Bangalore, the capital of Karnataka lying in the southern Deccan plateau half a way between Chennai and Mumbai, is a charismatic city, which is the gateway to one of the most attractive, and alluring parts of the country. In central Bangalore M G (Mahatma Gandhi) Road is the appearance of affluence. It begins at the landscaped monkey-haven of Cubbon Park. Out here, a bust of Gandhi winks at a 1906 statue of Queen Victoria, whose stony gaze is, fixed on a row of bars, trendy cafes and Bollywood billboards. Koshy’s dim (drab smoky relic from a sleepier Bangalore)-a cafe, which claims on its menu to have served the Prince of Wales and Jawaharlal Nehru. It is the haunt of students and artists, lawyers from the courts down the road and other young professionals. Young women can smoke and drink in peace there, and not pay over the odds for the pleasure. Villa Pottipati, several miles east of the M G Road, in an older, traditionally Kannadiga Brahmin area called Malleshwaram. The villa is a 120-year-old restored colonial bungalow. The large and cool rooms are well furnished with rosewood four-poster beds and writing desks. Here the food is served in a garden shaded with jacaranda and mango trees, a tranquil contrast to the hustle of the temple market just outside the gates Malleshwaram is a wonderful restaurant, which serves delicious dosas (savoury rice-flour pancakes) on simple metal plates and strong sweet South-Indian coffee in small metal cups. If you want to glimpse the future of India, you should definitely visit Bangalore. Source: Telegraph