"Rejoicing in the renewal of life that the monsoon brings, women gather at the Baghmati River in Kathmandu for a ceremonial bath. They honor Parvati, wife of the Hindu god Siva, who dwells among the peaks and sends the streams cascading to the plains."

(Text from "Monsoons: Life Breath of Half the World," December 1984, National Geographic magazine; Photograph shot on assignment for, but not published in, the National Geographic book Our World's Heritage,1987)