Burning Man - doesn't mean a lot to most desis. An annual event held in the deserts of Nevada. Once each year, this festival becomes a meeting point to the weird and the absurd of America. People come from all over the country to participate.

And participate they do. Each person is a living, breathing piece of art. Amidst the various art installations, the creators walk, themselves an expression of what they create. Day and night lose meaning; Clothes[nsfw] are an afterthought; Sleep comes whenever, wherever. It's a state of mind.

This is the escape they have been looking for. A few days in the desert, wandering, searching for nirvana. The rules of polite society are thrown to the wind. Some people visit Burning Man, and go back to their cafe lattes after a weekend - 3 days of freedom from consumerism. For some people, it's Burning Man all the year. They are the flower children of the new millennium. For them, this is Woodstock, 200X. The line between sanity and insanity is erased.

At the end of the festival, The Man burns, a catharsis of a year filled with credit cards and monthly bills. The visitors are made anew, and there's always next year.

(photos by Patrick Roddie @ webbery.com. Hips are beautiful [nsfw].)