India (Frommer's, 4th Edition) - Keith Bain [306]
Most travelers head directly for Bengaluru, Karnataka’s capital, using it as a springboard to fly to Hyderabad, capital of Andhra Pradesh (discussed at the end of the chapter), or—more usually—as a base from which to catch an overnight train to and from the “lost city” of Hampi, which lies 320km (198 miles) north. (Note that more adventurous travelers, usually backpackers, can also catch a bus from Goa and head straight to Hampi.) Remote and serene, Hampi is good for a few relaxing days—at least 3 days if you intend to explore the undervisited temples of the Chalukyas, which lie north of Hampi. The second principal destination in Karnataka is Mysore, again usually reached from Bengaluru. If you’re traveling to or from Tamil Nadu or Kerala, it’s also possible to drive directly to Mysore, passing Rajiv Gandhi National Park, or to approach it from the coastal city of Mangalore, which is in turn connected to Goa and Kerala via the Konkan railway. Spend at least a day in Mysore before spending the next day or two visiting the beautifully decorated 11th-century temples at Belur and Halebid, and the nearby Jain monolithic statue at Sravanabelgola. Karnataka also has a few stunning beaches, just south of the Goan border, but unless you can make do with limited facilities, save your sunbathing for Goa and Kerala. Finally, if the heat and dust of the plains is exhausting, then a quick escape lies just 3 hours from Mysore, in the cool coffee plantations of Coorg. And if all this sounds like a mission to plan, simply hop on to the superluxurious Golden Chariot (www.thegoldenchariot.co.in) and chug your way across the state, taking in all the major sights (with Goa thrown in as a bonus) over just 7 days (see “Getting There,” below).
1 Bengaluru (Bangalore)
Karnataka
If you’ve been in India awhile, the capital of Karnataka will probably feel like a long, soothing break from endless commotion. The first city in India to get electricity, Bengaluru continues to blaze the trail in terms of the country’s quest for a modern identity. Once known as the Garden City, the country’s most pristine city evolved significantly when the high-tech revolution arrived and Bengaluru suddenly found itself at the center of the nation’s massive computer hardware and software industries, earning it new sobriquets such as Pensioner’s Paradise, and Silicon City. Its cosmopolitan spirit, fueled as much by its lively bar and cafe culture as by the influx of international businesspeople, gives India’s high-tech hub a high-energy buzz, yet it’s tangibly calmer and cleaner than most other places in the country, with far and away the best climate of any Indian city—no doubt one of the reasons the majority of upwardly mobile Indians rank it the number-one city in which to live.
Unless you go in for cafe society or are keen to see India’s new moneyed elite flash their bling and wads of cash, you won’t find very many attractions in Bengaluru—perhaps a relief in a country that is so saturated with historic must-sees. An excellent option to the standard sightseeing would be to opt for a walking tour (see “Walk the Talk,” below). The city’s real appeal is its zesty contemporary Indian lifestyle and its usefulness as a base for getting to the extraordinary temples and ruins of the Deccan interior and the cities of Hyderabad and Mysore.
Getting “Bangalored”
Thanks to flexible labor laws, cheaper operational costs, excellent linguistic abilities and reliable, sophisticated IT infrastructure, major U.S. companies such as General Electric and American Express shifted their back-office processing operations to Bangalore in the mid-1990s, and many of the world’s major corporations followed suit, bringing with them millions of new jobs. In fact, with so many business processing jobs outsourced from the West to Bangalore, the term “getting Bangalored” meant losing your job to someone in Bangalore!
ESSENTIALS
GETTING THERE & AWAY By Air Bengaluru’s airport (35km/22 miles from M.G. Rd.) is the busiest in South India, connected to most of the major cities in India