You Are Walking Eight Kilometres. Dress Like It.

A proper Saptami night in Kolkata is six to ten kilometres on foot.

Most of it standing still in a queue. The rest shuffling. It starts at seven and it ends when your feet do.

People dress for the photograph and then walk for five hours in it. Here is how to do both.

What should you wear for pandal hopping?

Start with the temperature. October in Kolkata is 30°C and humid at nine at night, and inside a crowd it is warmer still.

• Wear: cotton, cotton-silk, Tussar, linen, Chanderi, light Katan. Everything on that list breathes.
• Do not wear: heavy net, thick georgette lining, anything fully backed in polyester, or a silk you would be upset to see stained. You will be pressed against several hundred strangers.
• Colour: mid-tones. Deep shades show every mark in humidity; very pale ones show every wall you brushed past.

If you are wearing a saree

Four small things, and they decide the night:

1. Pleat it an inch off the floor. Not touching. You are walking on a road.
2. Pin the pallu twice — shoulder and waist.
3. Drawstring petticoat, not elastic. Five hours of walking loosens elastic, and there is nowhere to fix it.
4. Nothing that needs a hand. If it needs holding, it will be held all night.

The best pandal sarees are cotton and linen, Kota and Tussar.

The honest case for not wearing a saree

A straight-cut suit or a palazzo set walks better, sits better in a crowd, and needs no adjusting for five hours.

So split the week. Saree on the night you are photographed. Suit on the nights you are actually walking. Salwar suits and co-ord sets.

Three things nobody plans for

1. Shoes you have already worn in. Non-negotiable. Flat juttis or Kolhapuris. A new pair ends the evening early, every time.
2. A crossbody bag. Both hands free. Nothing balanced on a wrist for five hours.
3. Tomorrow's outfit, decided tonight. Because tonight's will not have dried.

The six-day plan puts the heavy silks on the seated days for exactly this reason. Everything festive: festive collection.