A longer visit

I'm coming back to India for a third visit and to complete a second year touring.

Rather than travelling a lot, I want to settle into an area as a short-term resident.

Right now, the idea is to spend 3 months each in Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai and Bangalore. (I know I'll have to exit the country at the six month mark; hopefully re-entry won't be too difficult).

I want to further my Hindi skills. I'm pretty sure there's a good school in Delhi, but I'll be looking for tutors in the other cities.

Eating lots of good Indian food is a priority.

I'm sort of wondering about seasons. I want to avoid Delhi when the pollution gets bad, but other than that I'm interested in your thoughts.

Which season would you match with each city? (Bonus points if your answer considers yummy seasonal treats.)

While Delhi would be good for learning Hindi/Urdu and for food, Delhi now has the big problem of traffic and pollution.

However Pollution levels in Delhi do change from month to month (from bad to worse) and right now the month of November in Delhi is considered to be the worst due to burning of the crops in the neighboring states of Haryana and Punjab that add to the already high level of pollution in Delhi.

If I was to pick 3 months in Delhi then I would pick January to March for the pleasant weather although early January can be quite cold.

From pollution consideration the other 3 good months in Delhi could be the monsoon months of July to September when the heavy rains settle down the pollutant particles in the air.

I also think that cities near the sea like Mumbai and Chennai should have lower level of pollution.

If possible I would avoid the large cities as large cities also come with a large traffic pollution.

Good Luck for your third visit to India

Thanks for your thoughts. I've considered smaller cities, especially Mysore. I'm just not sure I'll get the incredible breadth of food choices that come with the biggest cities. And I'm already concerned that a year is not long enough to eat everything I want to.

I have a friend in Kolkata who will help me find a Hindi tutor there. Does anyone have any advice for finding a tutor elsewhere? Maybe posting on a college board somehow?

For some of our members, a lifetime is not long enough




.

I would recommend a smaller city rather than a mahanagar and choose according to the rail links so you can travel as well. You will receive a far warmer reception and a calmer life. Also, link up with some educational institution. The registrar can be an important help for finding places to stay, etc. Warm thoughts to Sri Apte who noting that I had been refused affiliation told me to stick around, found me accommodation by various informal means, and wisely judged that if I attended all functions, signed in as normal, and sang the national anthem with everybody else nobody would ask me if I had affiliation over the years..