Bangalore by night

Cool roadside posters

Blake in a kurtha top

Outside Aunty Baby's house. The house is named "Shekinah" a hebrew word that means the manifest presence of God.

Mall Culture

There are now over 300 million Indians who can be classified as middle class - comparable to the entire population of the US. That means a lot more disposable income for a lot more people. Retailers and marketers can't get enough.

Shona's Ballet School Performance

My cousin, an attorney and ballerina and started Bangalore's first ballet school 6 years ago. We got to see a performance - that's Shona in the middle.

With Mummy!

At an ayurvedic spa

A day of yoga, pranayama (breathing), oil massages, meditation...and chess. Blake won. But otherwise a perfect day.

That's nice, take your time, not like we mind the view or anything

In Mysore at the Metropole Hotel

Mummy, Blake and me on a silver swing.

Uncle Ron by day and night

He is a well known attorney in Bangalore. There is a lot of paper in his office.

Hanging out with us at midnight. We are bar hopping, and just stopped briefly at 20 Rest House Crescent so Sam could pick up his car.

Favorite spots

Where we used to buy sausages on Sundays. One of the original meat shops in Bangalore.



Making a phone call - these low cost phone booths revolutionized telecommunications in India over a decade ago. They can be found even in the most rural corners of the country.



At our favorite cafe - Barista - on St. Mark's Road.

At Hint, a rooftop bar

With my friend Dominic - we were in nursery school through 3rd grade together. He works at Hewlett Packard during the week and runs his family's coffee plantation 3 hours outside of town on weekends.

In an auto

The cheapest way to get around the city. For less than a dollar you can inhale lots of exhaust fumes, weave in and out of traffic precariously close to death, but see the city first hand. By the 3rd or 4th time Blake was pushing back on the crafty rickshaw drivers trying to gouge us...and winning.

The Oberoi Hotel

An oasis for business moguls and wealthy families in the heart of the city on Mahatma Gandhi Road. $350 (US) would get you the broom closet. A joke in Silicon Valley for the past few years has been that office space is cheaper in San Jose than in Bangalore.

The high tech sprawl

We actually heard Google was the fastest growing employer in Bangalore, paying outrageous salaries and competing aggressively with Yahoo.

Sights along our Brigade Road walk

Army recruitment posters. Interesting to see in today's context. My grandfather spent his career in the Army, retiring as a Colonel and my dad was in the Airforce.

Our first stroll

On Brigade Road, one of the main commercial centers in downtown Bangalore. The shop is connected to Nilgiri's, an old and reputable bakery/food store. We're drawn to it by the smell of fresh tangerines and oranges. The road safety sign says "Speed is vicious. Life is precious."

Arriving in Bangalore

Outside Aunt Rhoda's house. We've just arrived. Uncle Ron and Aunt Premela picked us up from the airport. We are surprisingly awake for 36 hours of travel. It is Tuesday morning 8 AM Indian Standard Time at the time of these pictures. Within 25 yards of this spot are the Muslim Prince Aga Khan's headquarters, some goats waiting to be sacrificed at a mosque, a xerox copy center, a lawyer's office and a fruit stand.