This women is holding a lantern made from a gourd who was going around the street stalls at Pondy bazaar which is a very large shopping area of town. I suspect she is giving a blessing, though I am not familiar with all the local rituals.
There is a museum at the center of town, which is rather run down, but has some nice grounds and interesting buildings built during the British rule. With the exception of some of the older buildings and the use of a lot of broken English language, there is very little evidence the British had ever ruled here. We did not go into the museum because entry fees for tourist attractions are the one place where I have seen discrimination. Locals can get in for about 15-20 Rupees, but foreigners are charged up to 250. That is only about 5 bucks, but we didn't feel like perpetuating that mindset, at least not for this attraction.
Around the museum theater are some old cannons. The ornate details of this one caught my eye. A sign at the base dates it to 1799.
