Our stay in Bangalore also included sampling some of the leisurely delights of the city! One could choose from theatre, open air concerts, music concerts, the cinema, several art galleries, museums of ancient carvings as well as the entertaining museum of science and industry, parks, Tipu's Summer Palace, eateries, cocktail bars and cafes as well as a couple of film festivals. The so called garden city has a couple of well maintained (albeit restricted access) ...

We had got in touch with a number of NGO's(non governmental organisations) in Bangalore, hoping to bring a little more than just travelling to our trip in south India. Sangama was a group that said yes to us volunteering with them before our trip. Sangama deals with sexual minority rights, including lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and hijras. After we had settled into our new flat in Bangalore we went off to meet Sunil who co-coordinated the Lesbit group - on...

We arrived in Bangalore to glorious sunshine and heat. Our first impressions were of a bustling, busy, diverse, cosmopolitan, thriving city. Our disappointment that the hotel we were hoping to stay in had been converted into yet another faceless international chain; (and one that was way out of our price range at that) quickly faded as we settled in to witness the city lit up by Diwali celebrations. There were blankets of lights over Brigade Road and rangolis at...