November 26 – Lucknow Sightseeing and La Martinière’s Girl’s School Concert

Today we are doing mostly sightseeing all day.  First stop was a place called “The Residency”.  It was built by the British as the “residence” for the British representative in Lucknow.  It took heavy damage during the 1857 Sepoy Rebellion (so called by the British…to the Indian’s it is the first War of Independence). 

They also had very unusual trash cans...penguins.  The guide said that penguins are very foreign for Indians and the theory was that they would be so intrigued by the cans that they would actually use them.

The grounds included a cemetery.

And lots of birds, including a number of green parrots.

There was also a nice museum (no photos allowed) that talked about the rebellion and also had lots of photos and drawings/paintings of the Residency and the British people there at the time.

The Residency compound also included the Asfi Mosque…

and an Imambara (a meeting place).

Then it was off to see more of Lucknow.  First stop was Safes Baradari, also a meeting place.

And then Saadat Ali Kahan’s tomb

and the nearby Begum Hazrat Mahal Tomb, tomb of his wife.

We visited some buildings that were under restoration.  No hard hats required…OSHA would have been having coronaries with the way the work was being conducted.

It was pretty fascinating to watch the craftsmen working on the detailing in the building.  The buildings are constructed of the local thin bricks (about the size we are used to but a little less than half as thick) and then covered by limestone mortar.  

The details are created by spreading thicker layers of the mortar on the walls and columns and then carving the details in by hand.  It was amazing how wonderful the details are.  All using very old-fashioned methods.

Next stop was the Farhat Baksh Kothi, a building used as a home by Claude Martin, founder of the La Martinière’s Schools.  There are schools in Lucknow, Kolkata and Lyon, France.  The building is undergoing badly needed renovation. 

At the far end of the grounds was a very old, giant banyan tree.

Nearby was an operation making mortar the old-fashioned way.  The mortar is made by combining, lime, sand and water in which organic matter has soaked for a while.  

The lime pool was a soft turquoise...similar to the high mineral content water we have seen in natural pools in Asia.

The materials are poured into a round trough and crushed/ground/mixed by huge wheels that roll through the trough.  Apparently this is the way this mixture has been made for hundreds of years...except that this one wasn't run by donkey's or bullocks.  Looked like it was run with an engine.  Very high tech.

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Video of mortar making
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We were back to the hotel mid-afternoon to rest up.

This evening we were back at the school for a concert.  The performances were by various classes in the school, including the preschoolers, also referred to as the Babies.

It was quite a mix with large groups of the smaller children in colorful dresses having a grand time dancing…

Some older girls helped position the little ones for their performance. 

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Video of the performances
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and interesting costumes including Hawaiian hula skirts

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Video of the performances
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Thai dress...

and Indian native attire.

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Video of the performers 
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One young woman performed with three hoops, some of the girls performed in Portuguese dresses, a smaller group of older girls, 

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Video of the performers
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and there were some singing performances. 

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Video of the performances
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There was also a musical based on the book Tom Sawyer.  Not bad.

It was very long but we very much enjoyed the entire performance.