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Outdoor Pongal celebration under a thatched shelter: a clay pot of boiling milk rice with a white froth top sits over a small wood fire on brick stones, ringed with yellow marigold garlands and red flowers, with sugarcane stalks tied overhead with leaves. Behind it, a man with hands folded in namaskar stands on a mat, wearing a maroon-red turban, a dark red dhoti-style garment, a heavy gold necklace and a pink-and-white flower garland, with long dark hair down his back. Crowds of people in saffron-orange and white clothing watch and join palms together. A red carpet and striped mats cover the ground, with white kolam designs drawn on the floor and a drum at right.