Bangalore's tech industry began with Texas Instruments in 1985 and exploded when liberalization opened India to investment. The software services that companies like Infosys and Wipro provide, the R&D centers that global tech firms established, the startups that Bangalore's ecosystem enables - the industry employs millions and shapes everything the city does.

The tech industry created the Bangalore that exists - the real estate prices that exclude many, the traffic that nothing solves, the cosmopolitanism that talent from across India brings. The tech industry is why Bangalore matters; what Bangalore was before tech matters less each year.

Bangalore's climate is what made it desirable - the altitude of 900 meters creating temperatures that the rest of South India cannot match. The 'air-conditioned city' that British officers retired to, the 'garden city' that parks and lakes decorated - the climate was Bangalore's original asset.

The climate still provides relief from the heat that plains cities suffer, but the garden city has largely vanished under development. The lakes that colonials built have become sewers; the parks that remained are islands in concrete. The climate persists; the gardens that earned the nickname do not.

Bangalore is India's most cosmopolitan city, the place where engineers from across the country come for jobs that their home states don't offer. The mix of languages that Bangalore contains - Kannada the official but Hindi and Tamil and Telugu equally present - creates the diversity that tech attracts.

The cosmopolitanism creates Bangalore's culture - the microbreweries that liberalism permits, the restaurants that every cuisine fills, the English that serves as lingua franca. The cosmopolitanism is also controversy - the Kannada speakers who feel marginalized in their own capital, the politics that language creates.

Bangalore's traffic is legendary even by Indian standards, the gridlock that begins before dawn and continues past midnight, the commutes that consume hours that other activities deserve. The roads that weren't built for the vehicles that fill them, the metro that's expanding but cannot cover the sprawl - traffic is Bangalore's defining daily experience.

The traffic is what success costs - the jobs that drew people, the people who brought cars, the cars that fill roads that additions cannot relieve. The traffic shapes how Bangalore lives - the locations that workers choose, the hours that businesses keep, the rage that every driver knows.

Bangalore's culture mixes Karnataka tradition with immigrant innovation - the classical music that traditions maintain, the rock bands that pubs host, the theater that languages enable. The culture that reflects who lives here - young, educated, from everywhere - creates the scene that Mumbai and Delhi recognize as competition.

The culture is what makes Bangalore more than tech office - the nightlife that policies permit, the arts that wealth enables, the lifestyle that young professionals seek. The culture is why talent comes and why talent stays.