Bangalore is the largest city in the state of Karnataka and is a cosmopolitan city. Kannada, the state language of Karnataka, is widely spoken here. Many people are fluent in more than one language.In Bangalore there are people speaking languages such as Kannada 31%, Tamil 27%, Telugu 17%, Malayalam 15%, other languages 10%.English is widely understood, and spoken with variable fluency. The large number of central government and defence establishments with many employees from northern India, movies and television have made Hindi a widely understood language in the city.

A majority of Bangalore's population consists of expatriates from other parts of India as well as foreign nationals, a trend that existed even in colonial Bangalore. This is evident in the Tamil inscriptions on the memorial set up near Brigade Road by the then British rulers for the Indian soldiers who lost their lives in various wars.

Urban life

Bangalore is known as the "Garden City of India", and there are many public parks, including the Lal Bagh and Cubbon Park which attract a lot of people, tourists and locals alike, especially over the weekends.

The locals are generally referred to as Bangaloreans and the definition permeates class, religion and even language. Bangalore has significant proportions of groups that would otherwise be considered "minorities" in India, including Muslims, Christians and Anglo-Indians.

Religious festivals are celebrated with great enthusiasm. The festival of Deepavali transcends demographic and religious lines and is celebrated with great vigor. Dussera, a traditional celebratory hallmark of the old Kingdom of Mysore is another important festival.

Bangalore is home to the Kannada film industry which churns out about 80 movies each year. Kannada movies are very popular in the city. Movies from other parts of South India including Tamil movies and Telugu movies are popular, as are Bollywood and Hollywood movies.

The diversity of the 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, found at almost every nook and corner of the city, are very popular and serve predominantly vegetarian cuisine.

Cricket in Bangalore, just as in the rest of the nation, is the most popular sport. Significant numbers of India's national team have come from Bangalore, including Rahul Dravid, Venkatesh Prasad, Anil Kumble, Erapalli Prasanna and B.S. Chandrashekar. 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 was the venue for the India-Pakistan cricket quarter-final during World Cup 1996.

Bangalore has an active night culture and is home to over 200 clubs and bars. Popular nightspots in Bangalore include Athena, Taika, Pecos, The Club Inferno, Cosmo Village, Geoffrey's, Insomnia, iBar, Zero G, Urban Edge, Spinn, Club X, Styx (a pub for hard rock fans), Purple Haze, 13th Floor, Legends Of Rock, TGIF and Fashion Bar Apart from urban and night life Bangalore has a number of elite clubs, like the Bangalore Golf Club, Bowring Institute, Karnatka Golf Association, the Karnataka State Cricket Club (which boasts several of members of the Indian cricket team) and the Bangalore Club which is so exclusive it has a 25 year waiting list and counts among its previous members Winston Churchill and the Maharajah of Mysore. The Bangalore Club is much like a miniature city with supermarkets, recreational facilities, libraries and auditoriums, not to mention a number of bars.