Day 135, Lucknow [Tuesday 15th April 2008]
Previous day: Day 134, Lucknow [Monday 14th April 2008]
Next day: Day 136, Agra, Taj Mahal [Wednesday 16th April 2008]
We get a cycle-rickshaw to the Residency, scene of an extended battle between the British and the Indians during the 1857 'Indian Mutiny' (sometimes also called the Uprising, or the First War of Independence).
It's a huge complex, and every building is in total ruins. Remaining walls show the cannonball scars from a struggle that lasted 4 months. Sir Henry Lawrence, then Governor of Uttar Pradesh, was killed during the first 3 days of fighting. The remaining population of 2000 people, including British soldiers as well as British and Indian citizens, held out against sustained Indian attack for months, trapped inside with little food or ammunition.
The surgeon's house is impressively large, the museum in the main Residency building is good and the cemetary containing graves of the fallen is unexpectedly poignant. The museum has plaques with the names of Indian 'freedom fighters' and 'martyrs' who died in battles during 1857 - 1858. It also has a man asleep on a sofa.
For lunch we go to another of Lucknows bustling, busy restaurants where I have a delicious mutton roganjosh and rumali roti, while Kate has something vegetarian.
Afterwards we find a market which immediately resolves the confusion I have been feeling due to the numerous and persistent offers from rickshaw drivers to take us to 'Chicken Corner'. As unappealing as that sounds, the market we find is actually called 'Chikkan Corner', and is a great place to buy the locally made textile, chikkan.
Chikkan is a muslin cloth, heavily embroidered and very pretty. We spend some time in there and Kate selects a white salwaar kameez, with one eye on her close-up photo at the Taj Mahal later this week.
We walk through the unimpressive Botanic Garden, which is in fact just a winding path past various greenhouses to which entry is prohibited. We then spend a few hours fannying around at the station trying to make sure we have a seat on the train to Agra, as we're currently numbers 20 and 21 on the waiting list.
At Lucknow station is the amazing and incongruously swish 'Comesum' restaurant, where I have a lovely mutton biryani for dinner while Kate looks on.
We get the train to Agra, after amusing ourselves for a while watching people trying to use the 1 rupee weighing machine on the platform. I weight 68.5kg. A tiny, frail little man, some kind of barefooted ascetic, tries to use it, but it won't work (possibly because he doesn't weigh enough to register) and he storms of in a huff, muttering to himself.
Next day: Day 136, Agra, Taj Mahal [Wednesday 16th April 2008]
Previous day: Day 134, Lucknow [Monday 14th April 2008]