Widows of Varanasi, India, 2013"

Come to Kashi and die." For centuries, devout Hindus have descended on the ancient town on the banks of the Ganga to do just that. Here they live out the remainder of their lives, firm in the belief that death in Kashi, or Varanasi will bring them moksha-release from the cycle of birth, death and rebirth.

For some, the waiting can be cruel, especially if it stretches into decades of an inhumanely threadbare existence-as it has for 8,000 widows who came to Varanasi a long time ago to live in conditions that are a foul blot on the face of the society.

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/widows-of-varanasi/1/180135.html