Bangalore Sight Seeing

Though local sightseeing trips arranged by other state governments are fairly reasonable and worthy, the one in Bangalore was not the same. KSTDC offers three packages that include 2 half day trips (7.30 am to 1 pm and other 2pm to 7.30 pm) and one for the whole day. The half day trips are priced at 190 both and the full day will cost you 290 in an A/C Volvo. The boarding would be at Badami House, the central KSTDC office. It is just along the road from Kantiveera Stadium just after Hudson circle near United India office. The circle has be rechristened to KRC now. The drop point would be Lalbagh, Badami House or midway. Even though we were the first to book the ticket a day prior, the bus was packed. The half day package offers the following places

1. Visveswaraya Museum
2. Bangalore Art Gallery
3. Vidhan Soudha
4. Bangalore High Court
5. Tippu’s Palace
6. Bull Temple
7. Gavi Gangadhareshwara Temple
8. Lalbagh Gardens

The places are shown in the order listed above. Visveswaraya Museum is a technological museum that houses scientific models. The ground floor is a mechanical showroom. Simple gears, levers and almost all workshop tools find place in this floor. Worthy specimens include the Wright brothers plane, steam boilers, steam engine and jet engine.

Foremost easily noticeable and intriguing model is that of the ‘ball rider’ that charges the ball by releasing from an altitude and the ball takes very interesting path to reach the bottom, by which the kinetic and potential energy are tapped in various points by activating interesting gadgets. The second floor houses the astronomical section. You will models explaining every fact in astronomy. Having a friend obsessed with astronomy and NASA and watching him go excited was a enjoyable. The final floor contains a section on Electronics and Biology. The electronics section hasd some cool models. The LED litup based on your shadow at the entrance was amazing. Night vision model and the IR image screen were too credible. The biology section did succeed keeping us engrossed. Finally at the ground floor beside the entrance to the left is asmall section on dinosaurs. To our disdain it turned out be only a ‘dinosaour’ and not actaully ‘dinosaur world’ as it claimed to be. A T-Rex made odd sounds that wouldn’t even scare a child was at disaplay.

Much to the chagrin you will be asked to watch Vidhan Soudha from inside the bus. Not until recently, the security has been pepped up and no visitors are allowed near it or the high court. This splendid neo-Dravidian granite building that dominates the northern boundary of the Cubbon park, is the home of the State Legislature and the Secretariat. The Vidhana Soudha is bedecked in illuminated glory during special periods and is a sight worth viewing .

We were in regret for the Bangalore Palace and fort did not feature in the list of places. But the reason would be that much people would not be interested in because of an exorbitant entrance fee of 100 bucks. Its mammoth compared to the Rs. 5 entry fee for Tippu’s palace. Finally it turned out that things fare as per the amount you wish to shell. The palace was not grand as expected. The palace housed only a durbar, probably that’s the only this standing among the ruins. The british had damaged the right side of the palace in anger over not finding Tippu in the palace when they came raiding Mysore. The architecture is typically Mougul striking a resemblance to the red fort in Delhi. The facade shrouds a typical durbar under it. The upper floor consists of small rooms like cells with spectacular paintings on the walls. You can only imagine how awe-inspiring the durbar would have been with those paintings for most of them are almost faded. The rear part of the durbar is almost a mirror image of the front. There is a spectacular Vaishnavite temple beside the durbar . It was off-time when we came there ( almost 4 pm. It would open only after 5.30 pm)

Bull temple was the only place we were eager to visit right form the start of the trip. It is near Banashankari on the Bull temple road. A tall gopura is hidden within dense foliage. Inside was a huge monolithic idol of Nandi/ Bull. It is not as big as the one in Mysore in the Chamundi Hills and one in Madurai I guess if I am right. Beside the sanctorium is one that of a Shiv Linga. There is one temple of Sage Valmiki of Ramayana fame. The rest of the temple complex is spotted with huge rocks, obviously from one big one was which the Nandi was carved. There is large amount of shade and rocks and is a perfect place to while a sunny evening. There is a viewpoint atop a concrete tower.

Incidently the Gavi Gangadareshwar temple was closed today due maintenance. Argh !! We were taken to an Art Exporium near Shanti Nagar Busstand. We decided to ignore this for obvious like-minded reasons. After a good hog at the ‘----‘ , we chose to part the Volvo and help ourselves down the road to Lalbagh. There was a flower show organized for a week. Eager to retire at the garden, we encountered police bulwarks at the entrance and the ticket counter was closed. A very dumb reason given by the security was that the park closes at 5.30 . All cars and bikes were diverted citing the same reason. An unusual look of surprise among the crowd eagerly waiting made it clear that it was not usual for the park to close so early. There was some other incident spinning this reaction from the security and police. We didn’t do any questioning for it would be futile. The reason would be evident in tomorrow’s papers. Though insane we tried out an another gate of Lalbagh but the verdict was the same.

What next guys? Was the question that flashed across our eyes. We tried a nearby cinema hall hosting the Bangalore International Film Festival (BIFF) nearby the Shanti Nagar busstand. Upon inputs from a friend accompanying me, who incidentally hinted that the screenings were for free, we headed to the booth. There was a Polish and French short films beginning shortly. With an idea of watching any foreign for a free walk-in, we retreated after we safety checkup with organizers regarding the ticket price. It was 500 bucks for a 70 min movie. I still don’t know how my friend managed to watch a film festival for free somewhere where he claimed to have. Let me first enquire the details of that. It would be good way to while away time the next season. Thanks to Lumerie and World movies, the penchant for watching noted foreign flicks is still active within me.