For an occasional visitor to a city, its growth can perhaps be judged by its real estate spurt, its traffic and its cultural evolution. All boxes can be ticked when it comes to Bangalore or Bengaluru. (Hopefully nobody will take offence and throw stones if the city is referred to by its more popular name.)

After Mumbai, where the theatre scene is the busiest and most varied, and a lot of new plays are written by young playwrights in English, the closest runner-up is Bangalore. And, the catalysts for this spurt are the two wonderful theatres - Ranga Shankara and Jagriti.