Festive Rajasthan

It’s that time of the year again. When the weather is great, the cultural calendar swollen with activities and when tourist hotspots come back to life with renewed hospitality. This month, Rajasthan scores at least on two counts: with the temperature dipping and, more pertinently, a line-up of musical and literary events. From October 1-5, Jodhpur’s Mehrangarh Fort will come alive with the sound of traditional Rajasthani folk music in collaboration with contemporary international and home-grown artists at the annual Rajasthan International Folk Festival (the festival was skipped last year after the tragic Chamunda Devi temple stampede in Jodhpur). See www.jodhpurfolkfestival.org. The last week of the month (October 25-November 2) will draw the literary-minded, as the celebrated International Pushkar Fair adds another dimension to its festivities with the one-day Pushkar Literary Festival on October 31. The event will bring together a host of writers, poets, publishers and journalists, including well-known faces such as Tarun Tejpal, Namita Gokhale, Pavan K. Varma, Prasoon Joshi and Lord Meghnad Desai, to explore the blending of contemporary literature and folklore with book readings, discussions and more.

High Octane

Recessionary woes and climate change hand wringing take a back seat as a surge of carefree automotive rallying roars across the subcontinent. Last month saw the launch of yet another of those bizarre autorickshaw rallies for charity (the Rickshaw Run from Goa to Pokhara) of which expats are so inexplicably enamoured. Also-rans in the same genre include the Karma Enduro (www.karmaenduro.com) next scheduled for November 2010 (£4,700 for two weeks in an Ambassador from Goa to Kerala, 50% for charity), the Enduro India (www.enduroindia.com), similar deal, January 2010, on 350cc Enfields. For hardcore rallying enthusiasts, the Raid de Himalaya (www.raid-de-himalaya.com) will be churning up the dust from Shimla to Leh this month, while the well-heeled can test their metal at the Desert Dash ‘09 (“Pure thrill. Pure luxury”), an invitation-only concours d’elegance for “select car owners with premium street legal SUVs and cars” which will purr its way from The Aman, New Delhi to Amanbagh, Alwar, by way of a series of palace-pitstops in Rajasthan, between November 29 and December 2. Got a Bentley? Know how to drive it? Visit www.cougarmotorsport.in.