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Lucknow
The chief minister of Uttar Pradesh is knwn for the many statues (some of herself) she has had erected I am now back in Delhi again. My train journey from Benares to Lucknow was quite similar to the one from Agra to Benares, although there were no power outages. I couldn't see much out of the windows, but it was interesting to see that the cows wander onto and across the train lines, just as they do the roads.
Lucknow is a much more pleasant city to visit than are either Agra or Benares. It has more of a European air, while still being wholly Indian and it is actually possible to walk about the city without always being distubed by importunate rickshaw wallahs.
There are many intersting things to see in Lucknow. It was ruled for many years by the Nawabs of Oudh who were Shiite Muslims and there are several imambaras in the town. These, as I understand it, are not mosques but places where Shiites can congregate for ceremonies and are very impressive buildings as can be seen from the photographs. In the Bara Imambara is a hall which is one of the largest in the world without supporting columns and above that is a labyrinth of passages, called the confusing corridors, where people are
not allowed without guides who know the way out - or so the guides say.
I hadn't know all this before going to Lucknow. My reason for the visit was to visit the Residency and Martiniere, the scenes of the gallant resisitance of the British garrison during the Indian Mutiny and of its ultimate relief.
Here the events of 1857 are no longer referred to as the Mutiny but as the First War of Independence. A more balanced term to use now would, perhaps, be the Uprising.
There was an excellent museum in the Residency telling the story from an Indian point of view that was, I'm sure, less unbalanced than the story I was taught at school. One thing that comnfused me a bit, and for which I have seen no explanation, is that the Residency buildings I visited were said to be in the state they were immedialtely after the Relief. But the Residency was actually in use after teh Uprising for many years until Independence. So why weren't these buildings repaired or rased during that long time?
My journey back from Lucknow to Delhi was on "India's second best train" and it was
a very nice journey. It started exactly on time (it began from Lucknow) and arrived in Delhi a bit early. Unfortunately the other passengers in my carriage wanted the blinds down most of the time - the sun was very bright - so I didn't get to see much.
I have now met up with Gaurav Bansal, the representative of Channel Youth, and found out the arrangements for going to Udaipur. We are to board an overnight train for Jodhpur tonight and arrive tomorrow morning. Then we travel out to teh Thar desert by jeep and bus and stay overnight with a family in the desert. We will have the option of sleeping in the open, under the desert stars! Then we go on a camel safari for half a day and go back to Jodhpur for some sightseeing before getting an overnight bus to Udaipur, where we are due to arrive at 5 am on Friday. All sounds very adventurous!
Today we had an orientation meeting when I met the other volunteers. There are three other guys, all in their twenties I think, one from teh US and the others from England and two English girls. IN
Jodhpur we will meet up with four Aussie girls who have already started there volunteering work.
I'll try to update things as we go along . .
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