Celebrating India ...

Festivals are enduring reflections of our culture and rituals. They also provide insights into the subcontinent's aesthetic in relation to faith and philosophy. Many of our popular festivals like Deepawali or Diwali (festival of lights) and Holi (festival of colours) are travel inspirations beyond the bucket list, enticing travellers to visit India year after year. A good example is Dussehra celebrated as 10 days of rituals and celebrations as Durga Puja, integral to the 'Story of the East' passionately promoted by Husna Tara under Glenburn Experiences in Kolkata.

Special festivals around art, craft, literature and performing arts not only engage audiences but also promote and build awareness while ensuring continuity of our endemic crafts, regional literature and performing arts. There is a boom of literature and music festivals in the subcontinent, celebrated with a fervour that is potentially the need of the hour to build understanding and pride in our heritage and culture.

RARE is thrilled to present two festivals curated as immersions in music and festivities to give travellers a few unique reasons to plan a trip to India. One to celebrate performing arts from the east at The Belgadia Palace and the other to welcome spring in the desert as 'Holi' - a bold canvas of colour, music, and flavour in Jodhpur and Osian.

Calling photographers, xenophiles, aesthetes, lovers of mythology and those who travel for cultural immersions to check into these two spectacular curations for 2026.

Detailed programs of the festivals are added below as links and can be requested of your partner agencies in India, who can stitch them into longer itineraries. Plan now and book your spaces on a first-to-book basis. There are over a hundred stories waiting for you!

Shoba Rudra / Traveller & Story Teller

The Chhau Festival (2nd Edition):Jan 29, 30, 31 '2026

We are losing our art, craft, and performing traditions at an alarming rate. Every industry is impacted by this threat, of losing invaluable designs, rhythm, flow and magic of our arts to urbanisation and lack of empathy both for the form and the exponent. To build interest and attention, where art and performance can be a potential experiences contributing to its continuity is the mission of 'aadinaad', the co-curator of The Chhau Festival along with The Belgadia Palace.

Chhau is a dance form from the East - a performing art form drawing from martial drills as well as folk and classical dances of the tribal belt of Bengal, Jharkhand and Odisha. The music festival is also an opportunity to explore Odisha further through restored heritage stays, cuisine, tribal markets and crafts around The Belgadia Palace, the prime venue of the three day festival. Potential extensions include Chilika Lake in Ganjam, the vast mangroves of Bhitarkanika National Park, textiles and crafts at Naupatna, Pipli and Raghurajpur.

For detailed Itinerary click here

Jodhpur Jazz Safari (5th Edition):March 3 & 4, 2026

Jodhpur Jazz Safari and Colour me Pink, is a collective celebration of the festival of Holi in Jodhpur and Osian. It is Reggie Singh's dream to build a festival along the scale and fervour of the Rio festival and Mardi Gras of New Orleans. Famous as the best party man in tourism, his Jazz bar in Mountbatten Lodge,Camel Camp in Osian and his new speakeasy The Supper Club in Udaipur have been centres of memorable celebrations, with Reggie as the life of the party, DJ and sometimes head of the Bar!

The Jodhpur Jazz & Heritage Safari in its fifth edition is a two-day cultural extravaganza curated by Reggie Singh, scion of Jodhpur's royal family. Timed with Holi (3rd & 4th March 2026), the festival fuses tradition and rituals around Holi with contemporary music and performances.

For the full program click here