Bangalore

We decided to traverse from the east coast to the west coast of India. This is a very long way so we're breaking it up by spending time in the middle, first up is Bangalore.

Bangalore (or Bangers as we've been calling it) has been coined as the silicon valley of India as it is the IT hub of the sub continent. It came as a surprise that it took us over two hours to find some internet and then it was the worst we've encountered. It looks like all the good connections have been reserved for the hardcore computer coders (hiss hiss).

There isn't much to see in Bangalore but we found it to be very large, very busy - and by Indian standards - very westernised. At a loss for things to do we strolled around Cubbon Park located in the inner city.


Compared to the surrounding sights the park was a big green magnet that we couldn't resist. It was a rather modest park but it gave us what we were after, an escape from the concrete jungle.

Not wanting to dawdle we were eager to resume our travels West.

Random Fact: It is election time in the worlds largest democracy (i.e. India). It's hard enough collecting the votes from 4 million New Zealanders - 99.9% of which have birth certificiates, so imagine the logistics of collecting 1.2 billion votes, many of which are from remote villages.

The best story we've heard is that one gypsy women voted three times. Once for herself, once for her deceased mother and once for her deceased sister. The driver for her voting thrice wasn't her political fanaticism, it was the 1000 rupees ($40 NZD) that the party she was voting for gave her per vote. This story courtesy of her Australian husband who advised that instead of money the locals were often paid in alcohol and that voting for deceased relatives is common practice - as long as the state doesn't know they are dead of course.

Highlight:
- Watching Indian women ride escalators. Some seem to have limited practice at 'riding the moving staircase' so there are plenty of wobbles on the entry and exit.

Lessons Learned:
- Computer coders are notoriously dull (and we are yet to be proven otherwise ;-p) so why would a city full of them be any exception?
- Either silicon valley isn't as impressive as we've been lead to believe by the American media or Bangalore has some catching up to do.