Family summer in Bangalore?

Question

My family and I are in Ireland and I work on the edge of Dublin. The company where I work has recently opened a satellite office in Bangalore, India, which I visited for a week in November. I had a very nice time - my Indian colleagues looked after me very well.

My manager in Ireland has offered me the possibility of an extended trip to Bangalore (a couple of months over the summer) and is happy to fly out my family (wife, daughter aged 7 and son who by then will be 5).

Pre-kids my wife and I were quite well travelled (e.g. driving our own Land Rover round southern Africe for a few months), but the kids have only been on a handful of sun holidays.

Part of me thinks that the family in Bangalore would be a wonderful opportunity; but part of me wonders would it be a kind of weekday-hell for my wife, locked away in some ex-pat complex with the kids dying of boredom.

Obviously I'm not going to say yea or nay based on Yahoo Answers but I'd greatly value any opinion on what

there is to do in the city (especially from anyone who's done anything remotely similar).

By the way, I don't need any career advice - there's absolutely no negative consequences if I go back to my manager and say "no thanks".

Thanks for your time!

Answer 1

Welcome to India. I bet u and your family will have loads of fun around here.

Summers in Bangalore have become warmer over the last decade thanks to the rise in pollution and the urban deforestation happening thanks to the IT boom and the need to have more civic infrastructure. Temperatures hover around the 35 degrees C mark in daytime and drop to around 20-22C in the night. The wind factor however, makes the evenings and nights very pleasant though.

I percieve that you might be tied up with work from say 8AM to 8PM, during which, the family needs to spend quality time. The best I can suggest is to become a volunteer for some local charity organisation who would love to have your family help them hands on. It would be a good opportunity for your wife to understand the nuances of human life better. And it will surely be a very fine learning experience for the kids.

And at home, there is always the TV and Internet to play with. Take a Direct-to-home TV subscription from Tata-Sky network (www.tatasky.com) and you get a lot of programming in English, including general entertainment, movies, news and even cartoons for the kids.

Most probably, you would be put up in the vicinity of an area called Whitefield, and thats a very nice neighbourhood.

Hope you have a great stay in India and would wish to extend your sojourn here.

Answer 2

Accept the offer with both hands .For any family spending two or three months in Bangalore can never be boring .The family can explore different localities like Vidhan Soudha,MG road, Alsoor,lalbag, Botanical gardens,IT park etc when ever they have free time and the week ends you can plan outings to Mysore,Coorg,Tirupathi etc.I think you will be short of time. One thing please bear in mind Banglore ,even though pleasent in winter is no more the city with out fans it used to be before 25 years.The day temperaature touches 38 deg C in peak summer and the traffic jam and pollution on the road can be a deterrant,but then it is the price any city will have to pay for unplanned and sudden developement.

Answer 3

I think a little time away from family gives you all time to miss and appreciate each other more, however maybe a month at a time would be more realistic of a time frame.

Answer 4

any experience in another country teaches appreciation for the one you are in?in reference to kids of course.