In India, an effort to preserve

As India’s economic transition reshapes landscapes and lives, social historians are trying to collect and archive stories about what is being lost. Here are some images of a changing India.

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Nov. 13. 2011

Tourists look at the Taj Mahal, a UNESCO World Heritage site in Agra, India. With the aim of boosting tourism, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh formed an inter-ministerial committee comprising senior officials from 14 ministries to put tourism projects on the fast track.

/ AFP/Getty Images

Feb. 4, 2012

Pedestrians walk past New Delhi’s landmark “Red Fort.” The 17th-century complex is an example of Mughal architecture and was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2007.

Prakash Singh / AFP/Getty Images

Oct. 11, 2012

A Bangalore Metro Rail Corp. train moves along an elevated track in Bangalore, India. The Center for Public History at the Srishti School of Art, Design and Technology is recording the oral histories of Bangalore residents who live and work along the city’s new Metro route.

Namas Bhojani / Bloomberg

July 1, 2007

Tourists visit the 16th-century Mughal-built Humayun's Tomb, a World Heritage Site, in New Delhi.

Christophe Archambault / AFP/Getty Images

January 2006

Construction workers build a replica of New York's Empire State Building in Bangalore, India. As a result of growth, Bangalore, like many cities, is largely defined by images of dug-up roads, inadequate public transport, pollution, traffic jams, landmark buildings being torn down and endless construction zones.

Carsten Snejbjerg / Getty Images

July 1, 2007

Tourists take a walk at the 16th-century Mughal-built Humayun's Tomb, a World Heritage Site, in New Delhi.

Christophe Archambault / AFP/Getty Images

Nov. 1, 2011

Workers fix a street lamp outside the headquarters of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corp., a UNESCO World Heritage Site, in Mumbai.

Indranil Mukherjee / AFP/Getty Images

Sept. 21, 2006

An Indian shepherd covered in a plastic sheet stands guard over his flock of sheep near a group of high-rises during a heavy monsoon downpour in Kolkata.

Deshakalyan Chowdhury / AFP/Getty Images

Oct. 9, 2009

People walk through the headquarters of Infosys Technologies Ltd. in Bangalore, India. Just over a decade ago, Bangalore was the model of India’s success story – a center for outsourcing jobs and a launch pad for IT entrepreneurs, with a young, educated workforce. Its promise drew hundreds of international high-tech companies. Bangalore soon also became a microcosm of India’s challenges. The population nearly doubled in the past decade to more than 9.5 million people. Poor infrastructure, inefficient governance coupled with higher incomes and rising expectations created chaos like never before.

Namas Bhojani / Bloomberg

April 11, 2008

An Indian laborer takes a nap inside the Virupaksha Temple in Hampi, near the southern Indian city of Hospet. Hampi is located within the ruins of the city of Vijayanagar, the former capital of the Vijayangar empire. The village of Hampi, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, contains several other monuments belonging to the old city.

Dibyangshu Sarkar / AFP/Getty Images

Jan. 9, 2006

A worker cleans one of the stone lion structures at the entrance of the Chattrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST) in Mumbai. The CST, formerly known as Victoria Terminus, was included on the World Heritage Site list by the World Heritage Committee of UNESCO.

Indranil Mukherjee / AFP/Getty Images

July 19, 2011

Indian laborers fit loud-speakers on a pole at the Brigade Parade grounds, with the Victoria Memorial seen in the background, ahead of a mass rally organized by the ruling Indian political party Trinamool Congress to celebrate their historic win in a state election in Kolkata. In cities such as Kolkata, in eastern India, neighbors are getting together to record their memories and preserve photographs of their changing neighborhoods.

Dibyangshu Sarkar / AFP/Getty Images

Jan. 19, 2006

A security person stands guard at his post outside the Karnataka state legislative building Vidhan Soudha in Bangalore, India. In May, historians from across India gathered in Bangalore to form India’s first oral history association, which aims to promote initiatives across India that record people’s experiences in contemporary India. Next year, they plan to showcase all the oral history projects at national conference in the northern city of Lucknow.

Gautam Singh / AP

FEATURED PHOTO GALLERIES

epa03708924 Franziska (C) wears a helmet and carries a shield during the recreation of The Battle of the Teutoburg Museum in Bramsche, Germany, 20 May 2013. The everyday life of Romans and the Germanic people is depicted at Museum Park Kalkriese during the Romans and Germanic people days. EPA/Friso Gentsch

Photos of the day

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A Burrowing owl tries to perch on a protective rope in a public park in Cooper City, Fla. Monday, May 20, 2013 as rain falls. (AP Photo/J Pat Carter)

Animal views

Fun and fascinating creatures around the world.

ANNAPOLIS, MD - MAY 20: The Herndon Monument Climb is the traditional culmination of plebe year at the United States Naval Academy. The plebes climb to the top of the lard-covered 21 foot high monument and remove the 'dixie cup' hat at the top replacing it with an upperclassman's hat. After completing this, the freshmen are called 'fourth class midshipmen.' This class completed the task in 1 hour 32 minutes and 43 seconds. The hat was placed by Patrick Lien from Orlando. (Photo by Sarah L. Voisin/The Washington Post)

The Herndon Climb

The Herndon Monument climb is the traditional culmination of plebe year at the U.S. Naval Academy.

This combination of Associated Press photos shows left, a neighborhood in Moore, Okla., in ruins on Tuesday, May 4, 1999, after a tornado flattened many houses and buildings in central Oklahoma, and right, flattened houses in Moore on Monday, May 20, 2013. Monday's powerful tornado in suburban Oklahoma City loosely followed the path of a killer twister that slammed the region in May 1999. (AP Photo)

Okla. tornado loosely followed path of 1999 twister

Monday’s powerful tornado in suburban Oklahoma City loosely followed the path of a killer twister that slammed the area in May 1999.

Lea Bessinger salvages a picture of Jesus as she and her son Josh Bessinger sort through the rubble of the elder Bessinger's tornado-ravaged home Tuesday, May 21, 2013, in Moore, Okla. A huge tornado roared through the Oklahoma City suburb Monday, flattening an entire neighborhoods and destroying an elementary school with a direct blow as children and teachers huddled against winds. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

Tornado near Oklahoma City causes more damage

Rescue workers are searching for survivors after a twister carved a long path of destruction in a suburb of Oklahoma City. It was part of the...

FILE - In this undated publicity file photo, members of the Doors, from left, John Densmore, Robbie Krieger, Ray Manzarek and Jim Morrison, pose for a portrait. Manzarek, the keyboardist who was a founding member of The Doors, has died at 74. Publicist Heidi Robinson-Fitzgerald says in a news release that Manzarek died Monday, May 20, 2013, at the RoMed Clinic in Rosenheim, Germany, surrounded by his family. (AP Photo, File)

Ray Manzarek, founding member of the Doors, dies at 74

Manzarek co-founded the Doors after meeting then-poet Jim Morrison in California. The band went on to become one of the most successful rock-and-roll...

US actress Rosario Dawson smiles on May 20, 2013 as she arrives for the screening of the film 'Wara No Tate' (Shield of Straw) presented in Competition at the 66th edition of the Cannes Film Festival in Cannes. Cannes, one of the world's top film festivals, opened on May 15 and will climax on May 26 with awards selected by a jury headed this year by Hollywood legend Steven Spielberg. AFP PHOTO / ALBERTO PIZZOLIALBERTO PIZZOLI/AFP/Getty Images

Eye on entertainment

Rosario Dawson, Alec Baldwin, Michael Douglas, Matt Damon, Bow Wow, Amy Poehler and more.

A man walks on sulphur and mineral salt formations near Dallol in the Danakil Depression, northern Ethiopia April 22, 2013. The Danakil Depression in Ethiopia is one of the hottest and harshest environments on earth, with an average annual temperature of 94 degrees Fahrenheit (34.4 Celsius). For centuries, merchants have travelled there with caravans of camels to collect salt from the surface of the vast desert basin. The mineral is extracted and shaped into slabs, then loaded onto the animals before being transported back across the desert so that it can be sold around the country. Picture taken April 22, 2013. REUTERS/Siegfried Modola (ETHIOPIA - Tags: BUSINESS SOCIETY TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY)

ATTENTION EDITORS: PICTURE 2 OF 30 FOR PACKAGE 'ETHIOPIA'S ANCIENT SALT TRAIL'
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Ethiopia’s salt trail

For centuries, merchants have traveled to Ethiopia’s Danakil Depression with caravans of camels to collect salt from the surface of the vast desert basin. The mineral is extracted...

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