Traveling is good
It was around 1330 hrs when we completed the places and headed for our hotel, which was not very far. Had a lunch and in the afternoon went to the tomb of “Saadat Ali Khan”.
Just almost opposite the tomb was “Begam Hazrat Mahal Park”, which was build in the honour of a beautiful and courageous woman, dated back in 1962.
Read More
It was a pleasure driving on this road. I counted 57 vehicles while going towards Lucknow on this expressway which means a lot of people are still unaware of it. I tried to maintain a consistent speed of 120 kmph on this road, but to my surprise I found I was driving at 130-135 kmph. There is very little noise while driving on this road. I encountered total 4 small diversions (diversion means when you have to drive on the wrong side of the expressway).
Read MoreThere was very little traffic on this road, to keep myself busy I was counting how many vehicles I crossed, and the final count till Ganga Bridge was (14 cars, 27 large vehicles including a single UPSTRC Bus from Lucknow to Kunda, total 31 vehicles in around 4 hours!!!).
Read More
Aminabad is a huge market for embroidered chickan clothes, a specialty of Lucknow. The famous ‘Tunde ke Kabab’ is also located here. Some other interesting food items (dishes) which are famous in lucknow are Rahim-ke-kulche nihari, Bismillah-ki-biryani, Radhey-ki malai gilori and lassi, Raja-ki-thandai, Sharma-ki-chaat.
Read More
लखनऊ में हैं आप और बड़ा इमामबाड़ा नहीं देखा तो ऐसा ही है जैसे आगरा जाकर ताजमहल ना देख पाए हों या दिल्ली में होकर भी इंडिया गेट नहीं देख पाये.
Read More
इमामबाड़े की दूर तक फैली सीढ़ियां तथा बाईं ओर शाही बावली और दाईं और नायाब मस्जिद के चित्र तत्कालीन वास्तुकला की भव्यता का सजीव चित्रण कर रहे थे. मैंने जूते उतारकर इमामबाड़े …
Read More
The road upto Bareilly was generally good and but bad in a few patches. However, Bareilly to Lalkuan was a different story altogether. I believe there is a bypass outside of Bareilly but I couldn’t find it so I had to go through the city. If someone gets to know of the location of the bypass do inform. The number of trucks have to be seen to be believed. Coupled with bad roads it’s definitely a slow track. There’s some kinda factory before Lalkuan and trucks are lined up on both sides of the road. Where there are trucks, there are traffic jams and coupled with atrocious truck drivers the experience is tough. There is also extensive construction work on this sector.
The road improves dramatically from Lalkuan. A stop is advised before the climb from Kathghodham to Nainital. The Drive from this point on is smooth cos the roads are very good, maintained well and aren’t as steep as people would have you believe.
Read More
As you enter the main gate of Residency, the din of Lucknow city recedes until just the distant hum of traffic remains. It is a quite green oasis in the middle of cacophany that Lucknow is today. The pervading hush makes it hard to believe that this eerily quite place was witness to one of the bloodiest fights of Indian Mutiny of 1857. This is nature’s way of soothing the Residency with eternal balm and tranquility to anesthetize the tumultous past. The dewy green grass absorbs the shock of looking at the cannon scarred red brick walls. Most of the buildings are heavily damaged with few having roofs.
Barring the green grass, it seems that the siege ended just yesterday. The shattered walls carry the echoes of tragedy, doom, valour, disease and gore. Walk the grounds and you are immediately transported to those turbulent days. Residency is a sprawling compound with neat manicured gardens. Signs indicate the names of various buildings. During the rains, the green moss covering the red brick broken walls lends an exquisite charm to the place. Spend some time in the museum. The church’s cemetry has the graves of about 2000 people including Lawrence. Visit Nawab Saadat Ali Khan’s Tomb. Stay back for the light and sound show in the evening.
Read More
Despite the continuous building and breaking, the Bada Imambada turned out to be magnificient. It rivalled the Moghul architecture. No iron or cement has been used in the building. The imambada boasts of one of the largest arched structure with no supporting beams. Under this vaulted chamber lies the simple grave of the Nawab.The grave of the architect also lies in the main hall. Asafuddaulah was truly generous and class blind.
Read More
Two centuries ago when the Nawabs were driving around in their horse drawn buggies they would give way of right to the horse drawn buggy of the fellow Nawab, both on their way to Hazratganj for shopping. This was perfectly normal in the true spirit of Pehle Aap (after you) culture of Lucknow. After all, that was the era of leisure, languidness and laid back, aptly depicted in Satyajit Ray’s ‘Shatranj ke Khiladi’.
Times have definitely changed now. Goons – elected or otherwise – sitting in their Endeavours, with number plates emblazoned with their self-christened designations, pressure horns on full blast, bulldoze their way through the crowded streets. Of course the number plates do not carry registration numbers and the horn has to sound the loudest. Few moments caught in this decibelly deafening din will bring in the worst headache and probably convulsions. Guantanamo Bay authorities could play this cacophonic recording and the Al-Qaeda inmates would start singing like canaries instead of paying royalties to music companies for playing their metal rock.
You are startled and jump off the street when you hear a truck horn, only to see a motorcycle whizz past you. In Punjab, your vehicle needs to be shod with the flashiest alloys. In Lucknow, people get turned on by going sadistic on your ears. It is auditory mayhem on the roads.
Read More
Road review for this journey or rather saying road review for NH2 in one word to say is simply awesome. It is advisable to start as early as possible in the morning so as to avoid the city rush.
Starting with the Durgapur Expressway from Kolkata, this is one of the best highways in India, there is absolutely no doubt in that. If you are actually driving in this highway, the road quality is so good and the greenery around are so nice, that you will just want to keep driving on this road. A maximum speed of 150 KMPH is no big deal in this highway and you can easily maintain an avg speed of around 90-100 KMPH.
Every now and then one can find decent places to have tea and snacks, there is not limitation on any kind of meals, whether its breakfast, lunch or dinner. Shaktigarh around 100 KM from Kolkata is one such ideal place to have a good breakfast. It’s known for its famous sweets (langchas). It’s also known as “langchagarh”.
Another early travel on day 4, this time the destination was Sultanpur, where I did my MCA from Kamla Nehru Institute of Technology (UP Technical University). I always had an idea that Allahabad -> Sultanpur distance although only 99KM, the road is not good, so it will take minimum 4-5 hours.
So we started around 4-4:30, however we found the road to be much improved. NH96 was much improved now. While driving almost around 2 hours, I thought I would be reaching the college way to early, however, took a wrong highway to Amethi somewhere. So I had to take another 35 KM drive back to Sultanpur and was at college by around 7:30. I showed my parents the campus, went to the mess and immediately all of them recognized me, offered breakfast for free.
Read More