The City of Nawabs, Kababs, Culture & Chikan:Lucknow

I was waiting to write about my Lucknow trip yesterday but didn’t get enough time plus my mind was blocked to think & write some sense. Lucknow famous for the Mutiny, which awaked the Independence dream through out the country started here, Popularly called as the 1857-First war of Indian Independence. History has always been a fascinating subject for me through out,that was also the reason why I got higher grades in History in College. While the mutiny started in Lucknow & spread through out Northern Indian, South Indian & other parts of India where numb to any such revolution. This was purely because of lack of co-ordination & differences between other Indian Kingdoms.
Lucknow’s Airport-Amausi is 20kms away from the City of Lucknow, As soon as you land you can see a huge hoarding that the airport is certified with ISO-9001: 2000. Lucknow has one of the most better roads after Goa, they are huge & without any potholes. On the way to the hotel I could see Malls, Multiplex & hotels, I was sure this place is not so obsolete as mentioned.
The hotel I stayed, Comfort Inn was good & the service quite commendable. The rooms are quite beautiful & they have some Local cuisine on their menu. Try the Lucknowi Biryani here. This Hotel doesn’t have a Bar so can’t order for Drinks

Places I visited:
Bara Imambara: Located in the heart of the city is a splendid & artistic Monument called Imambara, We had to hire a guide to see this place. It was built by Asaf-ud-Daulah in to keep his subject employed during the famine, which hit his kingdom. This place was built for 11 long years. Our guide mentioned that Asaf was so rich that he built this place during the day with skilled workers & broke down the same building to employ unskilled laborers in the night.I really wonder how rich he might have been to do this. Another fascinating fact about this Structure is Sugarcane juice, Spices, Jaggery is used as Mortar to build it.It also has a Huge terrace which hangs on with out any Pillars to support it.It’s an amazing piece of architecture.The complex also includes the large Asfi mosque, the bhulbhulayah (the labyrinth), and bowli, a summer palace with running water.
The main imambara consists of a large vaulted central chamber containing the tomb of Asaf-ud-Daula. At 50 by 16 meters and over 15 meters tall, it has no beams supporting the ceiling, and is one of the largest such arched constructions in the world.

There are eight surrounding chambers built to different roof heights, permitting the space above these to be reconstructed as a three-dimensional labyrinth with passages interconnecting with each other through 489 identical doorways. This part of the building, known as is a popular attraction, and often the whole complex may be referred to as the bhulbhulayah. It is possibly the only existing maze in India and came about unintenionally to support the weight of the building, constructed on marshy land.

There is also a blocked passageway which, according to legends, leads through a mile-long underground passage to a location near the Gomti river. Other passages rumoured to lead to Faizabad(the former seat of power of the Nawabs), Allahabad and even to Delhi exist but have been sealed after a period of long disuse as well as fears over the disappearance of people who had purportedly gone missing, while exploring.

Shop Hop:
Lucknow famous for its Chikan Works (Kind of Designer Embriodary), you can find everything with Chikan work here. Kurthas,Sarees, Salwars & even the Kerchiefs with Chikan work on them.
Best places to buy them is to go to markets located in Aminabad. You can see shops filled with Chikan dress & bangles. The place is jam packed with people, so if you really like to Shop between crowd you can go ahead. Another Must do is to have the Lucknowi Kulfi- It’s a kind of Ice cream served with some soft Vermicelli.

The Gunjing:Hazrat Gunj & Sahara Gunj
These places are the Globalized effect on Lucknow. Hazrat Gunj hold all the branded shops, Hotels, Cinema Halls, Café etc.
Sahara Gunj is a bright lite-up Shopping mall, you can try the famous Tandey Kababs here. Lucknow is a pardise for Non-Vegi’s, a must do in Lucknow is to try as much as Non-veg Dishes…..they are really Mouth-watering. I cant write much about the Night life as I really didn’t have energy to do that.
Lucknow is a place of power play, you see a lot of Government official cars with red & blue lights over them. Political party hoarding are also a common sight on the road. Lucknow is a beautiful city with good infrastructure & also the people are friendly and speak very proudly about their nazakaat & taizeeb