Flower girl was taken at the Hindu festival of Thaipusam, in Singapore back in 1985.

The festival itself is quite dramatic and possibly scary, with Hindu devotees piercing their bodies with hooks and skewers.

While photographers naturally focus on them, I make it a point to also look for interesting scenes on the side, like this Indian beauty who was there to support a devotee.

When my buddy Larry helped me to clean and restore my old slides, he initially could not produce a decent scan of this slide. It came out very dark and, when he tried to brighten it, the digital noise was unbearable.

If you read my article about restoring my precious old slides, this image eventually prompted Larry to buy a new scanner!