Kartik Mela

A long-running annual fair on the ground beside the Shipra, opening around Kartik Purnima in November and holding for several weeks; the government's Utsav portal lists it among the notable fairs of Madhya Pradesh. Traders arrive from across Malwa with puja goods, beads and images, brass and steel ware, textiles, wooden toys and farm implements, with rides and folk performances alongside. The ground has been paved and given permanent structures in recent years. Strictly seasonal: outside Kartik there is nothing there to see.

If the trip falls in November, this is the region's market at full stretch