This is a photo I took while in India with my husband, Ben… which I just submitted to the CONNECTIONS Photo Contest. The contest calls for amateur photographers (sorry pros!) to submit a single photo that captures the authentic essence of a place. I think this is my favourite photo of our time in India… we were visiting the Monkey Temple near Jaipur, where pilgrims come to bathe in the sacred baths. We were the only tourists there, and upon arrival were being coerced into buying souvenirs, to be blessed by priests (for a fee,) and being chased by little girls with baskets of cobras to have our photo taken with them (also for a fee.) There were few places in India we felt uncomfortable on our trip, and this was one of them. But then we caught a glimpse of this little girl, all by herself, playing in the sink while gathering water, and snapped this picture. I feel like it captured something sweet and sad at the same time, the contrast between the struggles of poverty and childhood innocence.