Bangalore has been many things in its 500-year history, but its most recent incarnation as a trendy town on the move makes India's fifth-largest city the ideal locale for a subcontinental pub crawl. Once a small protectorate of the Mysore Raj, Bangalore is now the fastest-growing metropolis in India. The meteoric rise of the city's I.T. industry earned it the moniker the Silicon Valley of Asia. Lifetime residents, however, know it as the Garden City, where lush forests and endless blossoms of golden and pink acacias dot with shimmering color even the grimiest roads.
