[Travelogue] Namaste India - Day 1 (Bangalore Part 2)

Hi Huneybees,

Continuing from my very first post on my India trip, here's Part 2 of my day in Bangalore.

After leaving the Bull Temple, we proceeded to the Lal Bagh Botanical Gardens. It means The Red Garden in English and it is a famous botanical garden in southern Bangalore. The garden was originally commissioned by Hyder Ali, the ruler of Mysore, and later finished by his son Tipu Sultan.  Lal Bagh houses India's largest collection of tropical plants, has an aquarium and a lake, and is one of the main tourist attractions in Bangalore.

For the benefit of joggers, tourists and fitness enthusiasts, entry is free from 6:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. and from 6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. At other times, a fee of Rs.10/- is charged. Entry for school children and the disabled is free all day.

A lady selling roasted corn by the carpark roadside.

As the sky was already turning dark, we covered the must-see of the garden. The garden is really huge, so be prepared to set aside ample time and good walking shoes. If not, you can also opt for a battery operated cart ride, with a driver to bring you around at a price.

In 1874, Lal bagh had an area of 45 acres (180,000 m2). In 1889, 30 acres were added to the eastern side, followed by 13 acres in 1891 including the rock with Kempegowda tower and 94 acres more in 1894 on the eastern side just below the rock bringing it to a total of 188 acres (760,000 m2).  

The Glass House is one of the most popular structure inside Lal Bagh, built as exact replica of London crystal palace. Its foundation stone was laid by Prince Albert Victor, grandson of Queen Victoria on his visit to Bangalore and Mysore on November 30, 1880 on the occasion of reception hosted by then Mysore King Sri Chaamaraja Wodeyar.  

Our first stop was the famous glass house which hosts an annual flower show. The glass house is the venue for many flower shows. Over 350 varieties of flowers have been put on display at the exhibition that has flowers like roses, marigolds, geranium and branchycome and celosia. Flower lovers are making a beeline to the ongoing week- long flower show at Lal Bagh Glass House.

You can see the plaque stating this at one of the sides of glass house. It was built by James cameron then superintendent of lalbagh. The structure arrived in kit from England and was assembled here.

The glass house was so beautiful, even though there was no flowers in there. I was telling my hubby how nice it would be if there was English Tea and some little pastries to sit around with. I will wear my corset, wear a big hat and hold my lace umbrella while sipping a nice cup of Earl Grey Tea.

The tree at left corner was planted by Nikita Khrushchev, President USSR, in 13.12.1955. This tree is named "Pride of India" and the tree named as Golden Bells at the right corner was planted by first prime minister of India Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru.

These squirrels were all over the garden. Attracting a lot of attention like super stars!

Moving on...

It was a weekend and alot of local Indians were jogging in the garden and having picnics with their friends and families.

Want to see beautiful roses? In Lal Bagh, they have a Rose Garden right in the heart of it. But, be sure to slap on your mosquito repellent. I got several bites right at this area...

And down pass this Hobbit Land, you will find the Lalbagh Lake.

The lake is man-made and was earlier a gorge. British superintendent, Mr. John Cameroon, commissioned the lake project in 1890 to provide water to Lalbagh’s plants.

The project involved creating a tank bund, fixing attractive and ornamental steps that lead to the tank, establishing a waste weir, plastering stones on the inner side of the bund, creating a walking path around the bund, and planting flowering trees along the path.

Do you see two islands in the lake? These islands formed naturally while de-silting the lake a couple of years back.This lake is situated close to Lalbagh’s West gate, and has an expanse of nearly 40 acres. 

It is also a bird watchers hot-spot. Reach the lake on an early morning, and you could spot the White-breasted Kingfisher, Egret, Commorant, Brahmini Kite and Parakeet.

The lake was super romantic in the sunset, we took a little break there before heading back out...

More squirrel action...

The last attraction we saw, was definitely The Lal Bagh Rock - one of the oldest rock formations on earth, dating back to 3000 million years. The rock was like layers and layers slapped one, very phenomenal.

Gneisses and related granitoids constitute one of the most abundant rocktypes exposed on earth. The Lalbagh hill is composed of dark biolite gneiss of granitic to granodioritic composition containing streaks of biolite. Vestiges of older rocks are seen in the form of enclaves within the gneiss. Peninsular Gneiss of the region is dated 2500 to 3400 million years that accreted in three major episodes, i.e. 3.4 Ga, 3.3-3.2 Ga and 3.0-2.9 Ga. The quarries of Lalbagh are of great importance for researches on earth sciences towards evolution of the terrain.

To make it simple - these are kind of rocks found at the deepest places in earth. It is difficult to access as these are covered by many layers of soil and other materials. These rocks are exposed due to erosion and this is the one place where it can be seen by naked eyes. 

Kempe Gowda was the founder of Bangalore which was designed by him in the year 1537. He built four Kempegowda Towers to mark the outer most boundaries of Bangalore, today the city has grown in leaps and bounds and they stand prominently in the heart of the city.

One of the tower is on top of  The Lal Bagh Rock. It is the most visited among all the towers and from here you can actually seeing the Bangalore Skyline. 

Each side of the tower is different...

It was pretty windy on top of the hill, so we stayed a little longer to enjoy before heading off.

In India, the sky turns dark very fast. It was just sunset when we left the botanical gardens and after a little round about, the sky turned dark! We were rushing for our dinner appointment with my hubby's colleague and seriously, the traffic jam is not helping...

Guess what? On our way back, we managed to see the other Kempe Gowda Tower at Hudson Circle (constructed by Bangalore Mahanagara Palike in 2004). This one looked slightly smaller and it is high on a pedestal at a round about. Lucky for the traffic light, I managed to capture a picture of it.

We also drove past The Vidhana Soudha. It is the seat of the state legislature of Karnataka and is an imposing building, constructed in a style sometimes described as Mysore Neo-Dravidian, incorporating elements of Indo-Saracenic and Dravidian styles. The construction was completed in 1956.

Following the 2001 Indian Parliament attack, concerns were raised about the security of Vidhana Soudha. The fencing near the footpath on all sides were replaced with a strong 10-foot high steel fencing, watch towers, upgraded scanning equipment, automated doors and thorough screening systems. Cars were not allowed to stop even for a photo moment, so this is just a drive pass.

This is the main building.

My hubby's colleague, Indrajit and his wife brought us to have authentic Bengal food and he brought us to this restaurant - Ballygunge Place, 612, 12th Main, Indiranagar, HAL 2nd Stage, Bangalore -38 (Phone: 080-600-00-600). We left the ordering of dishes to Indrajit, while the rest of us chit chatted.

Chicken Butter Fry.

We started off with the Chicken Butter Fry. It was a little spicy, but it tasted very delicious and a close reference would be the popcorn chicken from KFC, with a spicy tangy twist.

Fish Fry and Fresh Lime Soda (Sweet) Drink.

At first, Fish Fry looked a little bland to me. It's just a fried fillet fish and there was no dip. But actually, when you cut into it, you will find that it is already smeared with spices before frying. It tasted a little weird at first, but as I got a few more bites, I fell in love with it.

Also, the Fresh Lime Soda, was a nice drink to have around your table. Some of the dishes can be pretty spicy and the Fresh Lime Soda helped in "curing" it.

Pulao (Rice).

According to Indrajit, the Pulao was suppose to be sweet. But this one was a little dry and tasteless. Not the best in my list. I think Briyani would have tasted better?

Peas Kachuri

I love this! It's a little salted and it goes well with every dish! It can be a little oily, but what the heck, walking around in India will lose all these weight gain.

 Vetki Paturi (Fish).

Presentation of the Vetki Paturi is not the best, might be a little turn off, but trust me, once you've eaten one, you won't stop! I even finished my hubby's share! It is a mustard seasoned bekti fish dish, wrapped in plantain leaves. The mustard is "soaked" into the fish meat and it reminds me alot of otah...

Prawns Masala

Prawns Masala was simply too spicy. I could only take a bite. I find it too salty too...

 Dhoka Dalna 

Dhoka Dalna is a vegetarian dish that goes well with steamed rice. Made up of peas, potatoes and all other spices, it is a great dish to "wash off" all the meat eating. It can be a little spicy to some too ~

Mutton Kassa

As the name suggests, Mutton Kassa is a mutton dish that's very flavour-ful and it goes very well with rice. I pretty much finished most of it. :)

Khajur Aamsatta Chatni

For dessert, we had  Khajur Aamsatta Chatni. Chatni seems to pop up when you look up Indian dessert and this was the first time I tried it. It's dried fruits bathed in syrup and it really was way way too sweet for me, like 10 lollipops at one time! I could only take a lick.

Overall, the restaurant was very cool and very spacious with pretty decor. Each course was followed by the next in deft orchestration thanks to the wonderful service. The dishes were delicious and it's definitely flavours that I've not found in Singapore.

However, the cost of dishes were quiet expensive but I'd say, money well spent! The only thing I wasn't happy about was that there is a very rush-rush feeling to the whole proceedings of dishing out the food and serving them. It's like chasing a choo-choo-train eating there....

That very much concludes my Bangalore trip. The next place I will be writing about is Delhi...

Stay tuned!