Adaab, from the gali kooche of Lucknow

Sunday mid-day was in the city of nawabs for lessons on Awadhi culture, cuisine and communities

Wandering the streets of Qaiser Bagh, the walled palace complex of the last Nawab of Awadh, Wajid Ali Shah, we reach Safed Baradari, a magnificent white marble palace built by him initially as a ‘Palace of Mourning’ for Azadaari, honouring Imam Hussain and his followers at Karbala. 

Set on an elevated platform, the open pavilion with 12 doors (hence baradari), intricate Islamic motifs, geometric patterns, calligraphy and floral designs adorning its walls and pillars exudes a regal charm even today, close to two centuries after it was made. It offered the perfect venue for the Mahindra Sanatkada Lucknow Festival (MSLF), which has been celebrating Lucknow’s culture and communities since 2010. More than 25,000 people attended the fest this year, its 16th, this time themed around Lucknow ke gali kooche. 

A mesmerising concert in which tribal singers of Bastar performed a jugalbandi with Mumbai’s art rock band Daira

In an exclusive chat with Sunday mid-day, Madhavi Kuckreja, founder of MSLF, shared, “The festival this year is based on something very special to us. So our curation around the ‘gali kooche’ theme—including the literary guftagu, food, exhibits, and performances—showcase a Lucknow that exists maybe not for the whole city. The oral history documentation is the jaan of this festival, and the street food and stalls from home chefs offer a variety, including chaats, farra, nihari kulcha and kebabs. The Kohinoor of the fest is the home chefs because people who don’t have access to them otherwise, can get to taste signature recipes passed down from generation. Some people fly in just for it. In two hours—all is sold out.” 

Jay Shah, Vice President, Head, Cultural Outreach, Mahindra Group says, “Like every year, this year too the team has put in a lot of effort to able to deep dive into the culture of Lucknow through the lens of the gali kooche of the city. Streetscapes tell a thousand tales about a city’s history and culture—and the aim is to bring alive those stories and the cultural nuances of the city’s bylanes through installations, storytelling and food, and not to forget the art, which is the backbone of this festival.”

The Mango We Don’t Know: Conversation with (from left) Himanshu Bajpai, Sopan Joshi and Jamal Kidwai

This festival honours the late Indira Mahindra, whose legacy in Lucknow’s arts and culture remains timeless.

On day one last weekend we attended the inauguration along with Mashakganj ki galiyon mein kya hua? with Sabika Abbas; a fashion show, depicting works by the artisans at the craft bazar and a soulful musical experience by O Gaanewali, featuring Avanti Patel and Rutuja Lad. We had dinner at Salempur House with some Addebaazi, listening to our favourite Urdu blues singer, Sameer Rahat. The following day, we went with Deep Dive India for a Francisi Awadhi Ta’alluqaat that gave us a glimpse of the French influence on the city—something very few people, talk about. As the back story goes, the chattar manzil’s Farhat Baksh Kothi’s original name was Martin Villa, built in 1781 by Major General Claude Martin as his residence. It offers a fantastic piece of Indo-French architecture with a two-storey building, the lower part of which touched the river Gomti, and the upper floor had a large hall where 4000 books were kept in English and French. His last wish was to be buried at La Martiniere after his death, another fascinating piece of Indo-French architecture that we were privileged to glimpse. Kids had fun at the Masti ki Pathshala, listening to puppet stories and learning to make some, too. The evening was listening to Sopan Joshi’s mango tales along with Himanshu Bajpai and Jamal Kidwai, followed by a brilliant session on Baitbaazi, a traditional game of Urdu poetry that involves composing and reciting verses. Qawwali by Shahid Sami Niyazi Brothers of Rampur Gharana ended  the night on a high note.

The following day, we set out for breakfast at Mall Kothi in Malihabad, a village famed for its mango orchards. We explored the ancestral kothi of the zamindars of Mall, home to Bhupendra Singh, fondly known as Lallan Raja and his wife  Bhavna Singh, who belongs to the royal family of Udaipur. The current generation, led by his son Dushyant Singh passionately preserves this family-run heritage property, ensuring its rich legacy remains accessible to true connoisseurs.

Mirch ka salan served as a part of an elaborate Awadhi dinner at Rishad Rizvi’s home

Lunch was a delightful experience at the Sunday Home Cooked Food Festival, which celebrated local flavours. That evening, we witnessed something truly special—Daira’s Jadoo Bastar, a mesmerising concert in which the tribal singers of Bastar performed a breathtaking jugalbandi with art rock band Daira. 

Monday morning, we explored the batashe wali gali and Marwari gali in Amindabad, and later, we had one of the most breathtaking Awadhi evenings with Gaana Aur Khana, where we were enchanted by Umrana Niyazi and her group’s soulful renditions, followed by an unforgettable homecooked Awadhi dinner at Rishad Rizvi’s maginificient home at Ahmad Husain ki Kothi.

The stage at the Safed Baradari, a magnificent white marble palace built by Wajid Ali Shah

At Safed Baradari, the crafts bazaar left you spoilt for choice. Naghma Parveen, Director, Crafts and Research , MSLF says, “This year, from 350 applications received, 107 stalls were shortlisted. The idea was to include varied brands and different tribal crafts, brought to the city for the first time. This year, the two most popular stalls, with most sales were the phulkari and chikankari craft.” 

Kuckreja adds, “It feels good to witness that people’s taste in craft has come back to buying handmade items. Lucknow as a city is known for its artisans and most of these were giving up hope with the mall culture that has taken over. But now people like handmade work, buy it and wear it.”

Speaking of the robust programming that included 42 events. Tasveer Hasan, Director, Creative and Exhibits, shared, “The performances were curated with emphasis on different forms of creativity—from concerts at dawn to qawwali evenings and an incredible headbanging performance by artistse from Bastar. We worked with artists across the country, and many were from the heart of Lucknow. The heritage tours also received an overwhelming response from people from all over India who attended the fest out of sheer love for the city.”

How to get there

.  Frequent flights to and from Lucknow’s international airport between Mumbai, Delhi, Patna, Bangalore and Hyderabad.
.  Regular trains for Lucknow run from Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Patna and Chennai.
.  Luxury, deluxe and State Transport buses ply between Kanpur, Delhi, Agra and Varanasi among other cities.

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