Why did I go to Bengaluru? I asked myself this question while I was there, not that I did not enjoy my short stay in this town, but compared to Mumbai, Bengaluru's charms were harder to discern. It had many beautiful and clean parks, especially Cubbon Park which was quite close to my hotel and was my introduction to the city. It had a few art galleries, including one new one that was the most modern and "normal" that I experienced in India. But the city was so new, it had little to none of the glory of old buildings that I had seen in Mumbai, and that I was to see in Kolkata. The modern architecture that I saw was mostly dismal, and I took quite a few photos of these just because. The city was obsessed with how and when you take photos, I was almost banned from the Lalbagh Botanical Garden because I had a camera with me. I was surrounded by security guards and forced to delete photos of the subway from my camera (I swapped out the disk and restored them). They kept making meaningless distinctions between taking photos with a camera vs a cellphone. That was highly irritating. The people were the friendliest, though, that I encountered in India.
Photo List (Total 308 Photos)
Click bolded headers below to view, or click "just the best" for quick tour
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Chickpete (69 photos) - When I ascended the subway into what I thought was the historical core of Bengaluru, at the Chickpete station, I was immediately shocked by my surroundings. Instead of Mumbai's gloriously run-down older buildings, everything seemed new, like the city was a blank slate in 1960 and built from there. The market area was as chaotic as ever, the buildings grimy, but the sense of history was gone, there was really almost nothing impressive about any of the buildings. This gallery starts at the Krishna Rajendra Market, then veers east towards Cubbon Park. It continues with attractions south of the market, including the Tipu Sultan Summer Palace and the Fort. This gallery also includes the area around the train and bus stations, which is called "Majestic" and which I determinedly walked through though it was as ugly an urban vista as anything I've experienced before. From there, I walked to Freedom Park.
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Other Central Bengaluru (128 photos) - These photos are everything that is central, but not really part of the older city centre in Bengaluru. The gallery starts where my hotel was, in the area just to the east of Cubbon Park. This area includes the lovely and modern Museum of Art and Photography (MAP). The gallery continues through beautiful and spotless Cubbon Park, and to the official legislative buildings just to the west of that, including the remarkable Vidhana Soudha. The gallery continues north and east, to St. Mary's Basilica, Russell Market, the Commercial Street market area and Ulsoor Lake. It then doubles back to Mahatma Gandhi Road and Brigade Road, where I had a delightful supper one evening.
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Further Out in Bengaluru (111 photos) - This is everything away from the central city. It starts at the south end of the city, where I visited the pretty Lalbegh Botanical Garden. It then pivots to the north, where I saw the combined park that was the Indiragandhi Musical Fountain Park + the National Military Memorial Park (there was no fountain, musical or not). I had a snack at the nearby Taj West End. Nearby that park was the National Gallery of Modern Art. I also visited the Bengaluru Palace, and saw its massive grounds in the north of the city. After that I walked aimlessly through a pleasant and relatively wealthy residential neighbourhood called Guttahalli.
