Culture
Main article: Culture of BangaloreBangalore is known as the Garden City of India because of its greenery and the presence of many public parks, including the Lal Bagh and Cubbon Park.
The city celebrates its oldest festival, "Karaga Shaktyotsava" or Bangalore Karaga. Deepavali, the "Festival of Lights", transcends demographic and religious lines and is an important festival, along with the nine nights of Navratri. Other traditional Indian festivals such as Ganesh Chaturthi, Ugadi/Gudi Padwa, Sankranthi, Eid ul-Fitr, and Christmas are also celebrated.
Bangalore is home to the Kannada film industry, which churns out about 80 Kannada movies each year. Bangalore also has a very active and vibrant theatre culture with popular theatres being Ravindra Kalakshetra and the more recently opened Ranga Shankara. The city has a vibrant English and foreign language theatre scene with places like Ranga Shankara and Chowdiah Memorial Hall leading the way in hosting performances leading to the establishment of the Amateur film industry. The diversity of cuisine is reflective of the social and economic diversity of Bangalore. Bangalore has a wide and varied mix of restaurant types and cuisines and Bangaloreans deem eating out as an intrinsic part of their culture. Roadside vendors, tea stalls, and 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.
In May 2012, Lonely Planet ranked Bangalore 3rd among the world's top 10 cities to visit.
Bangalore is also a major center of Indian classical music and dance. Classical music and dance recitals are widely held throughout the year and particularly during the Ramanavami and Ganesha Chaturthi festivals.
Bangalore is sometimes called as the "Pub Capital of India" and the "Rock/Metal capital of India" because of its underground music scene and it is one of the premier places to hold international rock concerts.
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—Katharine Fullerton Gerould (1879–1944)
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“With respect to a true culture and manhood, we are essentially provincial still, not metropolitan,—mere Jonathans. We are provincial, because we do not find at home our standards; because we do not worship truth, but the reflection of truth; because we are warped and narrowed by an exclusive devotion to trade and commerce and manufacturers and agriculture and the like, which are but means, and not the end.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)