Bangalore is the capital of the state of Karnataka, in the south of the country, and wears two hats, as a ‘garden city; and as the ‘Silicon Valley’ of India. It is happy to combine picture postcard images of traditional India with Western influence.

With 6 million inhabitants, Bangalore is the fifth-largest city in India. The city is the capital of a rural state and has built its reputation on its parks and gardens which temper the febrile activity that is the norm in all Indian cities. Two of these, Cubbon Park and Lal Bagh, are amongst the busiest and provide a buffer between the old town with its working-class atmosphere, in the west, and the modern ‘westernised’ districts, to the east. In the heart of the city, Cubbon Park is highly appreciated by those who enjoy a quiet stroll. It is bordered by a large, Dravidian-style edifice, Vidhana Soudha, the seat of Karnataka’s parliament. To the south, Lal Bagh, on the banks of an artificial lake colonised by monkeys, is home to the botanic garden with its one thousand plus different varieties of plant. Between the two parks, there are three other iconic sites in the town: the fort and its impressive ramparts; the summer palace of Sultan Tipu and its grand late 18th century villa; the City Market with its maze of alleyways overflowing with spices, fruits and vegetables.

The ‘modern’ town is certainly not without interest either. On Commercial Street, Mahatma Gandhi Road and Brigade Road, visitors will find restaurants, fashionable boutiques and major hotels, a reminder of how international the town, for the last thirty years the major centre for scientific and technological research in the country, has become. Bangalore is a centre for large numbers of western firms and the number of expatriates living there has reached record figures.