Wandering but not lost: Nawabi Lucknow!!!

Nawabi Lucknow - 24-26th March 2018

Since a few months Lucknow was lurking around on my bucket list and I kept exploring its credibility. I had been to Lucknow as a child, a couple of times and was hosted by the Governor as he was family and escorted around by the ADC.

As children, we dont tend to see the prodigy of the glorious major things and disregard it until we grow up and begin to value the dexterity of even the minor things in life. I am one of those fortunate ones who can re-live my childhood with replacing the mindlessness to mindfulness and imbibe the paralipsis of the facades.

Some good frds in Lucknow suggested an hotel that I would like and planned the evenings together.

I chose a long weekend and an early flight, so there I was for almost 3 full days.

Day -1

I reached my hotel early in the morning - Lebua, Lucknow. My check inn was only at 2pm but they were kind enough to hand over the room to me at 9:30 am. As I reached the hotel, I was warmly welcomed and was awestruck by the well maintained heritage luxury property. The White structure was brightened with the blue and beige flooring, bright chandeliers, colourful cut glass walls and windows, and not to forget the bright bloomed flowered gardens and the quintessential antique curios. Initially when I landed I wasn't sure how I'd kill time before the touristy things opened for the day but time flew as I drowned in the antiquities of the hotel.

After a sumptuos breakfast at the hotel and reminding myself that there is more to Lucknow than Lebua, I got in my car and was off to start ticking off the list of places to visit. My fascination with Museums took me to the museum, which was a walk into the zoo and rather lame, however the only thing interesting there is the way they have displayed the Egyptian Mummy. From there I went to the Residency, Chattar Manzil and the Picture gallery. By noon I was quite disappointed and roasted in the heat so decided to visit the La Martiniere school before giving up for the day. The School was worth summing it all up. Its a beauty of another level, the campus is wide spread and the main building is a visually and an architecturally a grand treat. Its spectacular eclectic entrance has a sense of medieval royal feel. The high ceilings, the intricate frescos and carvings on them and the walls, the rich wooden doors with embellished knobs, the detailed carved metal floor grids, the animal skins on the walls, the frames, and so on and on, I can go on. I climbed up the narrow winding concrete steps leading to the boys dorm, without disturbing them I peeped through the metal grilled doors and the ceilings there too were enchanting with similar intricate patterns and they all had cots with blue velvet spreads with the school emblem which reminded me of Hogwarts.

The library there is not to miss in the lower floor. Their main hall is probably in true terms their Hall of Fame with exquisite intricate pattern centered with a chandelier on the light green ceiling and the outer hall with blue ceiling which is equally detailed.

As you walk out you see the lions statues on the roof top and the scene reminded me of Rome.They have some very nice vintage cars parked in the compound next to the horse stables with a few finely bred horses. It indeed wud be a matter of pride to be a part of a school such as this and I wudnt mind going back to school here.

After being enthralled by that I head off to have lunch at Moti Mahal which has good reviews for veg food , where my frd also joined me. Food was alright and I decided to shop some famous Lucknowi Chikkan as the popular boutique Ada was right next door and had AC, so managed to buy for everyone back home until my frd dragged me out saving me from going bankrupt. One can shop in Hazratgunj and Ameenabad markets as well. The well known Universal Book Store was there and I did manage to get a book which I dint find in any other bookstore, considering the heat we decided to go back to the hotel and relax. The GM - Ms. Sunanina Sharma, insisted I try their Veg flavorsome kababs which indeed had an delightful aroma to it and were delicious too. so much for a vegetarian.

From the old Nawabi Lucknow by the day we were heading off to a swanky Cyber Heights in the evening - to a lounge, Scott and a Barrel. The crowd there was like any big metro but the goodness was the familiarity the crowd had. My local frds their hosted us and we had a great evening.

Day 2

We decided to take it easy and relax through the morning and left only in the scorching hours for sight seeing- starting with breakfast at the poppular Sharmaji ki Chai - which is famous for - Chai, bun maska and Samoso (Tea, bread and home made butter) and headed off to the old city and the landmark Bara Imambara but alas there was some event so couldn't go, however went around in the tanga (horse cart) to the grand Rumi Darwaza, Choto Imambara, Jamma Masjid and the Bowli - stepwell there. We got food from Dastarkhan for my meat loving frd and head back to the hotel and chilled, The hotel pool was serene. My frds had informed me about this event and Sunanina from the hotel was kind enough to organise an invite for us. The scorching afternoons turned to pleasant evenings. It was the finale' of the annual Wajid Ali Shah Festival, where they performed YAMUNA- Dariya prem ka - Directed by Muzzafar Ali, held at the Dilkhush Palace Gardens - where they had a traditional shehnai performance at the entrance and the actually performance was choreographed and executed marvelously, I think I was lucky...I wanted to see the Bada Imambara and the Rumi Darwaze by the night all lit up and it was a sight from where we requested our uber guy to let us takeaway some authentic Awadhi/Lucknawi food (Chicken Biryani and Kababs and Basket Chaat) for dinner n he was so humble to let us by saying " aap hamare mehmaan ho" (U r our guests). We had some chilled wine at their lit up rooftop bar Seraca with a lovely view of the dome right ahead of us and the stars above us. Would otherwise be perfect for an romantic evening or a party for 50. Later we moved to the portico closer to our rooms where the hotel staff had set a table with dinner that we had got. The hotel is designed in such a way that every room has an area outside where they have placed some rot iron garden furniture.

Day 3

It was our last day and a Monday, so work calls poured in and only allowed us to go to the Bara Immambara by 11am by when the sun was already blaring. However the magnificent structure distracted us. Once we got in we were quite captivated. It was built in 1784 by Nawab Asaf-ud -daula. The entrance of it itself makes you feel like you are walking into an palace with 2 humongous arches with exquisite work on different levels separated by a well kept garden. The main facade has high ceilings with elaborate patterns on the dome, running parapets and chandeliers, looking at which, strained our necks. We followed listening to our guide narrating the enchanting history of the Palace. We found the magic of this palace was in the corridors we could hear even the whispers clearly from one end to another - deewaron ke bhi kaan hoten hai... The guide asked us to stand at one end of the parapet balcony of the the Bara Imambara and lit a match stick which we heard clearly - the magic.. From there we went to the Bhoolbhulaiya - the magical maze - without a guide one is sure to get lost in the twisted different levels of the palace where again the whispers are audible from anywhere to anywhere. This lead to the vast airy terrace.

Next is the Bowli (Well) which is just outside the main building of the Bada Imambara and is lovely, its similar to the wells in Gujrat. Again the well is of 4 floors and its pretty complicated to reach to the floors above and below.

There is science to it. from the top floor with the right placement of the windows one could see the person standing at the entrance and when an enemy, back in the day stood at the entrance the soldiers shot arrows from here straight targeting the enemy. It was said that the key to a the shahi khazana (Royal treasure) was thrown into this well, which probably flowed into the Gomti river. After all this history and walking around in the sun we were so done.

We ordered some lunch and relaxed at the hotel until it was time for us to leave for the airport. Our checkout would have been around 1pm but Sunanina was kind enough to offer us to stay back until 5ish.

Its true when they talk about the Lucknawi way of life - the adab and the tehzeeb along with the warmth they have is altogether different. In short Lucknow was a great experience and if one has additional 2 days they must try visiting the Dudhwa National Park.

http://www.lebua.com/lebua-lucknow Lebua Lucknow