* Qutub Festival
Venue: Qutub Minar
October 4-13, 7:00 PM onwards
The Qutub Festival brings together some of the most popular exponents of the modern Indian music scene, with a backdrop of one of the most landmark monuments of the capital. With names like Shankar, Ehsaan and Loy, Kailash Kher, Euphoria, Daler Mehndi, Usha Uthup, Kunal Ganjawala, Hariharan, Udit Narayan and many more, this festival is expected to attract heavy crowds of music lovers for its daily concerts.
* Delhi Classical Music Festival
Venue: Kamani Auditorium
October 4-11, 7:00 PM onwards
Well-known exponents of classical Indian instrumental, as well as vocal music, will feature in this festival. No less than the likes of Hari Prasad Chaurasia, Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma, Vishwa Mohan Bhatt would perform for classical Indian music enthusiasts in the capital.
* Festival of India
Venue: Dilli Haat (INA)
On till October 13
This festival features artistes and performances from across the country. Being organised in association with various states and and UTs, the festival has a day dedicated to each of the 28 states of the country.
* Gurgaon Shopping Festival
October 6 ? November 7
The CGW fever is not just limited to the capital, even the NCR is celebrating. The Gurgaon Shopping Festival is timed with the Diwali celebrations and the Commonwealth Games. With carnivals, fairs, festivals and even a half-marathon, the month-long festival is expected to be bustling with events and people in this satellite town of the capital.
* The International Festival
Venue: Dilli Haat, Pitampura
October 1-15, 11:00 AM onwards
This fortnight-long festival by Delhi Tourism and the Indian Council for Cultural Relations would bring together culinary delight, music and dance from the Commonwealth countries.
* Youth Festival
Venue: Central Park, Connaught Place
October 4-13, 7:00 PM onwards
This festival will bring together the youth from various schools and colleges who would be performing for the tourists as well as the citizens of Delhi during the duration of the games. The performances would include music, dance and drama, not only from the school and college students, but also by the differently-abled and underprivileged youth of the capital city.
* Jashn-e-Bachpan
Venue: National School of Drama
October 1-15, 5:30 PM onwards
This is one of the most well-known festivals in Delhi’s theatre circuit. A collection of 26 children plays in various languages from English to Hindi to Kannada to even Nepali, Jashne Bachpan is an important component of the ‘Delhi Celebrates’ itinerary for the CWG.
* Art Celebrates 2010
Lalit Kala Academy
October 1-15
The exhibition showcases works of 100 eminent contemporary artists from India. This will trace the relevance of Games and sports in contemporary artworks, quite relevant to the Commonwealth Games’ spectacle.
* Book Exhibition & Meet the Authors
Sahitya Academy
October 4-13
This would be an exhibition with the Commonwealth flavour. It would focus on Commonwealth literature and writings of authors from various Commonwealth countries; and Indian literature in 24 languages with a special focus on the original or translated writings in English. These will include translation of award-winning books in 24 languages. From October 4-13, the Akademi will invite four famous authors (two Indian & two foreign) to have daily interaction with general public on literary matters.
* The Delhi Public Library Exhibition
Venue: Central Library S.P. Mukerjee Marg
October 1-11, 10.00 am ? 7.00 pm
This promises to be an exciting exhibition that would be looking back at independent India’s history, DPL’s ‘Newseum’, showcasing interesting Indian newspaper archives, and to go with the flavour of the month, an exclusive Book Exhibition on Delhi and sports.