This is the blog of Mark Wordsworm, the travelling worm. I’m a 25-year-old bookmark and can proudly boast my own Hallmark serial number, 95 HBM 80-1. You’ll probably want to read all about me and my Travelling Companion (the TC).
Today’s travel notes
Me and the TC are in Bangalore, India, for a few days. It’s an amazing place. Energetic, frenetic, hectic.
My impressions? Bangalore traffic is a metaphor waiting to happen.
In fact, traffic was used as a metaphor in two of the conference sessions that the TC attended this week.
The book I’m in
Railsea, by China Miéville. Moby-Dick meets steam punk, as told by a master of language. This worm has seldom been as impressed by a writer as I am by China Miéville.
Recommended accommodation
ITC Gardenia, 1 Residency Rd, Bengaluru, Karnataka 560025. Actually, though that’s the official address, the entrance is on Vittal Mallya Road.
Recommended restaurant
K & K restaurant at the ITC Gardenia hotel, for excellence of Indian cuisine and friendly attentiveness of service.
Travel tip
Take a stroll through Cubbon Park, during daylight hours, for an oasis of peace and coolness.
The photos
Me at the railway station on the well known MG road:
Next is a rare glimpse of the TC, snapped as she was watching a Bangalore rickshaw. These little three-wheeled vehicles are also called auto rickshaws, to distinguish them from the hand-drawn rickshaws. When this worm was in Bangkok a while ago, we travelled in a similar vehicle, called a tuk tuk. On the TC’s left, behind the green and yellow rickshaw, is the Vidhana Soudha, which is the seat of the state legislature of Karnataka, the state in which Bangalore is located:
Communication is an art in Bangalore traffic. Know where you’re going, make it clear to those around you, and toot to let people know you’re there. If you’re on foot, just pretend to be a vehicle:
For a puddle of peace in the swirl of traffic, take a stroll under the trees of Cubbon park:
That’s all for today, folks.




Talk to the Travelling Worm!