I love photographing doorways….apart from being, literally, the way into an interior or an exterior, they are often gateways to another way of life…

This doorway was into a building on the banks of the Kaveri, at Srirangapatna where, I think, funeral rites are conducted, by the priests of the neighbouring temple. This is a different space, where the dead are remembered, venerated, and those participating in the rites feel that that they have enabled the departed to enter the next, and higher, world.

Sometimes doorways are the threshold to a kind of life alien to us:

The rooms in such homes are set up around a central courtyard; the toilet and bath and sometimes even the kitchen, are set apart from the living quarters, at the back of the house, and the living space is more geared to joint living than our concept of individual rooms. The few rooms in these homes are tiny. The doorway itself acts as a channel for ventilation, with the air blowing right through to the rear entrance, and funnelling in air from the central courtyard, as well.