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Flower Power & Woman Power, originally uploaded by Kausthub.

Malliga is a flower seller in Mahabalipuram. I took this shot the previous week, when Prabhakaran and I went there at dawn.

As we finished our sunrise shots and were returning to our car, we saw this beautiful woman hurriedly getting the flowers ready. Probably she needs to do that before the tourists start to pour in.

The smell of the flowers, especially the Jasmine was so powerfully intoxicating. I think it did something to me that when I wanted to ask her if I could photograph her, I called her "aaya" (grandma), instead of "akka" (sister).

She got so enraged at this, and said to me "Do I look like a grandma to you.... Take your photos...but don't call me that."

As you can see from her look, Flower Power, together with Woman Power is an intense combination.

Photographed with a Caon EOS 5D Mark II, and Canon EF24-105mm F4 IS USM L Lens. Handheld.