What's happening in Mumbai this week?

Mumbai in late June is monsoon Mumbai. That changes everything about your week. The temperature sits around 27-28°C but the humidity, currently 86%, makes it feel closer to 33°C. Light drizzle in the morning tends to build into heavier downpours by mid-afternoon, usually between 2pm and 5pm. The city smells different during monsoon. Wet concrete, fried snacks from street carts, and the salt wind off the Arabian Sea all mix together. Pack a light rain jacket and waterproof sandals. Umbrellas are cheap at ₹100-150 (about $1.50 at today's rate of 94.33 INR per dollar) from any street vendor, and you'll want one within an hour of landing at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport.

Monday is museum-closed day. Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya, the city's best museum (opened 1922, formerly the Prince of Wales Museum), shuts on Monday along with Mani Bhavan, the Gandhi museum on Laburnum Road in Gamdevi. Use Monday for Colaba Causeway shopping or the Gateway of India (completed 1924), which is open-air and never closes. Tuesday through Thursday the city is at its most residential. The local trains, which carry about 7.5 million passengers daily, are slightly less packed between 11am and 4pm. Crawford Market (now Mahatma Jyotiba Phule Mandai) opens daily at 7am and is best before 10am, when the fruit sellers are still arranging pyramids of Alphonso mangoes and the wholesale flower section smells like tuberose and marigold.

Friday evenings shift the energy toward Bandra and Lower Parel. The restaurants along Linking Road and Turner Road fill up by 8:30pm. Saturday morning belongs to Chor Bazaar near Grant Road station, where the antique and junk dealers spread their wares from around 8am. Haggle hard. Starting prices tend to run 3-4x what the seller will accept. Sunday mornings split between two scenes. In Bandra West, Mount Mary Church (founded 1904) draws large crowds for the 8am and 10am Masses, and the lane leading up to it fills with vendors selling candles and small wax offerings. Along Marine Drive in South Mumbai, families and joggers claim the promenade from 6am. The Rajabai Clock Tower (1878) on the University of Mumbai campus is visible from several points along the waterfront, its Gothic stone still one of the best silhouettes in the city.

Your best food this week will likely happen on the street, in the rain. Vada pav, the city's potato fritter sandwich, costs ₹15-30 (about $0.30) at most stalls. Ashok Vada Pav near Kirti College in Dadar is the one locals argue about. For sit-down meals, Trishna in Fort serves butter garlic crab at ₹1,200-1,500 per portion (roughly $13-16). Cafe Madras in Matunga does a proper South Indian filter coffee at ₹40 and a paper dosa that arrives almost as long as your arm. Mind you, many rooftop bars close their open-air sections during monsoon. Dome at the InterContinental on Marine Drive still operates indoors with Arabian Sea views, but call ahead. The city runs on chai, and the best version is cutting chai from any tapri for ₹10. It arrives in a tiny glass, milky and sweet. The cardamom hits you before the first sip.