Lucknow : Contemplations of a stroller

"I'm just writing a story that I want to read"
Here's about my hometown, not just praising or scorning it. People, places or objects are not perfect; but we still love them. Nothing else matters practically. Tried to gather minute details while strolling on the streets of Lucknow. This is an account of a tiresome but cherished outing for nearly 4 hrs. Won't take you the same to join me :-)

Source: my nookiaa mobile 2MP

It starts with me standing on a blue bridge over the Gomti River. NO. Not dreaming. Checked my totem. I use er.. sorry, pretty private.  Auto rickshaw and a city Bus. Why I was here? I'm on a 6 months official vacation. I don't have to find a reason to stroll :-) It was a spontaneous decision. And I loved every part of it. Me alone. I never miss the iPod thing though. Never.(Life mein background music hota hai #jugaad)
This part of the city is amazing. Wide clean roads, plenty of places to hang out, all the killer-hotrods vrooming, and of course the river. At a short distance was the Samajik Parivartan Sthal. The same 87 crore project that went upto 500crores.(source what State Information Commission released under RTI) Whatever be the fuss over it. This day all I could say was "this is beautiful ;-)". Junta seems to have accepted what the Maharani Mayawati built for them. Some parivartan actually.

The long roads parallel to the waters. Friends in groups, small and large, by the sandstone walls facing the river; and much obvious, couples maintaining atleast 100 metres of distance from the former :P Lively place to be. The syndrome of facing the sun over the view of water had seemingly caught many. Those faces; pensive, determined and ambitious. Thumbsup to those guys. I love to be that way. And if you're lucky enough wind blowing against your face. Awesome. Openings in the boundary railings that lead down to the river, caught my sight. Scanned the area, only to spot a boy and three girls smoking down there. Geez!! Goosebumps. None of my business, but that's bizarre! hiding and acting cool. Misconceptions of a lifetime. Get a life, ladies.

A complete contrast, the road opposite has been named Marine Drive. That place, to be precise has energetic vibes. Bike-freaks with some classy stunts. Luckily it was all alive then and there. Wheelies, stoppies, burn-outs and what-nots. Audience, like myself, were in numbers. Did I say I wasn't jealous? Well, I've not yet learned to ride a bike. Hahaha. Do what you can. Some youth spirit to add to Lucknow :-) I was having a great time, just when a guy on a Pulsar arrived from the other end of the road. Panicked as he was, the only words I heard was "MAAMU". Suddenly all the bikes kicked-off and sped away. I was confused. Why on earth are the audience dispersing? Out of question! I'm not running, I decided. After all I was on a stroll! Earphones back on. Three bikers who went the wrong way initially, rode back to where I was. Real geniuses, thought that guy's maamu was giving a treat over there. Hahaha. Now, hearts in their mouths. I could see a Police Jeep following at a distance. They stopped, locked their bikes and jumped across the pavement. Hilarious. Especially after the policemen stopped and dragged those bikes, abusing loud at the top of their voices. Never heard someone utter in hindi with such passion. Everyone had run away, me the only witness. So I decided to slip out of there.

Much of happenings here. I had to hire an auto rickshaw. One auntieji and her bitia to share it with me. Tension all around. Next stop - Hazratgang. Yes. This is one familiar place. Have been Ganjing ever since I was a kid. Any Lucknowite of my age will tell you the same story. Before I could carry on walking on these streets, I decided to grab an Ice-Tea. Just love it. Headed towards Sahara Ganj, McDonald's. Its about this city. You won't find likes of Ice-Tea anywhere else. True atleast for the parts of Lucknow I've known. And FYI Sahara Ganj is a mall. And damn right, I was in a mall just for Ice-Tea.

Sahara Ganj. This must have been a game-changer for thousands of families in Lucknow, ever since it was opened in December, 2005. EPIC. I remember, being a kid I used to go out with family to visit the likes of Budhha Park, Elephant Park and many others. Changing trends, now one can see families sitting in the  "Ganj-maaal" eating Ice-creams :P This is a new kinda outing. Crowded, no doubt!! Every time, this day too. In the afternoons, another cadre joins in - the school kiddos, in their clumsy uniforms and lazily hanging school-bags. Probably attending another of their extra-class. Damn I used to hate school-uniforms! The only place I could go with them on was SCHOOL. Another set of goosebumps, had any of them been here.


Not ready for the Metro tag. Well, I did my job and got back on track.  Just outside the mall, were nearly a dozen of cycle rickshaw-pullers, looking at me with hopeful eyes. Giving them an obvious reaction - I'm gonna write about this one, you fools! The shops in the lane to the left from where I was. Updated in a lowly manner. Airtel Voucher. Vodafone New SIM @XX rs. And many more, under the same roof. A hundred n/w operator mini-malls on this road. Our country works this way. I'm a mobilophobic so I moved straight ahead.

Source: My nookiaa mobile again.

Here I was at the heart of the city (Gomti Nagar waalo, your thoughts might differ). The spirit of Ganjing took me over. This place was still the same as it had been 12 years back when I had first come to Lucknow. The Universal Book Depot , Sahu talkies, and ofcourse Royal Cafe and Nawab's Restaurant. They have all been there for years, as lively as ever before.  In fact the only piece of Modernistic architecture one can find over there is the ICICI building. The best part, on this road I didn't find any Laptop store or the generic Mobile stores. Of course there is Naza market for these.

One more thing about Lucknow that won't ever change, the presence of white Ambassadors. Anyone living in a state capital would connect with this. But as there is a Mayawati-version to everything in the city - the Mahindra Scorpios carrying BSP flags. It is annoying, the exxtraa-loud horns in ambassadors. And even the drivers of these vehicles carry the tashan that there masters flaunt. Well, that's true about Lucknow people as a whole. Wonder what Delhi would be like. I've never been there and never want to. That's out of general dislike for Delhi and Delhites (no offense unintended).


What earlier used to be depicted as a City of Tehzeeb, and the Pehle-Aap nazaakat, seems to be struggling to maintain its prestige. But the man in that small shop seemed to be quite pleasant, where I asked for coca-cola in the glass bottle. Chilling and refreshing. Paid for it and another can that I slid into the bag hanging behind me. Another FYI, softdrinks in glass bottle, plastic, cans and fountain, all do taste differently. I've had enough debates over this one :P I saw a statue of Rabindra Nath Tagore by the side. Had never noticed before! Some benefit of loitering around :-) Moreover it was comforting to see that there have been public figures in the history other than Dr. Ambedkar whom Lucknowites admire. Don't miss the n number of roads named after him, parks and now even the State Transport Bus Station. That's the harsh effect of witnessing a political metamorphosis upon a city capital.

This was the MG Road. There stood Marksmen. The yummy Chicken burger. Gone bhagwan ka aadmi a few days. NO.(if you read bhaagywaan ka aadmi) Missed the "Fast Food" part in its name. They prepare everything from the desi cuisine now. Mayfair Cinema, that told the sad story of once the best cinemas in Lucknow. Has been shut for years now. On the other side, high up above was visible the massive Cross of the Church. Beautiful. It was visible from all streches of aforementioned  MG Road. Moving ahead I crossed The Cheap Store. I'd been here before. I couldn't help noticing it. The board was still the same. PZ with a Perk XL. No other emotional crap.

Youth was out there enjoying the beautiful weather and some company. I noticed "amaa yaar" had become prominent enough to be coined the unofficial TAKIA KALAAM of the city. People told me, I never agreed before. Ego-thing. As was evident in a  short conversation between two friends (overheard, can't help it (but those men needed help for sure (Ya..Ya..I know, parenthesis suck)))

Chhaprii1- Male around 25, losing hair, but T tight. visibly gyming night and day
Chhaprii2 - Male around 25 again, long hair (seemingly Kaminey effect, resulting in a disaster), Not engaged for sure and too many rings on his fingers.

Chhaprii1 : bhaii aaj chalo tumko chiiiikan laalypop(chicken lollypop, he meant) khilaate hain (a hand up in the air - too happy with his idea)
Chhaprii2 : amaa yaar chuppe baitho yahiin, hum kahiin nai jaayenge. faam dhalne do. Okay, he said shaam
(Needless to say they had been leering at items during all this time. Cheesy)

I wanted to burst out laughing at what I had realized.

That's just one instance of what I heard on that one event. Without wondering what they'll finally do, I moved on and took out my can. NO, not the Pepsi one. My-own-personal&purchased-can of Coca Cola. I had kilometers to walk before I reach home. Office hours over, heavy traffic was on the roads. GPO clock tower - admirable. Vidhan Sabha was also on the way. No RED ALERT today. No benches came flying out of the window. Mulayam Singh must've been in Delhi. Moving on from the broad roads of Ganj, the width seemed decreasing every metre. And vehicle density increasing. Commotion enough to trouble a pedestrian. I somehow managed  to avoid making my perfect day unpleasant. Ah, here's Sulabh! NO. Not the museum thingummy.

Skipping the aahaaa part, now I was on the Aishbagh road. Had been walking some 5 kms already. Run Forrest Run! NO. Thats not what came to my mind. The Ojha Chat. Yeah, I need salts - my mind is a genius, just doesn't support me all the time. Paani ke batashe. The name questioned and voted against by many, is what we call the panipuri of Mumbai and around. Will miss this definitely in Pune. Short break and back on the roads. Now even if I stop, my legs have a pseudo-motion in the forward direction. So I didn't quite stop. Last thing I remember noticing(which practically was the only thing noticeable in residential areas) was the Kirana stores. With an exceptional rice-to-cosmetics range. Kirana store is the common noun these shops adopt; where the proper noun part can vary from Pappu to Sonu.

In the end, home sweet home. Needless to mention, the best part of the city :-) Four hours of aimless wandering on the streets of Lucknow, The Constantinople of India. Doesn't bother me though - this name; I've never been to Constantinople anyway. The spirit lives right here within me. And as I said before, perfect or imperfect. A mechanical version of a Utopian society. Man, this city breathes! NOPE again. Not pollution-free!
PS- fact check for the blind and obsessed.