Sleep is a basic human need.
Yet for millions in India, it does not always come with the comfort of a bed, a sheet and a pillow. Or the safety of four walls.
One of the strangest sights is people snoozing just about anywhere, no matter how uncomfortable... Pavements, carts, tractors, railway platforms, under flyovers.
The surrender to exhaustion can happen at any time... Even amid the rhythms of daily life.
Their choice of resting place reflects the creativity of urban folks, like these boys in Delhi.
A group of sugarcane farmers choose the train tracks at Dhanawali, in Hapur district, Uttar Pradesh, for their night's rest. It is their way of protesting against the state and central governments' failure to increase the price paid for their crop.
Wee passengers hunker down under thick blankets on a cold platform at Prayagraj as they wait for their delayed train on a frosty winter morning.
With temperatures plunging and dense fog disrupting rail schedules across parts of northern India every winter, many a platform becomes, perforce, a lodging house.
And think how prepared travellers need to be?
Overcome by fatigue, a worker in Bhopal grabs a much-needed nap.
A Bikaner toddler is lulled to sleep in a makeshift hammock.
Soja mere lal... In Delhi's old quarters, sleep is heavy.
On a blistering summer afternoon in the capital, a patch of shade attracts the drowsy.
When the savaris (passengers) are scarce, deep sleep beckons in front of the Charbagh railway station, Lucknow.
The middle of the road in Kolkata is as good a place as any for a long summer night rest under the stars.
Zu Zu Zu in Cal.
A Ghazipur tractor-trolley becomes a Sleep moment.
A farmer's bed of hay.
The sandy 'bed' of the Yamuna river, outside of Delhi, makes for a democratic dormitory, shared by dogs, cattle and humans.
Settling down for the night near a tea vendor makes good sense. There's the promise of bed tea in the morning.
Chappals have multiple uses. But more often than not they are used as a pillow so they don't get stolen.
This trio in Kolkata is probably getting blessed sleep under the gaze of religious men of all faiths.
Text and Presentation: Hemantkumar Shivsharan/Rediff
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