Show them your best side

There's always a right time to visit a city to catch it in its best moments. Festivals, monsoons, and spring are a few shortcuts

- SEEMA GOSWAMI

Cities have their good and bad days just as they have their good and bad seasons. And the best way to get the most of your visits is to choose a time when their good days and good seasons coalesce to make for a fabulous experience.

For instance, you can't go wrong visiting Calcutta as I still refer to it, having grown up there — during Durga Puja. There is a particular magic in the air during the Puja season and you can't help being infected by it. The entire city is shimmering with lights; walking through the streets is to be left awestruck by the inventiveness of the decorations; and the pandals are often works of art in themselves. The idols of the Goddess are stunning and innovative, leaving even nonbelievers in a state of bliss. And that's before they've tasted the bhog.