Poila Baishakh- Bengali New year.

Baishakh, also known as Vaishakh is the harvest festival which starts from Mid April usually. The first day of Baishakh or Poila Baishakh is the Naba Barsha means new year for Bengali. The festival generally falls on 13Th or 14Th day of April. The day is a national holiday and is celebrated with full wings of hues in it.

Bengali people celebrates this festival with joy, music, enthusiasm, playing songs games and even reciting poem. The over enthusiastic people also celebrates the eve of the poila Baishakh as Chaitra Sankranti and bid farewell to the year. Bengali's decorate their houses with flowers and Rangolis,the ladies of the houses wear the traditional red and white Saree's and men wear dhoti kurtas to add the charm in the occasion. They also take a ritual bath in Ganga or near by river to become sacred. The early morning the Bengali's take out procession known as Prabhat Pheri, which was followed by wishing all the near and dear ones “ Shubho Nabo Barsho”



Many culturally rich people celebrate the festival with set customs and rituals. The house is decorated by rangolis prepared with flour and an earthen pot is placed in the center with s Swastika on it. The Bengali's pray to Goddess Laxmi- deity of Wealth for well being and prosperity. Bengali Businessman also purchase new accounting book known as Haalkhata to start a new account.

Baishakh has its presence in each and every religion with the different names given to it, as seen as New Year for the Bengali's “ Shubho Nabo Barsho”.

Beneshwar Fair – The Biggest Indian Tribal Fair

The fair of Beneshwar is a popular Indian fair. It is a five days fair which starts from Shukla Ekadeshi of Magh month of Hindu calendar. Beneshwar is situated in Dungarpur and it is 24 kms. from Aspur in the district of Dungarpur. The Beneshwar fair is the biggest tribal fair of India. It attracts lakhs of devotess from all around. The fair is held in Dungarpur , Rajasthan. A holy Shiv Linga is located in the Shiv temple of Dungarpur and it is from this statue that the name Beneshwar has been taken from. The word Beneshwar means the “master of the delta” in the local language called Vagdi.



This annual fair of Dungarpur is organized at delta formed by the rivers Mahi and Som. The fair continues till Shukla Purnima of Magh. Actually the Beneshwar fair is a combination of two fairs. One fair is held in the honour of Lord Shiva and is organized to pay tribute to the Lord Shiva, known as Beneshwar Mahadev. The another fair is held for celebrating the completion of construction of Vishnu temple. It was built by Jankunwar, the daughter-in-law of saint Mavji.

The priests and the devotess participate in the massive procession to the fair site and take a dip into the river water. The arti and Raslila are reenacted during the night in the Lakshmi Narayana temple.Bhils or tribal people from Dungarpur, Udaipur and Banswara constitute the major part of the gathering.

Cattle Fair of Nagaur – One of the largest in the world

Nagaur is a small district of Rajasthan. The life here starts bustling every year with the thronging of Cattle, horses and camels accompanied by their owners and buyers. The reason is that a famous cattle fair is held here annually. This fair is supposed to be one of the largest in the world. The bulls of Nagaur are popular for their fleet-footedness and therefore, attract buyers from all over. Thousands of animals come here in this fair. The animals are magnificently garlanded with lots of accessories, to give them a vibrant and altogether a different look.



Both the buyers as well the owners of animals gathered at this fair for trading of animals. Even the owners come here in a very attractive style. They wear colourful turban and have long moustaches. Animals like cows, bullocks, oxen, horses, camels etc are sold here. Apart from the animals the Nagaur fair is famous for it's “Mirchi Bazaar”. The wooden items, the iron crafts, the leather accessories and many other interesting traditional and handicraft items are sold here.

The whole day in the Nagaur fair is spent in the trading of mainly the animals. Once the deals are done for buying and selling the animals, the fair is closed in the evening with a variety of celebrations. People sing and dance and enjoy a lot at this fair. This Indian fair is popular all over India.

Eid Mubarak!

Festivals give us the opportunity of celebration, the reason to think that life has got happiness and some moments to think about ourselves. In today's rushy life when everyone has to pace through the competetive edge, the festivals give us a break to relax and spend time with our family and friends. One such festival is “Eid-ul-Fitr”. Though basically it is a festival of people who follow Islam but in a secularist country like India, we Indians celebrate all the festivals regardless the fact that which festival belongs to which community or caste.



In short, Eid-ul-Fitr is known as Eid and is celebrated in the end of the month of Ramadan. It is an Islamic holy month of fasting in which the muslims follow the fasts for 30 days. The word Eid means festivity and fitr means to break fast. So as a whole it is the celebration of breaking the fast period. The month of Ramadan and the keeping of fasts remind us that what is the true importance of food and water in life. Also it is not only about the fasting from food but one has to keep away from everything bad like telling a lie, getting angry or using abusive language.

The Eid-ul Fitr is also called the great Eid, that is, bari Eid. On this day muslims offer a special prayer together in the mosque. A special dish from sewaiyaa is prepared which is called “Sheer Khurma” and the celebration lasts for around three days.

Diwali – The Festival of Lights

Diwali is one of the popular Indian festivals. According to the lunar calendar of Hindus, it is celebrated for 5 days. This is basically the festival of Hindus but celebrated by all Indians. It starts in the late Ashwin but ends in early Kartika. The first day is called the Dhan Teras while the last day is known as Yama Dvitiya. Each day is associated with one historical tale.



Diwali is also called Deepawali by many people. This festival of India is celebrated with great joy and harmony. The word Deepawali literally means a row of lamps. Diwali is actually the short form of Deepawali. On this day small clay lamps called diyas are filled with oil and lighted. The lighting of lamps actually signifies the victory of good over evil within an individual. People wear new clothes on this occasion and share sweets and snacks with each other. The happy people who celebrate Diwali go to each others' home and collectively celebrate the festival.

Diwali is also significant for some business communities as they start their financial year by opening new account books on this festive day. It is a prevalent fact that the lucky day of Diwali brings good fortune to the business as well as families. The festival marks the return of Lord Ram to Ayodhya after defeating Ravana, the ruler of Lanka. It is a national festival of India and Nepal.

Cheti Chand

An important day for the Sindhis, Cheti Chnad is marked as the beginning of a new year. Cheti Chand is primarily the birthday of Varun God (Water God, also called as Sai Uderolal popularly known as Jhulelal. It is believed that Varun Dev reincarnated as Jhulelal to protect the Sindhis from the dictator who wanted to ruin the Sindhi Culture and the religion Hinduism.



Cheti Chand is celebrated in the Chaitra/Chet month of the Hindu Calendar (March-April). Hence the name Cheti Chand. Sindhi Businessmen start new books of accounts. The festivals begins with worshipping Jhulelal and Behrana Sahib. The Behrana Sahib is a thaal or plate adorned with Oil Lamp, Crystal Sugar, Cardamon, Fruits and Akha, Water Jar and Coconut(covered with cloth), Flowers and Leaves. The idol of Jhulelal is also kept in the thaal or plate.The Behrana Sahib is taken to a nearby lake or river.



The menfolk on this day dance and sing before the idol of Jhulelal. Cheti Chand is observed with blithiness and grandiose. The people worship Water-the giver of life.

Taj Mahotsav: Spectacular mirror to India's culture

Taj Mahotsav, a ten-day event held annually at Agra, Uttar Pradesh is a culturally vibrant event that holds the breath of every art-lover across the world. Tourists from across the world plan their visits to India during this season to have a glimpse of one of the most spectacular art-culmination. The exhibition starts from 18th February and continues till 27th Feb each year in Shilpgram, Agra, swinging with the most artistic works found in India along with the display of various facets of culture and tradition that India is born with.



Folk music, shayari (poetry), classical dance performances, elephant and camel rides, games, food festival, all form a part of the festivities. Taj Mahotsav is a non-stop 10 day carnival that generally starts with a procession splendid with glamour in Mughal style. The event gives an opportunity to the legendary artisans who can display their unique pieces of efforts in front of a world-class audience. Marble is seen ruling the genre for obvious reasons. Besides the handicrafts at display wood carvings from Saharanpur, brass and other metal ware from Moradabad, handmade carpets of Badohi, the pottery of Khurja, chicken-work of Lucknow, the silk of Banaras and much more form a part of this huge visual spectacle.

Taj-mahotsav is indeed the perfect reflection to India's rich culture and Indian festivities are always incomplete without a rich cuisine. There are different sorts of Indian dishes with some of the richest blends of Indian taste available during the carnival. The description won't be complete without the mention of soul-stirring cultural performances in Performing arts like dance, music, plays that cast a spell on the visitors. All through the carnival visitors can witness a profusion of folk dance music Dundelkhand, 'Nautanki' (Drama), 'Sapera' dance of Rajasthan and Lavani of Maharashtra performed just the way they used to be done centuries ago.



Thus and thus is won't be an exaggeration to quote that Taj Mahotsav mirrors India's rich tradition and culture in an unparalleled and most excellent manner. The Agra airport, 7 km from the city center, has got major airlines operating throughout the day.