Bangalore
Bangalore, now called as Bangaluru, is capital city of Karnataka, a southern Indian province. Deeply steeped into history, Bangalore had
been established by Kempe Gowda. Presently, Bangalore has shot to the fame for being centre of Information Technology (IT). Hence, Bangalore,
now-a-days an evolved metropolis, offers a tourist lot more to explore ranging from golden past to modern strides being made by India.
Bangalore Fort was constructed in 1537 by Kempe Gowda, the founder of Bangalore. The original fort was made of mud. Later, Tipu Sultan made
it his bastion and converted it into a stone-built fortress. During Mysore War, the British captured Bangalore Fort and caused it great damag
e. Even after that, Bangalore Fort's Delhi gate and two bastions are still existing primary remains of the fort. Tipu Sultan’s Summer Palace is
also located into the fort. Built in 1887 by Chamaraja Wodeyar, Bangalore Palace is inspired by England's Windsor Castle. This beautiful
palace has Tudor style architecture, with fortified towers, arches, green lawns, and elegant woodcarvings in its interiors. Drawing
inspiration from Windsor Castle of England, the Wodyar Maharajas of Mysore constructed Bangalore Place in 1887. In its heydays,
Bangalore Place, built in Tudor style architecture, was an eminent piece of architecture. Its past glory is still visible in fortified towers,
arches, green lawns, and elegant woodcarvings in its interiors. But, its importance as a tourist attraction has been recognized quite late and
remained neglected for long time as rundown building with paint peeling on the interior. Though, it has been now opened for general public to
behold, it generally remains as a tourist trap. Tipu Sultan’s Summer Palace, also known as ‘The Abode of Peace’ is situated within Bangalore
Fort and is mostly built of teakwood. Intricately carved pillars, curved arches and balconies and Ganesh Temple are the highlights of Tipu
Sultan’s Summer Palace, a two storey structure. The Bull Temple of Bangalore is a prime tourist attraction. Built in traditional Dravidian
style of temple architecture, Bull Temple is dedicated to ‘Nandi’- the bull which is considered as Lord Shiva's vehicle as per Hindu mythology.
The monolithic bull statue of granite measures 4.6 metres tall and 6m long. Bull Temple is locally called as "Nandi temple"or Bhoganandiswara
temple. The first of its kind in India and established in 2001 to showcase landmarks and evolutionary stages of India’s aviation industry,
HAL Aerospace Museum in Bangalore displays a range of aircraft as well as helicopters, Aircraft engine models, Flight simulators, a mock
Air Traffic Control Tower in addition to exhibit of Indian aviation history. NIMHANS stands for National Institute of Mental Health and
Neurosciences. Its existence as mental asylum dates back to late 19th century. Maharaja of Mysore has been instrumental in turning mental
in 1954, it becomes All India Institute of Mental Health. It was declared a
deemed university in 1994. Having evaluated its contribution to society and brain science, Government of India has conferred it institute of
national importance. A visit of NIMHANS is like weaving through the history of the state, science and the social milieu. Enriched with
30 years of research and display of more than 600 brains, NIMHANS Brain Museum offers opportunity to see the brain, understand how it works
and get an insight into the kind of diseases that can affect it. Popularly called Ecity within Bangalore, most often refered to as Electronic
City, it was named "Electronic City" by its founders. Electronic City, today is the largest industrial technology hub of Bangalore, housing
about 300 companies, and a very large work force of employees. ISKCON is an abbreviation of International Society for Krishna Consciousness.
ISKCON is a society engaged in spreading Lord Krishna’s message and creating Krishna consciousness across the globe. The ISKCON Temple in
Bangalore, built as a splendid blend of neo architectural styles and classical Dravidian temple architecture style, is the biggest temple
among more than 350 ISKCON temples across the world. The morning program starts at 4:15 am and ends at 9:00 am. Darshan is open till
1:00 PM. The complex also houses ISKCON museum, Bhaktivedanta Book Trust, and the Dakshinakriti shop for handicrafts. The Legislative
Chamber of Karnataka, called Vidhana Soundh, was built in 1954 in a neo Dravidian style of architecture. It is a landmark of Bangalore.
Though it is not open to the public, but its mesmerizing beauty can be seen every Sunday evenings as it is then beautifully floodlit.