India Backpacking 2017-18
Lucknow
9 Nov. Lucknow
I set the alarm early to get up for the 6:10 a.m. departure
of LJN Swran Shatabdi Train 12004 to Lucknow. But when the alarm sounded, I then
noticed a text message that the train had been delayed until 7 a.m., so reset
the alarm. I walked down the now quiet main street of Paharganj to the train
station, then climbed over the walkway to Track 9 and waited. Departure turned
out to be delayed by another 50 minutes, probably due to poor visibility from
the air pollution. I felt relieved to finally get onboard and underway and out
of New Delhi. The 1245-rupee ticket included a morning tea, light breakfast,
then a snack of dal and rice. The eastward journey of 511 kilometers should have
put me in at 12:40 p.m., but additional phone texts reported increasing delays
and the train didn’t pull into Lucknow until early evening.
Nothing
really stood out when I looked through listings for Lucknow hotels, but
yesterday morning I made a reservation for three nights at Mangalam Inn at 800
rupees/night. I tried walking there from the train station as it is only 1.5
kilometers away, but crowded streets, noise, and dust made that impractical, so
I hopped on an electric autorickshaw to the hotel on Station Road. All the rooms
that I was shown had maintenance problems, though staff tried to please. In the
end I got a room at the end of the hall two floors up, relatively far from the
traffic honking and the construction for a new metro. I managed to cross the
busy intersection to the vegetarian restaurant Chaupati for a malai kofta dinner
with tomato soup and pullao rice plus a couple sweets. Lucknow is very famous
for its Mughlai cuisine, but that’s mainly kebabs and other meat dishes, so not
of interest for me. But this being India, I have plenty of vegetarian choices.
The Nawabs of Avadh turned Lucknow into a cultural center beginning in the
late 1700s, but the good times ended when the British East India Company
intervened to overthrow the last nawab. That triggered the 1857 First War of
Independence or, as the British called it, the Indian Rebellion of 1857. Much of
the war’s drama took place at the Residency during the 147-day Siege of Lucknow
in which thousands died before relief arrived. Amazingly the ruins of the
Residency still stand as a historical monument, and it’s one of the reasons I’ve
come here. The other big attractions are the immense Shiite tombs Bara Imambara
and Chota Imambara along with associated structures.
11 Nov. Lucknow
The morning paper announced that the air pollution index here was nearly as bad
as in New Delhi! After a leisurely morning in my room, I headed out. With some
difficulty due to language—English is far less used once one heads across the
plains east of New Delhi—I managed to get an autorickshaw toward the Residency.
A traffic jam about half way made both forward progress and retreat impossible,
then walking became the only option. Lucknow can be a difficult city, and I
noticed that foreign tourists are a rare sight.
The Residency opened for
business in 1800, with other residences and halls added later. The strategic
high ground proved its worth in 1857 when the British held out during the long
siege. I entered through a gate on the south and paid the 200-rupee entry, then
strolled into the park-like grounds. Monumental buildings show extensive
pockmarks from cannon balls and bullets, and nearly all had lost their roofs. I
first explored the colonnaded Treasury House, built in 1851 and converted into
an ordinance factory during the fighting six years later. Across the street
stands the imposing Dr. Fayrer’s House, named for the resident surgeon during
the siege of 1857. The Banqueting Hall, grandest of all, once glittered with
chandeliers, mirrors, and luxurious furnishings during gatherings in honor of
the nawab. Surprisingly the delicate marble inlays of a fountain on the north
side survive intact. An old mosque to the west seems still in use, and ruins
beyond include what looks like a hamman (traditional bath). The entire compound
takes its name from the large three-story building used by the British Resident.
Today an Indian flag flies from a battered tower. The annex on the building’s
other end now houses a museum, but it was closed today (Friday). Lastly I
wandered among the tombstones that surround the ruins of the St. Mary Church,
built with a Gothic style in 1810. Only the lower walls survive. Graves
include that of the Residency commander, with the inscription “Here lies Henry Lawrence
who tried to do his duty. May the Lord have mercy on his Soul.”
The Banquetting
Hall (left) and Treasury (right) bear scars from the fierce fighting of 1857.
Memorial on the right commemorates devoted native officers and sepoys.
Dr. Fayrer’s House
Time-worn
columns of Dr. Fayrer’s House
The imposing
Banquetting Hall contained grand apartments and
elegant saloons furnished
with costly mirrors, chandeliers, and furniture.
A beautiful
fountain in the Banquetting Hall
The Residency Main
Building towered three stories and had two turrets with spiral stairs for roof
access.
Another
autorickshaw journey, again made difficult by language and traffic, took me east
on MG Road to Moti Mahal Restaurant, a vegetarian place recommended in the
Lonely Planet guidebook. The long menu offers North and South Indian cuisines
along with some Chinese and Italian items. I went with the North Indian deluxe
thali, which was very good, followed by butterscotch ice cream.
12 Nov.
Lucknow
Breakfast options are sparse in these parts—yesterday I had the
hotel’s omelet and this morning I went across the intersection for an alu
parantha (savory fried potato pancake). Air quality improved greatly due to a
breeze, and blue sky reappeared above. Traffic also got better, though riding in
an autorickshaw in this city seems to be going from one near miss to the next.
My driver was able to go northwest across town relatively unimpeded to the
famous tomb complex of Bara Imambara (Bara means big, Imambara is a shrine built
by Sufi Muslims). A wide and towering gate leads to the first courtyard, and
curiously there’s similar structure—without the gateways—on the other side of
the road that seems to serve no purpose other than symmetry. My 500-rupee
entrance ticket was a whopping ten times what Indians pay, but that’s the way
things are done at India’s archaeological sites; the ticket did cover two tombs
plus a separate Picture Gallery. At the end of the first verdant
courtyard I entered another huge gate to the upper courtyard with the large tomb
building ahead, built by a nawab of Oudh in 1784; there’s a half-hidden step well to the
left and Asfi Mosque on the right. The grave markers in the center of the tomb
building are just pieces of cloth on the floor and surrounded by a fence. Models
called ‘tazias’ depict Imam Hussain’s tomb in Karbala (Iraq) and are parked in large
niches and used in processions. The building has several other large chambers
that are now empty. A small side entrance labeled ‘Labyrinth’ climbs up
the Bhulbhulaiya, maze-like passageways on several levels atop the tomb
building. Indian tourists and school children had a great time exploring. Some
passages are dark and lead to little ‘pulpits’ high in the dome of a chamber. I
also walked out to rooftop platforms with good views of the tomb compound below,
the dazzling white 1680 Tila Wali Mosque to the north, the massive highly
decorated Rumi Darwaza gate to the northwest, and the 1880s clock tower beyond
that rises 67 meters. Next I walked over to Asfi Mosque, a cool and
quiet place that seems mainly used for prayers. The baori (step-well) on the
other side of the courtyard has a long flight of steps heading down to a barely
wet square pool; dark passageways lead to a multi-story structure that encloses
a now-dry circular pool.
School kids add
color to the second courtyard of Bara Imambara.
A sheltered tomb in
Bara Imambara
One of the grand hallways
One of the highly
decorated terraces
Tunnels and stairs
lead to the uppermost terrace.
The upper terrace
has great views.
A fine view of
neighboring Asfi Mosque
The huge second
courtyard; you can see the white Tila Wali
Mosque beyond.
Elegant balconies overlook a now-dry circular pool of the baori.
I walked northwest to Chota Imambara, stopping
on the way at Hussainabad Picture Gallery in an 1842 building once used as a
royal summer palace and now displaying large portraits of the rulers along with
smaller photos of princes and other notables. (No photos permitted inside,
though.) I would have liked to climb the nearby clock tower, but its door was
locked.
Chota Imambara dates from 1832 and has a single grand entry gate
to a single courtyard. After entering the courtyard garden I detoured left into
the marble-tiled Shahi Hammam (bath house) and its now-dry pools. Two white
tombs, very roughly modeled after the Taj Mahal, stand on each side of the
courtyard. The inside of the main tomb could easily be mistaken for a chandelier
museum because there must be dozens of them plus a pair of huge candelabra and
lots of colored glass orbs attached to the ceiling. Graves in the center, like
at Bara Imambara, are simply pieces of cloth on the floor enclosed by fencing.
Other royal details include tazias (tomb models), a silver-covered throne, and a
faded crown of red fabric.
One of the two
white tombs of Chota Imambara; the gateway is on the left.
Chandeliers galore
in the main tomb building of Chota Imambara
A long autorickshaw ride took me east to Moti
Mahal Restaurant, where I started with a tomato soup (Indians almost always do
these well.), then a main course of palak kofta (dumplings in a spicy spinach
sauce) and a decadent Kashmir pulao (fried rice with fruit, cashew nuts, and
green peas). Afterward I couldn’t resist a butterscotch ice cream dish. On the
way back to my hotel, the autorickshaw driver was confident of its location, but
took me to a different Mangalam Hotel instead of my Mangalam Inn Hotel.
On to Allahabad
Back to the beginning of India Backpacking
2017-18