Culture of Bangalore

Bangalore is the capital and largest city in the Indian state of Karnataka. With a population of over 6 million, Bangalore is the third largest city in India and 27th largest city in the world. Bangalore is one of the most ethnically diverse cities in the country, with over 62% of the city's population comprising migrants^[1] from other parts of India. Historically a multicultural city, Bangalore has experienced a dramatic social and cultural change with the advent of the liberalization and expansion of the information technology and business process outsourcing industries in India. IT companies in Bangalore employ over 35% of India's pool of 1 million IT professionals.

Garden City

Commercial Street is an important commercial area in Bangalore

Bangalore is known as the Garden City of India and has two nationally recognized botanical gardens – Lal Bagh and Cubbon Park, which attract a lot of visitors through the year. The city was the recipient of the Indira Priyadarshini Vruksha Mitra award in the late 1980s, in recognition of its extensive green cover.

Religion

The people of Bangalore are called Bangaloreans and the definition permeates class, religion and language.The city will celebrate which is known to be Bangalore's most important and oldest festivals called "Karaga Shaktyotsava" or Bangalore Karaga.^[2] Deepavali, the "Festival of Lights", transcends demographic and religious lines and is celebrated with great vigor. Dasara, a traditional celebratory hallmark of the old Kingdom of Mysore is another important festival. Other traditional Indian festivals such as Ganesh Chaturthi, Ugadi, Sankranthi, Eid ul-Fitr and Christmas are also celebrated.

Entertainment

Yakshagana – a theatre art is often played in town hall

Bangalore is home to the Kannada film industry which churns out about 100 movies each year and is the fifth largest movie industry in India, in terms of revenue. The Kannada Movie Industry has spawned a different colloquial type variety altogether, commonly referred to as Bangalore Kannada.

Bangalore is also known as Ham Radio Capital of India because of the number of Amateur (Ham) Radio licence holders and their activities. Bangalore has nearly twenty Amateur (Ham) Radio Clubs and four VHF Repeaters. Bangalore Amateur Radio Club VU2ARC started in year 1959 celebrating its Golden Jubliee – 50th Year. Lions Clubs International Amateur (Ham) Radio Club VU2LCI has its base here.^{[citation needed]}

Cuisine

The diversity of the cuisine available is reflective of the social and economic diversity of Bangalore. Roadside vendors, tea stalls, South Indian, North Indian, Muslim food, Chinese and Western fast food are all very popular in the city. Udupi restaurants, are very popular and serve predominantly vegetarian cuisine. The Chinese food and the Thai food served in most of the restaurants are customized to cater to the tastes of the Indian population.

Some of the renowned traditional Bangalore vegetarian restaurants are MTR (Mavalli Tiffin Room), Vidyarthi Bhavan, Udupi Krishna Bhavan, Ramakrishna Lunch Home, Hotel Sharavathi in Yelahanka, New Krishna Bhavan, Janatha Hotel, Central Tiffin Room , Restaurants at Janardhana Hotel and Chalukya Hotel and Ullas to name a few. The masala dosa – rice pancake smeared with red chilly chutney and stuffed with potato curry, 'set dosa' – 3 medium sized dosas, 'benne masalae' – thick rice pancake prepared with butter – are some of the local favorites and few stake the origin of these dishes from Bangalore. Bisi bele bath, Rava idli, the spicy Uppittu – served as Khara Bath in most of the restaurants are some of the other local favorites.

The Muslim cuisine of Bangalore is unique as it delivers an interesting blend of Mughlai cuisine, Hyderabadi Muslim or Nawabi cuisine as it is called with a distinct Bangalorean flavour. The MM Road in Frazer town is renowned for its unique collection of around 5 to 6 Muslim restaurants, 3 to 4 Mughlai takeaways, a Chinese restaurant, a sald bar and 2 Arabian themed restaurants. Empire Restaurant of Shivajinagar is very Famous and has its own chain of restaurants throughout Bangalore. The Chandni Chowk area of Shivajinagar also has concentration of tightly packed restaurants and tea shops, where business booms behind closed shutters until the wee hours of daylight. The most favorite sought after delicacies include the Tandoori Chicken, Bangalorean Biriyani, Sheek kebabs, Sheek Rolls, Chicken kebabs, Rumali Rotis and a lot more. Road side stalls however rather not difficult to find in areas with a Muslim population give a more dynamic but risky option of barbecued and tasty beef sheek kebab and local Bangalorean recipe Phaal, beef cubes in spicy green masala, served with hot Rice Sevian(Plain steamed Vermicelli). Fried Mutton Brains is also a really tasty choice for daring food-a-holics.

Arabian cuisine is also slowly on the rise with Shawarma and Falafel gathering some popularity although these hotels are usually frequented by Arab students and Gulf returned Indians.

Some of the bakeries in Bangalore are also quite popular for a quick snack. There are many fruit juice stalls and shoppers often visit them.

Bangalore also has some fine dining and specialized restaurants that cover various cuisines of the world. For good Mangalorean and Konkan style seafood, there's Kudla and Sa-na-dige. The city also is known to have really good Italian and new-age continental food in places like Sunny's on Lavelle Road and Olive Beach. The various restaurants in the five-star hotels in the city also offer some very authentic and delicious meals. Some of these include Blue Ginger (Thai/ Vietnamese, Taj West End), Raj Pavilion (Colonial Indian Cuisine, Sheraton Windsor Manor), Zen (Japanese / Korean, Leela Palace), and the many 24-hour cafes these hotels run.

Music

Bangalore is marked by many musical bards who have contributed significantly to both forms of Indian classical music, the Carnatic and Hindustani traditions. A home to many outstanding musicians, veterans and upcoming, Karnataka prides itself of renowned musical personalities like Purandara Dasa (the father of Carnatic music), Tyagraja, Kalakkad Subbiah Ramanarayanan Iyer, Dr Nithyasree Mahadevan, Gingger Shankar, Basavaraja Rajaguru, Gangubai Hangal and Sawai Gandharva.

The newfangled musicians of Karnataka have adapted a modernistic approach towards music and have flawlessly conflated different various genres to create progressive music, yet retaining the ethnic appeal. Some of the names worth mentioning are Raghu Dixit (Mysore), Lucky Ali, Suchethan Rangaswamy, Jim Ankan, Bapu Padmanabha, Pravin Godkhindi, Pravin D. Rao, Shimoga Subbanna, Mysore Ananthaswamy, P. Kalinga Rao, G.V. Atri, C. Ashwath and Balappa Hukker.

The Bangalore music scene consists of a far-cry of different genres, from international music to traditional folk songs. Janapadhas are the traditional folk songs in the historic culture of Karnataka. The vast number of different people living in Bangalore hailing from different places developed a distinct style of music. Kannada film music is heard playing in auto rickshaws, shops, and the streets. The party and the nightlife scenario experiences a different type of music, mostly popular international numbers varying in genres from Trance, Pop, Indi-pop, and Hip-Hop, Bollywood music is less dominant.

The recent past has also seen a significant growth in the number of institutes providing training in Carnatic, Hindustani classical and Western music, especially in the Bangalore city. The Bangalore School of Music in RT Nagar, Eastern Fare Music Foundation in Koramangala, Sumadhura Education and Cultural Trust in Vijaynagar, Shreepada Sangeeta Kala Kendra in Bannerghatta Road and World Music Centre in Malleswaram are some of the institutes who have successfully endorsed Music as a serious business or career option as opposed to its familiar perception as a pastime or hobby. Apart from the formal training, these institutes offer courses that enable learners to appear for many recognized certificate and diploma examinations.

Though Bangalore is a hub for both classical and contemporary music, the dominant music genre in urban Bangalore is rock music. All sub-genres of rock, varying from classic rock n' roll to extreme metal can be heard in Bangalore.^[3] The underground scenario in Bangalore is often acclaimed, and hence lead to the city being called Rock/Metal capital of India. Rock In India, Great Indian Rock and more recently Deccan Rock are the primitive rock festivals in India. Bangalore was also the first city in India where internationally popular rock groups Iron Maiden, The Rolling Stones, Bryan Adams, Scorpions, Sting, Aerosmith, Elton John, Deep Purple among various other heavy metal groups performed live for the first time in India. Metallica for their first ever shows in India are going to perform in Bangalore in October.

Heavy Metal group Iron Maiden performing live in Bangalore

List of international musicians who performed live in Bangalore :

• Scorpions in 2001
• Bryan Adams in 2001, 2004 and 2006
• Deep Purple in 2001
• Elton John in 2002
• Roger Waters in 2002
• The Rolling Stones in 2003
• Mark Knopfler in 2005
• Joe Satriani in 2005
• Sting in 2005
• Uriah Heep in 2006
• Iron Maiden in 2007 and 2009
• Aerosmith in 2007
• The Black Eyed Peas in 2007
• Sepultura in 2007
• Megadeth in 2008
• Machine Head in 2008
• Satyricon in 2008
• Amon Amarth in 2009
• Textures in 2009
• Lamb Of God in 2010
• Nervecell in 2010
• Lacuna Coil in 2010
• De Profundis in 2010
• The Prodigy in 2011
• Akon in 2011
• Cradle of Filth in 2011
• Metallica in 2011
• Biffy Clyro in 2011

Sport

Cricket in Bangalore, just as in the rest of the nation, is the most popular sport, however football, Basketball and Badminton are far more popular comparatively than the average Indian city. Significant numbers of India's national team have come from Bangalore, including Gundappa Viswanath, Rahul Dravid, Venkatesh Prasad, Anil Kumble, Erapalli Prasanna, Robin Uthappa, B.S. Chandrashekar, Syed Kirmani, Brijesh Patel, Roger Binny and Sadanand Vishwanath. Many of the city's children play Gully cricket and football on the roads and in city's many public fields. Bangalore's main international cricket stadium is the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, which hosted its first match in 1974 and was the venue for the India-Pakistan cricket quarter-final during World Cup 1996.International Cricket was played at the Central College grounds before moving to the current venue.

Other famous sports persons from Bangalore include Badminton player and former All England Badminton Championship winner Prakash Padukone, Tennis player and 10 time Grand Slams winner Mahesh Bhupathi, Cueist Pankaj Advani and athlete Ashwini Nachappa.

Social and Night life

</gallery>

Pecos – a popular pub in Bangalore

Bangalore has an active night culture and is home to over 200 clubs and bars. The city is also referred to by many as the "Pub Capital of India". Popular nightspots in Bangalore include 1522 The Pub, Malleswaram – Rajajinagar, Pecos, The Club Inferno, Olio - The Lounge Mix, Kyra Theatre and TGIF. Bangalore has a number of elite clubs, like the Bangalore Golf Club, Bowring Institute, Century Club, Karnataka Golf Association, the Karnataka State Cricket Club and the Bangalore Club.

Since the recent explosion of software companies in Bangalore, it has seen a rise in the number of western-style Malls, such as The Forum, Bangalore Central and The Garuda. These malls are evolving as the current "hang-outs" for both the young and the old, with trendy stores, restaurants and the latest crop of clubs (such as The Hint, at Bangalore Central). Another change has been the gradual decline of single-screen theaters and the increase of multiplex theaters, hosted by the same burgeoning malls. The BPO and IT boom has contributed to lot of disposable income among the younger generation.

Eating out is another passion for Bangaloreans. The variety in terms of cuisines, types and themes that Bangalore restaurants offer is diverse and caters to every taste. Bangaloreans enjoy eating out so much that an actual event circling around restaurants called the Bangalore Restaurant Week was held between 12 to 21 November 2010.

See also

• Bangalore
• Bangalori Urdu
• Kannada
• Karnataka

References

1. ^ "Kannadigas assured of all support". The Hindu. 23 July 2004. http://www.hindu.com/2004/07/23/stories/2004072310610400.htm. Retrieved 8 December 2010. 
2. ^ "Bangalore Karaga". The Hindu (India). 2 April 2007. http://www.hindu.com/2007/04/02/stories/2007040221520500.htm. 
3. ^ "Namma (our) Bangalore". The Indian Backpacker. http://www.indianbackpacker.com/india/namma-our-bangalore. Retrieved 6 October 2011. 

External links

• Interactive Map of Bangalore
• Music education in Bangalore
• WikiSatellite view of Bangalore at WikiMapia
• Now Bangaloreans can order Food Online
• Bangalore Amateur Radio Club VU2ARC
• Lions Club of Bangalore North
• Bangalore accommodation
• Bangalore India 1522 The Pub , Malleswaram – Bangalore