Nat Geo Photos

National Geographic has posted the winners of its 2014 National Geographic Traveler Photo Contest (CLICK). Here's my favourite: Mahesh Balasubramanian's Divine Makeover, which gained a Merit Prize in the category Travel Portraits. It shows a sulky-looking child having his or her face painted for the Mayana Soora Thiruvizha festival, celebrated in the village of Kaveripattinam in India the day after Maha Shivarathiri (the great night of Shiva). The annual festival is devoted to Angalamman, a fierce guardian deity worshipped widely in Southern India.