society. As a woman announces her choice at the Bhagoria Festival, her family and friends place their hands on her head in blessing.

Coming at a time when issues regarding women’s safety have been in the national discourse, the joy in Basak’s image - and the connotations of care and regard - won the judges over.

“I’m thrilled to have won this award,” Basak said. “It was quite a unique tradition that I witnessed, and am pleased that I could capture the joy of the moment.”

He takes home a $200 prize.

The annual photography contest held by Indian Link to coincide with Independence Day, #myIndianlink seeks images from participants that display their link to, or a feel of, India.

Entrants use the #myIndianlink hashtag to post their photographs on social media.

An agrarian scene from Purulia in remote West Bengal, captured by amateur photographer Arpan Basu Chowdhury, claimed

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