India, April 11 -- Let me get one thing straight, something you may already be thinking about: yes, summers in Maharashtra are unforgivably, barbarically hot. We're talking 40-degree afternoons where roads double as melting pots and air-conditioned ATMs appear like a mirage in a scorching desert. I am as local as it gets, Mumbai being my native place, and I can tell you with full authority that our summers are the official rite of passage for outsiders to test their survival skills here. The heat's real, but so is this local's travel guide to breezing through Maharashtra in April and May.

This is a place that brings new challenges with each season. We've survived monsoon floods, peak-hour local trains and Vada Pav prices rising unreason...