What makes Bangalore Bangalore for me…

The OH, our home and that of his parents.

Being able to have my own home garden.

The flowers of many hues that seem to be blooming around the city, irrespective of the season.

Sudden spurts of rain, at any time during the day or night.

Falling in love with the gorgeous, gorgeous weather.

The highly Kannadiga way of saying ‘Maestic’ and ‘Yenktesaaa’.

Gorging on the freshest of fruits in every season.

Clear, clear, clear blue skies with hints of clouds at times, and grey, leaden, overcast skies at other times.

Isn’t that blue gorgeous?!

The beauties that the local markets are, especially before a festival.

The ‘Darshinis’ and the ‘Sagars’.

Silk sarees, roses and strings of jasmine.

Aunties in their silken and golden finery, thronging temples during festivals.

Bisi bele bhaat and chow chow bhaat.

Grabbing a bite on the go at Taco Bell or at one of the many eat-and-go restaurants around the city.

The Volvos.

Vada dunked in sambar and filter kaapi.

Obattu straight off the stove.

Shopping for fancy toe rings, earrings and neck pieces at Bhavani Kangan and Mahila Bangles.

Buying gifts from Sutradhar.

Lots and lots and lots of beautiful trees and tree-lined avenues.

One of my favourite roads – the New BEL Road stretch to Sadashivnagar Police Station

The number of artsy and cultural programmes that seem to always be on in the city.

Exhibitions like Dastkar, the cake show, the book fair, and the flower show.

Cheeky, cheeky songs which are sometimes in bad taste, but fun nevertheless

Shopping for books at Blossoms.

The book h(e)aven that is Church street.

Fine dining at Barbeque Nation, Cream Centre, Italia and Toscano.

Experimenting with the various types of cuisines that the restaurants in the city have to offer.

Masala dosa, khali dosa and benne dose.

Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful stone buildings and the loveliest of houses.

A house that I spotted on my wanderings around the city, and instantly fell in love with, mostly thanks to that canopy of brilliant orange flowers

Learning new recipes and keeping the faith in old ones alive.

Strolls in Sankey Tank, Lal Baugh and JP Park.

Cheese-  and calorie-laden pizzas and soups on winter nights.

The joy of discovering fresh manathankalikkai or ari nelikkai in the old markets of the city.

Loads of travel. Always planning for the next trip.

Being awed at the variety of Christmas decorations, and setting up our very own tree at home.

Lots and lots of new experiences.

Shopping – both for real and window shopping – at the many malls across the city.

Getting mehendi on the hands on the pavement in Malleshwaram market.

Ice creams at Corner House, Swensen’s  and Naturals.

Dharwad peda.

Pineapple kesari.

Poori and sagu.

The lovely temples and churches around the city.

Candles at the St. Mary’s Basilica on Christmas day

Learning to love the fruit biscuits from Karachi Bakery (not that it needed much learning, anyways!).

Chances to introspect and rediscover myself.

Loads of photography.

Dil pasand, stuffed buns and masala bread from Iyengar’s bakery.

Gobi manchurian and masala poori on rainy nights.

The Bangalore Palace.

Icons like Koshy’s, Vidyarthi Bhavan and MTR

The ‘swalpa adjust maadi’s  and ‘channagiddira’s.

Horrible traffic and taking an hour for a drive that should ideally take 20 minutes.

Waiting for the metro project to materialise so that the drive to office can get infinitely better.

The yellow and red of the Karnataka flag.

The big banyan tree.

Struggling with the rudest of auto drivers I have ever seen anywhere.

Discovering the charm of rural life.

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Inspired by Cupitonians’ post on Bangalore here.