Home Sweet Home

From the moment we climbed down the train, my mother and aunt were looking around like kids in paradise…aah! Lucknow and their eyes gleamed like child’s in a toy store, savouring every second of the surrounding. Trying to reconnect with what they knew of the city, much of it has changed, but some withstood the test of time, or may I say—modernisation.

As we took an auto to go to our NBRI guest house, my mother was directing the autowallah, and much to my surprise she remembered the roads so impeccably…I mean 30 years in Delhi and she doesn’t remember roads, and having left Lucknow in 1979, she still knew her roads well. Kutti jumped at the sight of her school like we do when we see a movie star!

We went to AN Jon, where the six sisters went for their haircuts and to our dismay the tikki wallah shop closed down! From Rs 12/ for a dozen of colourful bangles, to chikkan work and eating delectable food…that was Lucknow for all the three of us! The eyesore (Elephants of Mayawati) all over the city could not mar the beauty of the city that lay in its people, sweet language, tasty food and breathtaking architecture.

The most memorable thing for me was to see my mum and Kutti relive their times, their childhood and youth…so precious yet so distant