Travelogue

This section contains interesting articles based on Lucknow and its adjoining areas. These articles give you an insight of Lucknow’s culture, cuisine and craft. Be it the architecture, dance, music or the daily lifestyle all can be found in this section. These and more such articles are published and reproduced by us to give you an authentic information on Lucknow. If you have any such article and wish to share it on this site, please send it to us and if it fulfills our parameters, we will publish it here.



Lucknow by boat

The Gomti river which runs through Lucknow, is the city’s most visible and yet most undervalued asset. Broad, indeed almost majestic, after the monsoon. It is a river that has […]

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Gandhi’s footsteps in Lucknow

Mahatma Gandhi’s life is full of instances where his heroism and patriotism reflects. One such movement was the Champaran Movement, the seeds of which were actually sown in Lucknow during […]

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Rich in taste and magical aroma – our best picks from Awadhi cuisine

The true beauty of any cuisine is in its originality. And that’s why Awadhi cuisine conjures taste like no other – it is sumptuous, flavoursome and till today holds it […]

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Awadhi cuisine: a legendary culinary art of Nawabs

Lucknow was considered the richest city of the late 18th century, not only in terms of wealth and heritage but also in its nafasat (refinement) and nazakat (elegance). The city became […]

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Explore the unique costumes of the Nawabi Era

Whether you are a fashion buff or not exploring various dressing styles is always amazing. And understanding fashion becomes even more fascinating when viewed through the lens of history. When […]

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Two notable women reviving the culinary culture of Wajid Ali Shah in his place of exile

When a goose stops laying eggs but needs too much feed, what does the owner do? Probably, cook it away. Something similar happened with Awadh’s last Nawab – Wajid Ali […]

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Nawab Asaf-ud-Daulah: a generous king who gave Lucknow its turning point

It is interesting to realise that the Nawabs of Awadh (present Lucknow), were peerless in a way that these kings were not known for their wars & victories as much […]

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Gilbert Cole Memorial Tour of Michael Clapp in Fatehgarh with Tornos

This is a travelogue by Michael Clapp who visited Fatehgarh with Tornos to trace his Grandfather’s tragic death history as a Police Officer serving British Police of United Provinces (Now […]

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Mutiny in Lucknow

(Handout Material)  The great Rebellion of 1857 (also called the Indian Mutiny, Sepoy Rebellion, and First war of Independence) began as a mutiny by Bengal army soldiers, against their commanders […]

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Gastronomy in the courts of Awadh

The most important activity in human life is eating. As any community or nation progresses, its diet is the most salient guide to its refinement. For this reason I should […]

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The Battle of Chinhat

An important victory for the `rebels’ of 1857, the Battle of Chinhat has all but been completely effaced from history. 158 years ago, on the morning of June 30, 1857, […]

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Handcrafting a Culture

Lucknow, like much of India, is full of paradoxes – down-at-heel elegance, raffish charm, indolent culture, tehzeeb and thuggery. A city created by male chauvinist nawabs ruled today by a […]

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Afternoons in the Kothas of Lucknow

By : Veena Talwar Oldenburg In the days when I was tramping around in the alleys of Lucknow trying to capture the ineffable essence of this multi-layered city, I was […]

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A Mesh of Memories

By : Nasima Aziz Going home to Lucknow between Foreign Service assignments with my husband was always hurried and rushed. Post retirement, I have plenty of time at last. I […]

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Shaher-e-Nigaraan

Culture is all about feeling, and it is only poets who have been able to encapsulate feelings that have been able to outlive their times and are true reflections of a culture.

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My Lucknow

Across the road was the almost as posh Royal Café. The libraries and the cinema halls were once the only places I spent time in which were air conditioned. Close by was Ranjana Café where I must have had my first hundred odd dosas.

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A study of Dying Culture

Culture in Lucknow flourished because of the patronage it received from successive nawabs and kings and from their courts. Big landholders, known in Awadh as taluqdars, replicated the styles of the royal court in their own palaces and forts, albeit on a lower scale than the court.

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Nawabs and Kebabs

‘Guth-ti,’ Suleiman Mahmudabad noted, referring to the first liquid to pass a newborn’s lips, ‘depends on the mother and the father’s humours, and the family’s characteristics.’ We are in conversation […]

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On Foot In Lucknow

Mention Lucknow to an outsider and their mind conjures up visions of nawabs, ornate palaces, equally rich food and perhaps an even more lavish culture. Sadly, the city’s new nawabs […]

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Almost Forgotten, if Not Unknown: Australian and Indian Capital Connections

Australia has long recognised Walter Burley Griffin as the American who designed its federal capital city, Canberra. More recently, it has begun to acknowledge Marion Mahony Griffin as the capital’s […]

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Glory of La Martiniere College

Of all the buildings of old Lucknow, surely none has a stranger or more romantic history than that of La Martiniere. Kipling described it in Kim as the school where […]

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Personalities of Hazratganj

In the mid-twenties my parents, along with two other Sindhi families from Karachi, came to Lucknow in search of a new world. I was very young and recall living in […]

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Tunda’s Magic Taste

In Lucknow, what do Rahman the Butcher at Chowk and Jimmy the Raja of Jahangirabad have in common? What does Raffo Apa, 53, of La Place in Lucknow have in […]

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The Revolt of Cawnpore (Kanpur) & The Massacre of 1857

The Siege of Cawnpore was a key episode in the Indian rebellion of 1857. In the 19th century, Kanpur was an important British garrison with barracks for 7,000 soldiers. During […]

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An Account of the Opening of The Indian Mutiny at Meerut, 1857

Sunday, the 10th of May, dawned in peace and happiness. The early morning service, at the Cantoment Church, saw many assembled together, some never to meet on earth again. The […]

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The Experience of Lieutenant C.H.Mecham – Mutiny at Lucknow, May 1857

While the 7th Oudh Irregular was at Lucknow a large section of the regiment Mutinied. This was repeated in many regiments throughout the Bengal army. On 30th April 1857 the […]

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A journey through Kaiserbagh

During the eighty years of the Nawabi rule in Lucknow three new palace complexes were built and the old fort of the Sheikhzadas modified. Initially, after coming to power, Macchi […]

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The Sepoy War of 1857 – Mutiny or First Indian War of Independence

The profound hypocrisy and inherent barbarism of bourgeois civilization lies unveiled before our eyes, turning from its home, where it assumes respectable forms, to the colonies, where it goes naked. […]

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Hazrat Mahal – the rebel Begam of Oudh

From the date of the Sepoy victory (July 30, 1857) at Chinhut near Lucknow till the last phase of the rebellion of 1857-58, the revolutionary history of Oudh was overshadowed […]

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Cultural richness of Lucknow

‘Lucknow’, this name is synonymous with architectural beauties of ‘Lakhauri’ bricks, the fragrance of ‘itra’, musical notes, the sound of dancers’ trinklets, the sweetness of ‘dussheri’ mangoes, ‘malai’ and ‘gulab […]

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Tomb of Sir Henry Havelock

En route to Kanpur, besides the remains of the Alambagh Fort lie the remains of Sir Henry Havelock. Until recently this dilapidated grave was left un-cared for until Mark Havelock […]

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Swan-Song of a poet King (Wajid Ali Shah)

METIYABRUZ is a warren of single-storied houses, squalid yards, open drains and bustling bazaars. Beyond, there are scrubby fields and hyacinth-choked ponds. Dominating the scene are innumerable factory sheds ant […]

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The Kingdom of Avadh

On the eve of the Indian Mutiny of 1857, Lucknow, the capital of the Kingdom of Avadh, was indisputably the largest, most prosperous and most civilised pre-colonial city in India. […]

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Djinns of Lucknow

The Djinns you loved to watch in popular TV serial, ‘I dream of Jeannie’ was comic, comely, visible female-and susceptible to human emotions like love and jealousy for her undeniable […]

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Gomti – a life line of Lucknow

It seems a historical snub to the river Gomti to call Avadhi culture a Ganga-Yamuni tehzeeb. For neither of these holy rivers flows through Lucknow at all or even through […]

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La Martiniere and the mutiny

On the eve of the event, known variously as the Revolt of 1857, the First war of independence or the Indian Mutiny of 1857, Lucknow, the capital of the kingdom […]

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Music in Awadh

This article is full of technical words and phrases in relation to Indian music. Should any term interest you but are unable to understand, please contact us and we will […]

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A city lost to the forces to the darkness

Indian independence and partition destroyed the city of Lucknow and its Hindu-Muslim culture. William Dalrymple mourns the passing of a civilisation….. On the eve of the great mutiny of 1857, […]

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Lucknow then & now

A discotheque in Lucknow was recently witness to a dramatic scene that best reflects the changing contours of Avadh’s once-proud capital. A woman stormed onto the dance floor, slapped a […]

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Magic of the thread

When one talks about the refinement in style Lucknow figures as a superlative – A center de art, where even alien art forms flourished with high degree of refinement and […]

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Lucknow Food, Streets and Bazaars

Mangoes, green and yellow ones, luscious red-topped golden ones, shapes as subtly varied as the many hues, would arrive in Lucknow piled onto horse-drawn carts as if on a flood-tide. […]

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Epicurean Delights

It was 137 years ago that the last of the kings of Avadh walked on the sarzameen (land) of their beloved Lucknow. While these monarchs sat on the throne of […]

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The Siege & The Relief of Lucknow:1857-58

If Delhi was the symbolic centre of the Indian Mutiny, and Cawnpore provided its most horrific episode, it was Lucknow that caught the imagination of the British public and became, […]

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Interesting Story Behind Two Legendary Kebabs of Lucknow

Do you know the tale behind the world famous kebab brand called Tunde Ke Kebab from the ‘City of Nawabs’ ? The aura that surrounds this famous food joint has […]

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The monuments, the makers, the real city

LUCKNOW – ‘City of Vice and Roses’ as a British writer described it earlier this year, or ‘the last memento of Mughal culture’ as Maulana Sharar called it in the […]

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Story of Ayodhya

A sleepy small town of Ayodhya, situated on the banks of the river Saryu in the state of Uttar Pradesh has of recent become a focus of national interest and […]

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Textile Ornamentation in Awadh

The Nawabs were connoisseurs of art and they patronised the most precious textiles and ornamentation, which then became instrumental in creating the nazakat and nafasat characteristic of the period. During the period of the nawabs, traditional Indian textiles achieved their beauty from the variety of materials used

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Lal Baradari

Since the Baradari was painted inside and outside in red thus it was known as Surkh or Lal Baradari. This two storeyed structure with a large pillared hall on the top was built by Nawab Saadat Ali Khan to serve as his Durbar Hall (Hall of Audience).

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Dodransbicentenary of La Martiniere College Lucknow – 175 years of imparting education and setting many benchmarks.

La Martiniere College Lucknow built in 1800 is one of the oldest educational institutions in India and of course oldest in Lucknow. This great institution completed 175 years of imparting education on 1st October 2020.

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