Indian Bride

While we were wandering around the shores of the Ganges River in Rishikesh we came across a small crowd of brightly garbed people performing some kind of ritual. We watched from a distance but some of the participants came up to us and indicated that we should join them. It was a wedding. We walked from the river over to the bride's parents' house for her final visit as a member of that household. Then everyone proceeded to her new home, a small three room, mud floored building apparently shared by about eleven people. We gave them about ten dollars as a wedding gift; not much to us, but probably more than any of their other gifts. The bride did not seem to be very happy about her new situation. She is seated here, wearing a purple and gold sari. She is fourteen years old.