A Mumbai downpour or a Kolkata shower?

We'll be landing in Delhi in July. From Delhi we'll be heading to Jaipur, Jodhpur, then probably Jaisalmer and back to Jodhpur. That's where we will be presented with a dilemma. We could go further down south to Mumbai (I'd really love to see Mumbai as I'm a huge fan of bustling metropolises) and then return in the direction of Agra or just continue eastwards to Agra without seeing Mumbai.

The vague outline of our journey looks like this: Delhi - Rajasthan - (Mumbai?) Agra - Varanasi - Ranchi - (Kolkata?) - Orissa - Andhra Pradesh - Tamil Nadu.

So if we make the trip to Mumbai there probably won't be enough time left to visit Kolkata since we want to take our time to explore a few regions in the south.

I'm aware of the fact that we will have to face the monsoon, whether we decide to go to Mumbai or Kolkata, but what would you (IM'ers) do? What's the most 'enjoyable' (I can imagine most people won't find either of the two options really enjoyable, but you know what I mean ) city during monsoon?

Would you prefer a Mumbai downpour or a Kolkata shower?

Greets,

R.T.

I feel u will enjoy the mumbai downpour more than calcutta showers , well the other issue is if the calcutta showers r strong than it may also get flooded.so a mumbaidownpour is more safe.

Thanks for the reply. Should we expect rainy weather all day in Mumbai or does it come in short periods? And are we likely to see any sunlight during our stay in Mumbai?

Mumbai rains are kinda weird u get drizzle for awhile than it stops ,/at times a good downpour, (doesnt last too long thou) u will get sunshine .

Okay. Thanks mate!

After the heat of Delhi and Rajasthan in July, you'll be happy to experience the downpour of Mumbai ! However, be prepared to put up with extreme humidity too.

whichever city it is, the rainy season has a charm of its own. i remember in nasik, way back in the early seventies, it used to rain continuously for days on end. i used to stay in deolali at the time. it had lovely surroundings with lots and lots of trees.

today, the farmers around here, have made it a ritual to pray to the rain gods for a few drops of their kindness - reason? well, that green cover has vanished. we now have concrete covers that do no good to the climate.

Very well said, sadhuji !

Another idea that we've been toying with is to skip Rajasthan altogether (we both can bear a little heat, but 40 degrees celsius in combination with some persistent touts might make it a rather tiresome experience) and take this route:
Delhi - Agra - Varanasi - Ranchi and from Ranchi through Madhya Pradesh to Mumbai.

But that raises some more questions
I don't know what most parts of Madhya Pradesh will be like during monsoon (I do know most National Parks will be closed, which is a pitty), I don't know how the train connection between Ranchi and Mumbai is and I don't know where to head next (our final destination is Chennai). Mumbai - Hyderabad - Andhra Pradesh - north of Tamil Nadu - Chennai? Or maybe Mumbai - Karnataka - Tamil Nadu - Chennai?

From Mumbai on, we'd like to take it easy, visit some villages, maybe a national park (if at all possible at that time of the year), without getting too wet because we'll have had our share of the monsoon after Ranchi and Mumbai (I don't know what Andhra Pradesh will be like, but I've heard the south of Karnataka - Deccan plateau- is fine in August; how about the north of Karnataka - Bijapur, Hampi, ... -).

I don't know about the weather, but friends of mine travelled along the Narmada River (more or less), places like Bharuch, Omkareshwar, Maheshwar, Mandu, Jabalpur, Kanha National Park (used to close down from July 1st to Oct. 31st however, check on the web), Mandla & Ramnagar. Check it out, there's many more interesting-looking places along the way or in the wider vicinity and they had a great time. I plan to follow in their footsteps next time In fact they brought me some Narmada sand just to spite me.

Gita Mehta has a book on the Narmada called A River Sutra, haven't read it yet but supposed to be good. It's a major pilgrim route although I don't know if it goes east to west or vice versa or if it doesn't matter. If you do something similar west to east you could head down to Chennai from there, even via Karnataka if you feel like.

If You Are Going To East Dont Miss Bodhgaya

I googled a few of the places you mentioned and they look enchanting. I'm really impressed.
If the weather's okay (climate charts don't tell much about the actual feel of a region during monsoon) and my travel companion likes the idea too, I'd like to give it a try. It's a shame we won't be able to visit Kanha National Park though (closed during the July-August).

Any advice on the best route from Mumbai to Chennai (we have almost a month to cover that journey)?
We'd like some laid-back places, interesting flora and fauna and the occasional pint of lager (from what I heard, Bangalore seems to have some great pubs? ). I know Karnataka has a lot to offer in that aspect, but not sure about the possibilities during monsoon season.

Thanks for the advice! We could travel from Varanasi to Bodhgaya and onwards to Ranchi, I guess. It'll depend on the connections between those towns.

Yes, I sort of thought along with them at the time to devise an itinerary. One of them had covered the Narmada Dam resistance movement before, it's interesting but sad but definitely a side of the story. Popping your head in for the day as a tourist might not be much use however, I assume these people have other things on their minds.

Some more places I jotted down at the time that caught my attention, mind you I'm not going over the whole route again so some of these may be more out of the way, compare with a guidebook or something and see what you make of it:

Ujjain (one of holiest Hindu cities), Dhar (fort, mosque, tomb), Sanchi (famous Buddhist site), Bhimbetka (rock paintings), Pachmarhi (hill station), Bhoramdeo (the local Maharaja used to take in visitors in his palace here + does tours of the area, expensive but might be worth it if he still does). I'll tell you all about it if I ever make it there, or maybe you can beat me to it Gwalior and surroundings is another area I'd like to cover. Khajuraho is a hassle to reach but really worth it people tell me, flying in there seems to be popular. Might be scourching hot too, I don't know.

To really follow the river like I want to you'd need to know does the pilgrim route go in a certain direction and what is its exact source and estuary? Is there a favorite time to do the pilgrimage?

Anyway have fun if you do + tell us all about it. My friends raved on and on about Omkareshwar and Mandu btw. Too bad about Kanha yes, it's supposed to be really good. There used to be a very good site for Madhya Pradesh btw, I think by the tourism dept. even, but it's been taken down sadly, maybe you can see if it's gone up at a different address.

Thanks! I'll read up on those places as well as the pilgrim route after my exams.