Panchami: Tonight the City Is Already Out

Shashthi is tomorrow. Nobody in Kolkata is waiting for it.

Tonight the lights are fully up, the big South Kolkata pandals are open, and the crowd is large but still moving. By tomorrow evening it will not be moving.

Tonight is the night to see the pandals properly

If you actually want to look at the artwork — and the pandal art in Kolkata is genuinely worth looking at, some of it by working artists with national reputations — tonight and tomorrow morning are your last chances. From Saptami you are in a queue looking at the back of someone's head.

Dress for walking, not for photographs

Every rule in the pandal-hopping guide applies tonight more than any other night, because tonight is when you cover the most ground.

• Cotton, cotton-silk or light Tussar. Cotton and linen sarees, Kota.
• Or a salwar suit and keep both hands free.
• For men, a plain cotton kurta. Save the jacket for Ashtami.
• Shoes you have worn before. Not new ones. Not tonight.

Save these for later in the week

The Banarasi, the Kanjivaram, the lehenga. All three are wrong tonight and right on Ashtami — see the six-day plan for which goes where.

Practical

Eat early. Carry cash. Agree a meeting point before you set off, because the networks will fail. And pick one end of the city — crossing Kolkata tonight will cost you two hours you would rather spend in a queue.

Tomorrow it properly begins.