Lucknow: A city that seamlessly carries its romantic and historic past in its modern stride
There is such romance at the mere mention of Lucknow. The city still reverberates with poetry and exquisite manners, the air thick with the aroma of delicious food, as the modern city seamlessly carries its magnificent past.
The Tata Sumo wound its way to Qaiserbagh from the modern confines of the Chaudhury Charan Singh Airport at Amausi. A doubt stirred within. Here was a global state-of-the-art airport in chrome and glass. Would I be able to find Umrao Jaan's Lucknow in this facade of progress? However, as we passed the beautifully constructed Parivartan Chowk, my fears were allayed by this modem edifice which married modernity with the magnificence of the nawabs.
The gorgeous Qaiserbagh
As we entered Qaiserbagh, under a beautiful arched gateway, I turned and saw the carving of a fish atop the gate. The horizon was framed by the graceful dome of the Maqbara of Saadat Ali Khan built by his son Nawab Ghazi-ud-din Haider.
Vast stretches of green greeted me as I climbed the few stairs and was swept away by the sheer majesty of the mausoleum with its beautiful stucco arches and chequered black and white marble floor. Almost adjoining were the precincts of the famous Bhatkhande School of Music started in 1926 by Vishnu Narayan Bhatkhande with the help of music patrons like Raj Rajeshwar and Rai Umanath Bali. Narayan Bhatkhande is familiar to any Hindustani classical music aficionado since he was the first musician to categorise Hindustani classical ragas under thaats and was also the one who introduced notation to the largely oral tradition of music.
Amidst the beautiful garden enclosed campus, the music and dance that Lucknow was famous for, still flourishes. Qaiserbagh is, in fact, the microcosm of the romance and revolution that shaped Lucknow. Every corner of Qaiserbagh seems to echo history; with every pause one hears the twinkling anklets of seductive thumris, alternated by the rising cries of that first war of Independence against the British. The palace complex was built by the last Nawab Wajid Ali Shah, who incorporated the elements of the Persian concept of the paradise garden or Pairidaeza. Alas, soon after the first war of Independence in 1857, the British ordered the demolition of Qaiserbagh. The complex was the stronghold of the nawabs under the leadership of Begum Hazrat Mahal, who had taken control of the reins of the kingdom after her husband Nawab Wajid All Shah was exiled to Metiabruz in 1856. Qaiserbagh was slowly demolished and had wide streets passing through its main courtyards.
A tutorial in tehzeeb from a Nawab
But back to the present; Kotwara House was my residence for this trip. As we turned into the yellow facade I saw a Phaeton parked in the driveway! Inside the haveli--arched ceiling, stained glass windows and myriad antique artifacts--was the very world I was looking to find. My room was special with a little staircase going up to a small sitting area; everything in it belonged to an era gone by. And right above the bed hung a framed outfit, over 100 years old, that spoke both of the finesse of embroidery and of the style of living. In the drawing room awaited a surprise--a tutorial in tehzeeb by a Nawab who looked straight from Umrao Jaan. His card introduced him as Nawab Jafar Mir Abdullah, adorned with his coat of arms and the same fish that decorated the Machli Darwaza. His explanation in immaculate Urdu was that the fish was the emblem of the mahi maratib or the Order of the Fish, founded by Khusro Pervez, King of Persia (A.D. 591-628), and passed on to the Moghul Emperors of Delhi and to the Court of Awadh. I was no longer listening to the explanation, but rather revelling in the beautiful language as it flowed lyrically. The Nawab reached out for a paan and opened the ornate dome-shaped khaas daan, delicately taking a paan from a single brass chongli. In the space of one afternoon I had been ushered into the quaint Lakhnawi world of Urdu zubaan and tehzeeb by no less than a Nawab!
From Rumi at the Chapel to chaat at Hazratganj
The next morning, vintage cars arrived to take us to the Chapel in La Martiniere to hear Sufi poetry readings from Rumi. Austins and Packards lined the street and people cheered us on as we drove off in them. It was from the window of a vintage car that I got a glimpse of modern day Lucknow.
The imposing state-of-the-art Convention Centre, the magnificence of the Manyavar Shri Kanshiram Smarak Sthal, with its huge dome, bronze statues, a 52-feet-high bronze fountain, the Samta Mulak Chowk.
All this in addition to the Ambedkar Samajik Parivartan Sthal spread over 6.5 acres of land, a new landmark frequented by the locals for its wide open spaces and impressive architecture.
Finally, we turned into the free-lined lane leading to La Martiniere and the sheer magnificence of Claude Martin's Constantia took my breath away. Built in the 1790s, it stands gracefully on a landscaped terrace, and from its centre rises a solid fluted column with a Moorish cupola, known as the laat i.e. the Lighthouse. Lions guard the turrets and mythological statues adorn the buildings. The building itself is at once a mansion and a mausoleum besides being a school. The uplifting Sufi poetry that we heard later in the chapel reminded me of the all-embracing Ganga-Jamuni tehzeeb of Lucknow.
The evening saw me meandering through the shopping complex that is Hazratganj today. Branded shops housed in old buildings make for the cosmopolitan convenient Lucknow of today, but no burgers or pizzas can ever compare with the delicious chaats of Lucknow. Shuklaji's paanipuri with its tangy sonth ka paani and chickpea mash or Royal Caf's one-of-a-kind katori chaat are legendary.
The Bara Imambara or the Asafi Imambara has defined Lucknow's landscape since 1784.
It was built to provide employment at the time of drought, but looking at the sheer opulence of the sanctum of the Imambara it is ironic to think that a drought was what resulted in such magnificence. The vaulted central chamber containing the tomb of Asaf-ud-Daula is an architectural marvel with the arch spanning the huge 170-feet length of the hall without the support of any beams or girders!
The splendour of chikan and the aroma of kebabs
I decided to see the Rumi Darwaza atop a tonga, and revel in nostalgia. The Rumi Darwaza with its 60-feet-high arched gateway was built by Nawab Asaf-ud Daula and was the gateway to the city.
The horse broke into a quick trot and there in the distance rose the Husainabad Clock Tower, the tallest ghantaghar in India. Constructed in 1881 by Nawab Nasir-ud Din Haider to herald the arrival of Sir George Couper, 1st Lieutenant Governor of the United Province of Awadh, it is ironic that this monument of welcome would clock the last hours of the Nawabs of Awadh. Finally it was time to shop at the Chowk. The reflection of light on a million glass bangles stopped me in my tracks. I managed to skirt the jewellery stores and headed to the chikan embroidery area.
Chikankari and Lucknow have been synonymous with history claiming that Empress Noor Jahan herself had introduced chikankari. A gold-on-gold anarkali caught my eye and a splurge session commenced! As I was putting away all the bags in the car, the aroma of kebabs wafted in and my nose followed it to the Tunday Kebabi shop. Delicate melt-in-the-mouth kebabs with roomali rotis returned some of my strength. As I headed out, Raja ki Thandai beckoned and the sweet thandai rejuvenated me.
The next day, I rose early and was off to the Lucknow Zoo where the toy train ride with an ice lolly in hand, made me feel like I was seven.
At last the much awaited evening arrived. Tonight the Residency would see the performance of Indra Sabha directed by the masterful Muzaffar Ali. The play was first performed in front of Wajid Ali Shah in 1855 in Qaiserbagh and today I was to see it in the 21st century against the backdrop of the Residency. Colonial to the T, extensively green, the Residency was beautiful yet bizarre with its cannon-dredged walls from the first war of Independence. At twilight the fairy lights came on and the stark ruins of the Residency were converted into the ethereal Indra's Sabha where beautiful paris danced to please the god. It was Lucknow's past and present coming together seamlessly.
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