October and November is a great time to visit India, with two festivals that will allow you to see the Indian people and their cultures at their best.
By October the monsoon rains have left, taking the heat with them, and winter is still a month away. The land is green and the warm days and cool nights let you see the real India in comfort, without the high season winter hordes of tourists.
Diwali
This is a special time for the people of India – it is Diwali (Dee-wah-lee), the festival of lights.
Diwali is an ancient Hindu festival, celebrating the victory of light over dark. It is a major shopping period, similar in many ways to Christmas. It typically extends over five days.
The whole family comes together to enjoy each other’s company for this once a year event.
Each day involves performing rituals relating to specific relationships within the family such as sister to brother, husband to wife etc.
The main festival night of Diwali coincides with the darkest, new moon night of the Hindu lunar calendar.
Before Diwali night, people clean, renovate and decorate their homes and offices.
The streets are filled with lights and decorations.
On Diwali night, Hindus dress up in new clothes or their best outfit, light up diyas (lamps and candles) inside and outside their home, participate in family puja (prayers) typically to Lakshmi– the goddess of wealth and prosperity.
After puja, families go out into the streets and enjoy displays of fireworks, then return home for a family feast including mithai (sweets), and an exchange of gifts between family members and close friends.
Indians love a holiday as much as you and people of all religions across India have embraced Diwali, so you don’t have to be a Hindu to get in on the celebrations. It is a very special time to be in India.
We can incorporate Diwali into your tour, arranging for you to join a family for the evening to get involved in the Diwali experience, or simply spend the night walking the streets enjoying the amazing atmosphere of this special festival.
Rajasthani Camel Fairs
October/November is also famous for a totally different kind of occasion. It is Camel sale season! The desert towns of Rajasthan come alive for the annual animal markets that are also used for a multitude of religious and social functions which you can experience with the beautiful and graceful people of Rajasthan. It is a great time to see the diverse range of desert tribal groups throughout Rajasthan coming together to trade cattle, camels and horses, gossip, worship and have some fun.
Walking amongst the many camps in the dunes and around town during early morning and early evening is a special opportunity to see remote village and traditional nomadic groups living, eating and playing together in ways that you will only see at the Camel fairs.
These people’s way of life is slowing evaporating. The opportunity to observe and interact with them is a memory that will stay with you for life.
With the tribes converging, arranged weddings are common during the fairs. They are a feature of Indian life you will find quite interesting, and potentially enjoyable.
Often they go for days of eating, music and dancing and visitors are welcome to join in certain elements of the celebrations.
The most famous camel fair is in the small and beautiful town of Pushkar.
Pushkar is considered sacred by Hindus, who bathe in its lake, especially in November under an auspicious full moon. Pushkar Fair is the colourful add-on event that brings merriment and the world’s biggest cattle fair to town. But it’s the camels, decorated in pink pompoms, red necklaces and tinsel, that steal the show. Watch as some 50,000 camels are washed, sprayed with perfume, brushed and have their nose hair clipped before being bartered. Camel races kick up clouds of dust. Then browse markets for silks, silver jewellery, bedspreads and patchwork tote bags. Jugglers toss fire batons and cartwheel through the crowds. Musicians play traditional music, a seemingly chaotic banging of drums, whistle-blowing and high-pitched singing. If that isn’t enough to make your head spin, ride the alarmingly decrepit Ferris wheel or roller-coaster.
Other smaller fairs are conducted in nearby towns which provide the same opportunity to observe the different tribal groups together on a smaller scale, without the wave of western tourists that throng to Pushkar this time of year.This is also a great chance to take a trip on a camel or two, for an hour or a day out into the endless dunes for some peace and a taste of the nomads’s life.
We can work with you to develop a tour that incorporates one or both of these great events.
