How we check our dates

India What's On is a calendar of dated events across India, published by Maison V Group LLC. This page explains, in plain terms, how a date gets onto the calendar, what our labels mean, and what happens when a date turns out to be wrong. It is the standard every listing is held to, including the awkward ones.

The rule

An event is listed with a confirmed date only when an official page states the date and the venue, and we have read that statement ourselves. Official means the organiser, the venue, the rights holder, the federation or league running the fixture, or the platform carrying the sale: in India that is usually BookMyShow or District by Zomato carrying the event, or the institution's own site, the NCPA, NMACC, Prithvi Theatre and their peers. A newspaper report, a fan account, a poster photographed in a metro station or another listings site does not qualify, however confident it sounds.

The two labels

Every record carries one of two labels. Confirmed means an official source has published the date and the venue. Tentative means it has not, and the window shown is built from the event's own pattern: last year's edition for an annual festival, the traditional tithi for a religious festival, or the usual slot in a league or concert calendar. The basis is written on the event page, so you can judge it yourself.

Tentative dates are planning tools, not promises. Build a trip around one only if the trip still works when the date moves a week either way, and re-check the official source before you book anything non-refundable around it.

When sources disagree

They do. A festival's own site and its ticketing page can carry different end dates; a league can move a fixture after publishing it. When official sources conflict, we keep the record on the organiser's own statement and say so on the page, with the conflict noted rather than hidden. When a date changes after we publish, the record is corrected at the next sweep and the check date on the page moves with it.

The rolling re-check

India announces late. Most promoters publish dates six to twelve weeks out, the IPL publishes its fixtures closer still, and the second half of a football season exists only once the first half is played. So the calendar is swept in waves: the near months are re-checked continuously, and each new announcement round is folded in as it lands. The date of the latest check is printed on every event page.

What we do not do

We do not pad the calendar. An event we cannot source stays off it, even when every other listings site carries it, and even when leaving it out makes our numbers smaller than theirs. Counts on this site are computed from the dataset itself, and the method is this page.

More reading on the articles page, or go straight to the events calendar.