Rain during Pujo

The monsoon is withdrawing through late September and October and does not always keep to the schedule. A heavy shower during the five days is normal rather than unlucky, and a serious depression over the Bay in the same week is not rare.

The effect on the street is dramatic and fast. Twenty minutes of hard rain empties the pandal areas almost completely; an hour after it stops they are full again. Parts of central and north Kolkata hold water for a while after heavy rain, and low-lying stretches can be knee-deep briefly.

If you are already out and you can stay dry for half an hour, the window immediately after a shower is the best pandal hopping of the festival — the crowd has gone home, the pandals are open, and the lights on wet streets are extraordinary.

Shelter in a pandal rather than under an awning. Most will let you stand at the side, and half the neighbourhood will be doing the same.

A light poncho beats an umbrella in a crowd, where an umbrella is a hazard at eye level and useless anyway. Shoes that do not mind water and dry fast, because you will be walking through some.

Phone in a plastic bag or a waterproof pouch. Cash in a zip pocket. And accept that transport gets much worse — app cabs vanish, buses fill, and the Metro becomes the only reliable thing in the city.

Pandals themselves are built to shed water and the big ones cope well, though some artwork gets covered up when it rains hard. If a puja's installation is the reason you went, check whether it is uncovered before queueing.