Bangalore: The Garden City

Even with the terror warnings, I had travel plans to keep. This weekend: Bangalore.

I decided to catch a Saturday morning flight instead of trying to make it to the airport on Friday evening. Did I mention the traffic sucks here? After all of the warnings, I found the domestic terminal to be a piece of cake. Breezed through check-in and security without a hitch. As I should have expected, the flight was delayed. No reason, just delayed. I flew Jet Airways, a private Indian airline with a large domestic route and a practice of charging foreigners fares three times higher than they charge locals. Imagine if United tried that? "Sir, you're clearly not from around here. Your fare today will be $263. Oh, Mr. Fox, you Irish devil, your fare is only $87." Hello, ACLU? Or is that the ICLU?

Thanks to Jen D., I'd been able to connect with her good friend Jessica, a new resident (and newlywed) of Bangalore. She and her husband Kishore picked me up at the hotel and took me to lunch, a driving tour of the city and then to a night spot for dinner and drinks. Made for a great day. NOTE: Jen and Peter, I'm on strict orders to convince you to come visit. I will even insure (policy value is 100 rupees) your food safety (disclaimer: offer valid only if you starve yourself during the trip). Seriously, you must visit them.

First thing I noticed about Bangalore was there was greenery. In Hyderabad the only green you'll see is on a plate or on a woman's sari. Grass? Nope. Trees? Occasionally. But in Bangalore there were old trees, grass medians, flower boxes hanging from lightposts, and large parks with wide lawns. And no potholes! The roads were also less chaotic than Hyderabad.

Bangalore is the original "Silicon Valley" of India and is the home of many US and European (and Indian) software companies. It is also is a big military city, so things just seem more orderly. Smart shops, great pubs, good food, auto's with meters, nice hotels, and a mini version of Windsor Castle.
This picture was taken while a security guard with a rifle was trying to yell at me to not take a picture. I told my driver to ignore him and drive very fast away from the insane man yelling. Lucky for me, I was paying the driver and he was more than happy to speed away. This is Bangalore Castle, the former home of the last rulers of this state. It was built in the late 1800s and remained in their family until recently. I was unclear if they still own it - Lonely Planet says they do, my driver said the government owned it. All I know is the guy with the rifle was pissed and was last heard yelling "50 rupees for a picture!!"

We visited two temples - one pictured at the top of this post and one you'll read about in a later post. Only thing you should know is that I walked barefoot down the street and was thanking myself for the tetanus shot I had six years ago. The bottom of my feet are now brown and I don't think they'll fade anytime soon. There was a little boy in front of the above temple asking for money. I had nothing small enough to share, but Jessica gave him a 5 rupee note. His reaction was classic - he smiled and danced around as if he'd won the lotto. He ran quickly to his mother to give her the money and then came back for an encoure.

We ended the day on the top floor of a rather tall building on MG Road. It was a very swanky pub with the usual beautiful people (and me) sipping cocktails and admiring the view. Nice way to end the day. Big thanks to Jessica and Kishore.

One last thing: Why does every single driver try to take me to an art studio or craft store? I had to tell the last driver to just forget his tip if he tried to stop at one more store. He happily obliged. But you'll all be getting a carved elephant for Christmas.