‘The balloons made me smile but his expression made me stop’: Harivansh Verma’s best phone picture

While celebrating a religious festival on the banks of the Ganges, the Indian photographer captured the everyday struggle of a street vendor It had been a sacred day for Harivansh Verma.

It was the evening of Ganga Dussehra, the major Hindu celebration and gathering along the banks of the Ganges. He was in the city of Haridwar, the location of Har Ki Pauri ghat, a holy riverbank. “Haridwar holds a lot of deeply spiritual memories for me and my family,” Verma says. “In Hinduism we believe taking a…