Now Bengaluru is modern, sprawling, chaotic, traffic-filled and pretty awesome, all wrapped into one slightly barmy package. No disrespect to any Bangalore peeps reading this wither, because, after just one visit, I felt right at home, and declared that If I were ever to leave my beloved Pune (more on that anon), this is where I would settle down. The fact that there’s a brew house situated every few blocks may or may not have played a huge part in that decision, I’ll never tell! Jokes apart, Bengaluru is very impressive — a truly modern city that is a beehive of activity and an absolute blast to explore.
After a quick visit to the Triumph showroom where we had a fun yet in-depth chat about heritage bikes like the Bonneville and why they’re so popular in a metro like Bengaluru, and after a comfortable night’s kip, we set out to see what the city had in store for us. Since it was another early morning, we thought we’d go check out Lal Bagh and start our day off with some fresh air and the sweet scent of flowers in bloom. This sprawling expanse of manicured garden goodness is every botany-lover’s dream, and even I, someone who couldn’t care less about this kind of stuff, couldn’t help but appreciate the beauty laid out before me.
Our next stop was the indomitable Tipu Sultan’s summer palace. An iconic Indo-Islamic structure with artefacts, images and inscriptions of great historical import packed within its walls. I was really looking forward to seeing them, too, but we were in for a bit of a surprise when we got there, because access to the Palace is barred until 10.30 am, which meant we would have to wait for a couple of hours just to get in, time we didn’t have. Not cool, Government of Karnataka, not cool…
