Shreekant Sahoo

January brings an array of fests for rural India, defined by a blend of traditions, cultural celebrations and local flavours. From lively harvest festivals to processions and dance festivals, the countryside is buzzing with celebrations that showcase rural India’s rich cultural heritage. Whether you’re a cultural enthusiast or simply looking for a rural getaway, Indian villages have a lot in store for you. Village Square lists some delightful rural festivals that you can experience this month.

Dressed in a printed pink saree, with a small hoe in one hand and tomato seeds in the other, Ganga Baghel, in her late 30s, heads out to her farm just 300 metres from her two-room kutcha house in Magradeh village. From five in the morning, Ganga devotes at least seven hours a day to the farm, working in shifts to carry out various tasks — tilling the soil, weeding, sowing seeds, harvesting, irrigating, and gathering ripe vegetables. This daily routine, however, is new for her.

When I was 12, my father took me to a rural village for the first time. He’d recently set up his NGO, Harsha Trust, and was working tirelessly to address the issues of poverty and lack of access in rural India. We went to a small field in Koraput district and met two engineers working with Harsha Trust. We discussed their backgrounds and how they had left behind comfortable urban lives to work for rural development. Their reasons were varied.