Wetlook World Forum

Amongst other locations I have seen Chitrakoot and Varanasi, where

holy bathing takes place in the Mandakini and the Ganga (Ganges)

rivers, respectively.

I went to these places because they are holy, and not with the aim

of photographing wetlook.  I did see a lot of wet clothing, but as

photographing people bathing is sometimes considered impolite, and as

photographing people at puja is DEFINITELY impolite, I refrained from

taking photographs.  Nevertheless on examining a couple of my shots of

Chitrakoot I did find two instances in which I had captured, as part

of a larger scene, women in wet clothing who were not praying and whose

faces were either turned away from the camera (in one case) or indistinct

in the picture (in another case) and thus were not individually identifiable.

Indians care much less than most westerners about wetting their clothes,

probably because the weather is so mild (and often so hot) and the fabrics

are so thin that wet clothes dry quickly and feel pleasant.  In the cities

many slum-dwellers bathe on the streets (because the streets are the only

places that they have) by dumping buckets of water over themselves, then

letting their clothes dry whilst they're being worn.

I would be happy to email these two photographs to someone who would be

able to post them on the web and to place the URL as a follow-up to this

message in the Wetlook World Forum.  (For professional reasons I do not

want my own web site linked to wetlook.)  I might not be able to reply

to responses till I'm back in my office on 1 February, though.

These two pictures are just a sample of what you can see (but usually not

photograph) if you visit India.  Having seen India close up I'm even more

enthralled with the place and the people.  I've been in Kolkata for much

of the trip and I must say that Bengali women are quite lovely - warm-hearted

and welcoming, with beautiful smiles, small mouths set in round faces against

pudgy cheeks, skin the colour of white coffee, deep brown eyes with just a

hint of an epicanthal fold, and brightly coloured clothes that flow with the

movement of their hips - a-ha, delicious!