Numerous cultures have, over the centuries, made India a land of perpetual festivals. They will take you for a holy dip in one of its numerous rivers, or cover you with warm scented colored water, swing you sky high, give you elephant or camel rides, and invite you to joyous day and night-long singing, dancing and feasting.

There are festivals in celebration of the wind, the rain, the fire, animal forms and other animate and inanimate objects. The sun is eclipsed and for millions of people it calls for a holy dip. The moon reaches its full glory and the event calls for a feast. The rain-laden clouds come, to remind you of Lord Indira. Since it does not rain, nor do crops ripen at the same time all over this land, you will find the same occasion celebrated at different places at different times.

,There seems not to be a single day, or any change in nature which the Indian calendar will not recognize as an occasion for the celebration of the beautiful mystery of Prakrati or nature, the mother of all creation. So it is that, in the South, the festival of Pongal, or Sankranti celebrates the harvest, and heralds the onset of summer, with its longer days and shorter nights. In North India it is the festival of Lohri, featuring dancing and celebrations around a bonfire, which marks the end of winter and welcoming of warmer weather.

So if it seems as though every day in India is marked by some celebration, it must be remembered that it is the result of the inter-mingling of different communities and different religions. And it is this very intermingling of the people that makes India more than a collection of states.