Though English singing sensation Cliff Richards was born in Lucknow, the city is not famous for western compositions, but for highly refined versions of Indian performing arts. A classical music form like thumri and dance like Kathak were pioneered by the Muslim Nawabs upcountry. They built the city in 1775 as the capital of Awadh, their independent sovereignty. And that was established at a crucial time — when the command of the mighty Mughal Empire in nearby Delhi was waning, while British East India Company was transforming their interest from trade to territory.
The Nawabs flaunted a great passion for art, music and literature, which attracted the best of North India’s talent to Lucknow and that over time permeated through the growing city, giving it a distinctive culture that was both artistic and edifying. Lucknow became another name for courteous urbanity and conjured up an image of a society where adabs and tehzeebs were a way of life.
Today, like any other Indian metropolis, it is an avant-garde settlement of 3 million, but during my recent visit, it didn’t take me much time to sense the breathing of the golden legacies of the past era, despite modernity cloaking the city.
I was able to note an impeccable blend of the ancient with the contemporary, finding quaint markets gracefully coexisting with glitzy shopping malls, tall apartments rising next to stunning ancient monuments, newer cars on the road giving way to horse driven carts and old-fashioned eateries constantly throwing challenge to the kitchens of five star hotels.
The touches of this past lifestyle blazed strikingly, the moment I stepped into the atmospheric Chowk area, where during the Nawabi heyday, traders, artisans, weavers, engravers, painters, singers and nautch girls grew and flourished. A “must visit” destination for all tourists, the quarter is overburdened with liveliness and buoyancy. Winding through its narrow galis, flanked on both sides with dusty two storied houses, business establishments and countless shops, some dating back over 200 years, selling a range of merchandise from old fashioned furnishings, antique utensils, hand laced carpets, aromatic spices, to saris, ghagra’s and kurtas exquisitely embroidered with chikankari, artwork that adorned Nawabi apparel and exotic “atars” gifted to their begums, was an exhilarating experience of savouring antiquity. The classic example of ‘pahele aap’, the legendary etiquette of the city, came up several times from passing pedestrians, when going through some very narrow alleyways, where it’s difficult for two people to cross at the same time.
The experience of meandering through time continued when I visited the magnificent Qaser Bagh Palace, where the dynasty’s last Nawab, Wajed Ali Shah, a prolific poet, singer and dancer, lived till deposed by the British, when Awadh was annexed to the Company’s Empire in 1856. The silent beauty shrouding the ruined Indo- Persian styled edifice promptly shifted my mind to another time zone. Looking at the ornate balconies, I could envision that to be the place where the Nawab leisurely sat and composed verses, such as the famous ‘Babul Mora Naiha Chooto Jaay’ while the city’s magical silhouette slowly sunk into sunset. Wandering around, I thought I heard the rhythms of a tabla matched with the tunes of sarengi, and imagined that coming from a mehefill inside, the Nawab dancing and singing with his luscious courtesans, in a large hall adorned with gold framed mirrors, portraits of ancestors and opulent chandeliers hanging from the festooned ceiling. Walking through the surrounding grounds, once treaded on by the emperor and his friends, I didn’t see anyone flying kites or watching rooster fights, but I was told that two of the Nawab’s most favourite pastimes still evoke passionate involvement among the locals.
The opulent vestiges of the Qaser Bagh Palace bore testament to the extravagant lifestyle of the Lucknow Nawabs, for which they were notorious. The other building I saw that was equally appealing in style and sumptuousness was the Chatter Manzil, the name being derived from its chatter (umbrella) shaped gild dome crowing the structure.
The highlight of any visit to Lucknow is surely cherishing its architectural transcendence and, like me, if you arrive by train, the first taste will come the moment you step down at the Charbagh Railway station — a 1914 built imposing edifice, structured with domes and minarets and looks like a grand palace from outside. It aptly measures up in quality with the city’s other monuments, mostly built by the Nawabs that dominate the expansive physical environment spreading out on both sides of the River Gomti.
For me, the two Imambaras — Bara and Chota, came out as the most distinctive. They are religious monuments, meaning houses of the imams, as per the Shiaite school of Islam to which the Nawabs belonged.
Located in the city’s bustling old quarter, you enter the precinct through the Rumi Darwaza, a soaring gate 60 feet high that has stood imposingly for over two centuries as a silent witness to history. The stunning feature of Bara Imambara which is a maze of a large courtyard, two imposing gates and a mosque, is the 50m long and 15m high central hall, one of the largest vaulted galleries in the world, totally unsupported by pillars. An external stairway guides you to an upper floor laid out as an amazing labyrinth, known as the Bhulbhulaiya, where you are sure to lose your way in the criss-crosses of latticed corridors and stairways, unless someone is with you as a guide. The nearby Chota Imambara, a gem like structure is surrounded by a delicate golden dome and has external walls engraved with superb calligraphy. The interior is adorned with gilt-edged mirrors, ornate chandeliers, silver pulpits and colourful stucco decorations. Next to it is a clock tower, the tall brick structure of which turns into a memorable sight when brightly illuminated at night.
It is said that the Nawabs had equal fascination for poetry and food, so cuisine became and still remains a central feature of the city, serving signature dishes such as tunde kabab, kakori kabab, dum phukt mutton biriyani, nehari and halim, the recipes for which emerged from the regal kitchens. They certainly pledge to delight one’s heart through the stomach, and this worked for me when I tried some of the specialities at the plush Oudhyana Restaurant at the Taj Residency Hotel.
Elusive and enchanting, Lucknow, oozing with history and teeming with life, has all the ingredients to lure any traveller — excellent air, rail and road connections, accommodation to suit every budget, great shopping opportunities, mouth watering cuisine, courteous people and above all a landscape bejewelled with some of India’s most breathtaking monuments. I fell in love with the city instantly and I am sure you will as well.
Factfile
Getting there: Lucknow is 80 km from Kanpur, 210 km from Allahabad, 305 km from Varanasi and 363 km from Agra. The Delhi-Lucknow Shatabdi Express links Lucknow to other major cities in India. Lucknow’s Amausi airport has flights to all the major cities in India. Hire an auto rickshaw or cycle rickshaw. Even horse -drawn carts are available. Please try to fix the rate before starting the journey. The main centres of activities in the city today are Gomtinagar, Hajratganj, Janpath, Aminabad, Chowk, Nakhas, Sadar and Nishatgang. Log on to www.up-tourism.com for more information.
— sandiphor@hotmail.com
source: http://www.newindianexpress.com / The New Indian Express / Home> LifeStyle> Travel / by Sandip Hor / June 22nd, 2010
