WhatsBrandNew Jan_2011 | Page 14

· Bangalore's pubs, clubs and restaurants shut at 11.30pm, Cinderella-style. So don't start your evening too late in order to get sufficient time for merriment. · Don't fall for demands by auto drivers for excess fare. Pay by the meter, which starts at a minimum fare of Rs 17. After 9pm, however, auto fares go up by 150%, i.e. one and a half times the meter fare. · Avoid travelling during peak hours as traffic clogs up along arterial roads, ring roads and the main roads leading to the various IT parks. · Don't shy away from seeking the help of locals if you are in need of help or directions. Bangaloreans are known to be a warm and friendly race, so do make contact. · Women travelling alone after 10pm should Dont’s avoid public transport. Opt for cabs instead – Meru Cabs and Easy Cabs operate across the city. Also, avoid walking alone on lonely stretches or dark streets late at night. · Do not leave your bags unattended. Pick- pockets and bag snatchers are known to operate in crowded places like bus stands and on buses too. · Do not head to restaurants without making dinner reservations, especially on weekends. Most lounge bars and restaurants take table bookings. · Do not use unauthorised cabs to ride into the city from the Bengaluru International Airport, even if taxi touts try to court you at the airport. Use only 'airport authorised' taxi services, which include Easy Cabs, Meru Cabs and KSTDC. The 'Airport Taxi' signage installed at the baggage claim areas will point you in the direction. monetize, advertize! call +9180 4040 2321 / 22 fax +9180 2346 4353 +91 99800 31145 email [email protected] website www.whatsupguide.com BANGALORE AT A GLANCE Bangalore is a multifaceted city that has worn multiple identities. In its past lives, the city has been a Cantonment town and a quiet pensioners' retreat with a surfeit of gardens and lakes, best-known for its pitch-perfect weather. In its present incarnation, the city is a humming and buzzing technopolis choc a bloc with software campuses, IT parks and a teeming community of techies. Gone is the sleepy Bangalore of yesterday – today's Bengaluru is a city with a galloping growth rate, bustling traffic, booming realty, a cosmopolitan migrant population and the tag of a global city. Riding on the back of the IT boom over the last two decades, hip-new p 10 whats helpful? Bangalore is a feel-good place with glitzy malls, posh night spots, trendy restaurants and a gushy pace of life. But if you think it's all just nouveau razzle-dazzle, you're pretty far off the mark. This city of contradictions has not lost its abiding connection to the past. The mamis (traditional south Indian women) of Malleswaram, the Benne dosas (buttered rice and lentil crepe) in Basavanagudi and the Carnatic music kacheris (concerts of classical south Indian music) at Chamrajpet are also very much part of the Bangalore rubric. Alongside the sprawling apartment complexes and th new satellite suburbs are 19 century British churches and streets with quaint colonial names. Bangalore is ultimately a melting pot of people, cultures and ways of life, where new flavours are constantly intermingling with the old in interesting ways. This pot has its dents for sure – creaking infrastructure, pot- holed roads and inadequate public transport. But shrugging these off and trundling along cheerfully through the zillionth Metro-construction-related traffic jam is what the indefatigable Bangalorean spirit is about. Laidback and driven in equal measures, trendy and simple all at once, welcome to intriguing Bangalore!