Sunday Anand took me around the city. The “real” part in his words. We scootered over to Hazrat Gunj which is a
large street lined with shops. The shops
run the gammet, from Puma and Coffee Day (Indian Starbucks) to tiny hole in the
wall stationary shops and your very own roadside temple. Anand, being a Hindu himself, believes these
temples to be a ridiculous joke. I think
they’re kinda pretty. After parking the
scooter we walked along the street stopping in various places to eat. What else do you do with guests in a new city? J
All the restaurants have a sit down area in addition to a
stand in front where you can get food “to go.”
We went to the Royal Inn Café (the walkup) and had Aloo Tikka Chat. This is a tangy potato (aloo) snack that
comes in a kind of cup, its made with potato, chat massala, and yogurt. Really good!
It has the same flavors as Aloo Kachoris (the roommates will know what
I’m talking about). Again along our walk
we stopped in a restaurant and split a kind of lamb sloppy joe. Which with all the healthy food I’ve been
eating at home (Urvashi’s on a diet) it really hit the spot! Also it was the first meat I’ve had since I got
here.
We continued our walk and then hopped in a rickshaw and
ended up in Aminabad. This is an area of
Lucknow with a
huge market/bazaar. This area of town is
more what I thought India
would be like. It is teeming with
people, cars, rickshaws, and cows. There
we had Kulfi which is a saffron ice cream with pistachios and rice noodles
. The texture is pretty interesting, but
not bad. And most of you know how I am
with textures J We continued our wandering through the
crowded market place. There were tons of
fabric stalls, shoe stalls, cane furniture stalls, and so many more that I was
gleefully overwhelmed. I told Anand I
don’t think I can ever buy anything in India because every time I turn
around there is something I like more in the next stall. Sensory overload I tell you!
On the way back to Hazrat Gunj we rode past a bunch of Nawab
palaces. They are these huge beautiful
buildings built by the Nawab’s. The
nawabs were Shiite muslims that were known for enjoying the finer things in
life and not being too intense politically or religiously but just really liked
nice things. So the architecture is very
Islamic with vaulted spaces, huge domes, horseshoe scalloped archways, and
repeating decorative arabesque patterns.
They also built many gates/entry points into the city. I pass one on the way to Malihabad (Land of Mangoes—where the village school
is).
Throughout the day I was met by
interesting glances, outright stares, and greetings of “Hello” in an Indian’s
best American accent, and laughter on Anand’s part. Being the only white person in a
wide radius can have that affect on people (although I did see another white
person in the market we shared an unspoken moment of kinship together). So I was reluctant to take pictures at
first, but then I decided I already stick out so why not just go all out?
Forget blending in! Also I included some more photos, I remembered to harness
my inner Asian and take pictures of food.
I hope you enjoy the photos, need less to say
they are not the highest quality considering the car/cow/rickshaw/mass of
people dodging you have to do to take a photo in India, but I hope a little of
the brilliance of this city comes through.
Also I don't know if it comes
through in these photos, but the caste system in India is still very much in place.
The Chief Minister of Lucknow is Ms.
Mayawati and she is from the lower caste of India. This sounds promising
enough right? However, it is very apparent that she has done nothing to
help her constituents. She built them a huge park, Gomti Nagar
Park, a sprawling place
of marble and sandstone with huge sculptures that takes up a large portion of
the city center, but for what? "Her people" are still
uneducated, ill-cared for, and unable to move up in the caste system. In
addition, she even built a statue of herself holding a Gucci handbag, that she
tore down and rebuilt because she didn't think it was big enough. There
is so much corruption in the Indian government it isn't difficult to see why
people like this are so easily elected into office. I went to the park at
night so its difficult to tell just how much land it uses up, but Idrive by its
empty shell everyday on my way to work. There is never anyone in it. .
.Some more political food for thought folks :)
Lots of Love,
Kyla
