29th June 2001, my first step in Bangalore and first ever in south India. My uncle’s friend dropped me to Basavangudi , ING staff training hostel ,a day before the training to commence. Still remember , it was raining that evening ,found Bangalore quite romantic .Its been 11 years since then…neither I left the city nor did the city allow me to leave.
Bangalore to me has been evening rains,
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| Evening rains at Hebbal flyover through my car windscreen |
Roads with huge trees on both sides with dash of orange bloom ,
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| One of my fav roads near IISC |
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12 noon shade at road near Sankey tank
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Morning walk in Parks,
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| Cubbon park |
Evening stroll by the Lakeside ,
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| Evening sunset view at Sankey tank |
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| Sankey tank |
Beautiful churches ,
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| Hudson church |
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| St Marks Cathedral |
Nariyal pani ,
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| Green coconuts(Daab in bengali) |
and Shanti sagars and Shiv sagars even though the so called developmental works in last 10 yrs have changed the face of B’lore beyond recognition.
Last weekend , my husband was out on an official trip and the only relative in Bangalore, my sister , on her way to a month long trip in Europe . I was alone in Bangalore with my all time company mum and kid. So I decided to get out of home and become a tourist in my own city for the weekend. Unfortunately I hadn’t even seen the bull temple in Basavangudi , a popular tourist spot , until last Sunday.
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| Bull temple at Basavangudi |
Also, I was a little guilty , “ Whats the point in traveling all the way to Paris to see Louvre or to Amsterdam to see Van gogh museum if one hasn’t even explored the art gallaries within the city." My agenda , this weekend was to visit Modern art gallery and Venkatappa art gallery. I realized these are great places to take kids too for their early exposure to artworks.
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Modern Art Gallery on Palace Road
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Visited Bangalore Palace too for the first time on Saturday.
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| Bangalore Palace |
Sunday, I started early morning to see the roads without vehicles & Bangaloreans and have breakfast at Koshys only to experience the flash back city moments. I was able to see the spring on trees , attend the Sunday mass at churches and wonder at one of the paintings by Mr Venkatappa. It really looked like a photograph. The sculptors at venkatappa art gallery have made me plan my next trip to Belur & Halebid to see the hoysala style of art.
The same evening I went to Iskon temple and Orion mall ,the new mall in Bangalore with a Lake.If there were two people in the whole art gallery,there were four per square inch of the mall inside :-) Anyway...here is a panoramic view.
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| From extreme left Orion Mall , Hotel Sheraton ,World trade centre , Brigade gateway and the man made lake at the centre |
Not bad no? Get up early in the morning on a weekend, take your camera and start exploring your own city before it gets a little more unfamiliar. You never know you might just fall in love with your city all over again. I have, because this time my eyes were not just set on roads while driving but also on the road side places which made me stop by and see the real Bangalore hidden behind vehicles ,roads and skyscrapers . So, guys get set go……………..
