Saving snaps of MG road Boulevard

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Personalities from Bangalore

I have edited the below list from what is already available on the web. Most of the people are just associated with the city and not necessarily completely from here.And yes,there are many missing as they may not be known in other parts of the country.I hope to keep adding worthwhile names to this list:)

Models/Media (i cant possible name every model out here:)
-Lara Dutta
-Prasad Bidapa

Business
-Vijay Mallya - the flamboyant entrepreneur.Has various ventures like Kingfisher Beer, Kingfisher
Airlines

Entertainment/Movies
-Girish Karnad
-Guru Dutt - Hindi movie actor born and brought up in Karnataka. Graduated from Bangalore Central College
-Rajnikant - Worked in Bangalore before becoming a Tamil movie superstar
-Dr. Rajkumar - I am sure you must have now seen his poster stuck on every glass building in blore!

Government
-Deve Gowda(First PM of India from Karnataka,not a blorean in a true sense though)
-H.T. Sangliana - best known as Super Cop!

Mathematics
-Shakuntala Devi

Science
-C. V. Raman - In 1930, for the first time in its history, an Indian scholar, educated entirely in India has received the highest honor in science, the Nobel Prize in Physics.

Medical

-Dr. Devi Shetty - founder & MD of Narayana Hrudayalaya. Dr. Devi Shetty has started this noble venture just to provide medical service at low cost, preferably for free. In a nutshell, he is a man with a good heart.

Sports
-Prakash Padukone
-Anil Kumble
-Rahul Dravid
-Roger Binny
-Syed Kirmani
-Venkatesh Prasad
-Ashwini Nachappa - Athlete
-Mahesh Bhupathi - Tennis pro
-Nisha Millet - Swimmer
-Pankaj Advani - won World Snooker Championship on Oct 25, 2003 at a young age of 19.

Technology
-Arun Netravali - was President, Bell Laboratories
-Azim H Premji - Chairman, Wipro Corporation
-Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw - CMD Biocon. Popularly known as the "Bio Queen" of India.
-Nandan M. Nilekani - Co-founder & CEO, Infosys
-N.R. Narayana Murthy - Chairman & Chief Mentor Officer, Infosys Technologies Limited
-Sabeer Bhatia - born in Delhi, studied in Bangalore. Instrumental in introducing the first free web based email service Hotmail.
-Azim Premji
-Arun Sarin- he studied in Military school,Blore.

India's first Cyber cafe

With most people having internet at home,cybercafes may not be that much of a rage anymore.Just a decade ago,cyber cafe's were new and welcomed hundreds-thousands of people who just were getting the hang of the web.Initially,the cost of surfing was Rs. 75 to 80 per hour which came down to Rs.10,thanks to a number of cyber cafes mushrooming in every neighbourhood.

There are few other cafes which claim to be the India's first as they were opened around the same time.But the general assumption is that the Cafe Coffee day outlet on Brigade Road was India's first cyber cafe!It opened in 1996 as an internet cafe while also selling varieties of their now famous coffee.

That's not all, a few more cyber firsts in the country:

- the same Cafe Coffee day chain has brought in India's first wireless cyber cafe in Blore(around 2003).
- first cyber crime police station in 2001,Blore.Click here for their offcial website.

Sobriquets for Blore

Here are some of the multiple sobriquets/nicknames kept for Bangalore.They keep changing and the old one's no longer hold good!

1) Garden City : this one must be the most popular.Somebody once told me the nickname stuck during pre-independence era where most houses in the city had a garden.I dont know how far this is true but i am sure it hardly applies to the current era!And you thought,it was only because of Cubbon park and Lalbagh this is a Garden city,eh?

2)Pensioner's paradise: this one's a popular one of yesteryears where many people preferred to live in Blore after retirement.The pensioners though now have long and gone:)

3)Pub City: It must have been pretty prestigious(and shady too) to be called the "pub capital of India" back in 80's - 90's.Today,the shutter shuts at 11:30pm.Go to a friend's place instead!And yeah,beware of the cops on streets at late night waiting to fine drunkards.

4)Silicon Valley of India,IT City: I will pass this one.You know the story.

5)Fashion Capital of India :Dont know if this is a publicity stunt or if it's really true.

6) Stone city: This one I bet you didnt know.But yes,the city supposedly has huge granite deposits.It's a fact and I havent made it up.

7) Air-conditioned city: Either this is a joke or global warming is more than just a serious issue in the papers.I know 2007 hasnt been a bit cool from day one.Thanks to rapid industrialisation and huge increase in traffic,Bangalore just cannot claim this anymore.This nickname however belong to a long bygone era.The fireplaces of the big 19th century bungalows bear testimony to colder winters.It also explains why the British shifted their troops to the cool climate of Blore from Sriranpatana in 1809 and made it a cantonement.

8) Public sector city:This would be appropriate to an extent given so many prestigious public sector units set up back in 70-80's.To name a few : HAL,ISRO,HMT,DRDO,BHEL,BEML

9) Bio tech mecca :This definitely sounds like a superb marketing,branding effort to promote the city as a bio-tech capital.Ofcourse,we have "Bio-con" to prove this right to some extent.

10) Lead city : Not all nicknames need to be positive.Here's the darker side of the city.The air here is apparently loaded with lead that it has started telling quite early on its residents, particularly in the blood samples of youngsters. Read more..

That's it for now.Let me know if you can come up with more:)!

Rava Idlies- thanks to MTR!

MTR(Mavalli Tiffin Rooms) is ofcourse the most legendary and respected food brand from this city.Started in 1924,it still draws crowds in huge numbers who patiently wait in queue to eat their authentic and even more tastier dishes.I am sure you know all this already.
However, did you also know ... the Rava idli was invented by them? Here's the fact from them direct.