Mosques and the Indian Uprising
Trip Start
Nov 04, 2006
1
33
125
Trip End
Mar 2007
Lucknow,
Uttar Pradesh,
India
Tuesday, December 5, 2006
My driver first took me to a nearby tomb of Nawab Ghazi-ud-din Haidar, who died in 1827. Inside was full of lead crystal lights and chandeliers and loads of mirrors
Bara Imambara - mosque
. It certainly was very strange inside with small shrines that looked like buildings that were decorated in gaudy tinsel. Next, my driver took me to Lucknow's premier attraction - the Bara Imambara which is another large tomb that features a central hall, 50m long, 16m wide and 15m high. It's said to be the world's largest vaulted gallery and certainly was rather impressive. Outside in the complex is a beautiful large mosque, built in the 1780's, which I couldn't get inside as I wasn't a Muslim, which was a shame. The rest of the complex is made up of large gates and garden courtyards. Next, we went just down the road and through an impressive gate called the Rumi Darwaza which is said to be a copy of an entrance gate in Istanbul. The next place was called the Hussainabad Imambara which is another tomb but this one is beautifully adorned with white calligraphy on dark blue background. A guide showed me around and I gave a donation but then at the end he asked for more guide money which I refused as I said I didn't ask for a guide and that I had already given a donation. He and another guy got a bit shirty but I stood my ground and told them that they had just spoilt the experience and that they shouldn't just keep on demanding tourists for money all the time (even though I was the only tourist there). I left the tomb and walked back down past the beautiful gardens with a tank in the middle and two other tombs either side. They look like the Taj Mahal. A white stallion horse was tied up on the grass outside the better of the two tombs and I said hello but patting him on the noise
Bara Imambara 1
. He was a bit frisky so I backed off. Another while stallion was being cleaned nearby and was also frisky. I walked out and back to my waiting driver who them took me to another mosque which was shut before heading to the final attraction and what Lucknow is really famous for - the Residency, home of the British Resident in India. The Residency is now a collection of ruins of a church, mosque, school, post office, jail, banqueting hall and houses that were built by the British in the late 18th century on the permission of the local nawab (Muslim ruling prince). The reason why they're now ruins is that the British were attacked by local Indian armies in what is known as the Indian Uprising in 1857. The siege lasted some 87 days where nearly 3,000 men, women and children were crammed into the main Residency buildings where they endured exceptional hardship and some 2,000 of them died including the Resident himself, Sir Henry Lawrence. There's a small museum which is mostly underground where many of the British died. In fact there are still large holes in the walls made from the cannon balls. The museum also shows a model of the entire Residency grounds and buildings as well as paintings by British artists and pictures of local Nawabs. A small cemetery is found near the ruins of the church and this is where the grave of Sir Henry Lawrence is found.I paid the driver and walked down MG Road, after visiting a couple more tombs which weren't much cop, and went into Pizza Hut that I spotted earlier whilst walking around trying to find breakfast
Bara Imambara 2
. I then walked to the zoo and walked right past the hotel I should have been staying at - the Ramkrishna Guest House, not the Ramkrishna Hotel that I'm staying at. Damn rickshaw driver took me to the wrong place and I blamed myself for not checking the full hotel name. Well it was dark when I arrived. The Ramkrishna Guest House looked pretty good from the outside and you could see the doors and windows to the rooms which also looked pretty good. You can gage a lot on what the rooms will be like from the reception and passageways of hotels. I shall take it all back on what I said about the map in Lonely Planet! I walked round the zoo which was very large and shady with lots of trees. A toy train runs round the middle. The animals on display included tigers, hippos, deer, monkeys, birds, reptiles, a rhino and such like. I headed back near the hotel to to try and find an internet cafe mentioned in the bible (LP) and eventually found it tucked away down an alley on the first floor. I spent a couple of hours here and heard a white girl leave. The only other westerner I had seen in Lucknow was a guy at the Residency. Lucknow is certainly off the beaten path. For dinner, I headed to a place just round the corner from the hotel called Moments (as mentioned in LP) where they serve Shami and Sishk kebabs, being as Lucknow is very Muslim orientated. I had 4 small patty like Shami kebabs which weren't that spicy and kinda made from flaky meat not the hard compact meat like we get back home. Still they were a local specialty and they did the trick. 
