Bangalore is known as the Garden City
of India because of its climate, greenery and the presence
of many public parks, including the Lal Bagh and Cubbon
Park. Deepavali, the "Festival of Lights", transcends
demographic and religious lines and is celebrated with
great vigour. Dussera, a traditional celebratory hallmark
of the old Kingdom of Mysore, is another important festival.
Other traditional Indian festivals such as Ganesh Chaturthi,
Ugadi, Sankranthi, Eid ul-Fitr,Eid ul-Azha,and Christmas
are also celebrated. The Infant Jesus Shrine in Bangalore
is one of the most important and venerable churches in
Bangalore. Thousands of devotees from all faiths throng
the shrine on Thursday, to honour Infant Jesus. The most
noticeable feature of the church is the secular nature
of the devotees.
Bangalore is home to the Kannada film industry, which
churns out about 80 movies each year in Kannada. Most
Kannada movies are musicals, and their soundtracks are
very popular in the city. The popularity of Kannada movies
has spawned a new colloquial dialect, Bangalore Kannada,
which draws upon youth culture and influences from English
and other Indian languages. The diversity of cuisine available
is reflective of the social and economic diversity of
Bangalore. Roadside vendors, tea stalls, South Indian,
North Indian, Chinese and Western fast food are all very
popular in the city. Udupi restaurants are very popular
and serve predominantly vegetarian, regional cuisine.
Bangalore has many clubs and bars, and is sometimes referred
to as the Pub Capital of India. Popular nightspots in
Bangalore include HiNT, Taika, Pecos and TGIF. Bangalore
is also a popular venue for Western rock concerts, with
Mark Knopfler, Jethro Tull and The Rolling Stones, Joe
Satriani, Bryan Adams, among others, having performed
in the city.
Cricket is the most popular sport in Bangalore. A significant
number of national cricketers have come from Bangalore,
including current Indian cricket team captain Rahul
Dravid, who lives in a big house in Indiranagar. Other
cricketing greats from Bangalore are Gundappa Vishwanath,
Anil Kumble, E.A.S. Prasanna, Venkatesh Prasad, Bhagwat
Chandrasekhar, Syed Kirmani,Roger Binny and Javagal
Srinath. Many of the city's children play gully cricket
on the roads and in city's many public fields. Bangalore's
main international cricket stadium is the M. Chinnaswamy
Stadium, which hosted its first match in 1974. Bangalore
has a number of elite clubs, like the Bangalore Golf
Club, Bowring Institute and the exclusive Bangalore
Club, which counts among its previous members Winston
Churchill and the Maharaja of Mysore.
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