Khajuraho Dance festival was the first festival that we , my wife and I , celebrated in the land of Madhya Pradesh. It was our luck that our visit significantly coincided with the Khajuraho Dance Festival that falls between 25th February to 2nd March. Khajuraho Dance Festival is held every spring in the town of Khajuraho in order to celebrate the glory of the temples. This Festival is a cultural festival for the celebration of the Indian arts - dance and music handling down from generation to generation. The Khajuraho Festival of Dances shows the best classical dancers and dances in the country. My wife and I was, in fact, quite mesmerized by different classical dance form exhibited in this festival that included Kathak, Bharatnatyam, Kuchipudi, Odissi, Manipuri etc.

The guide on our Khajuraho tour was nice enough to inform us about another significant festival of Madhya Pradesh - Tansen Music Festival that is held in Gwalior. Held every year in the month of November and December, the festival calls for renowned artists togather at Gwalior to pay tribute to the legend of music - Mian Tansen. The very narration of Tansen Music festival by my guide inculcated a desire in me to come back in November and observe the festivity that pervades the city in the month of November.

Another festivity that we came to know about was Bhagoria Haat /Jhabua that basically belonged to tribal group of Madhya Pradesh. Significantly, this festival falls in March itself but we were not able to watch the grand gala . " Sir, Nimar and Jhabua, is actually in the nature of a mass svayamvara, a marriage market, usually held on the various market days falling before the Holi festival in March." informed our guide Raju. As the name of the festival indicates, (bhag, to run), after choosing their partners, the young people elope and are subsequently accepted as husband and wife by society through predetermined customs. Significantly we were unaware of this kind marriages ever before