Lucknow’s Ganga-Jamuni tehzeeb

Visiting Lucknow had been on my wish list for a while. And I was able to fulfil it recently. I started the tour of the city with the famous Imambara. As expected, the place had a few tourists and a group of local schoolchildren, probably on a cultural outing, with the teachers. The guides were courteous, and surprisingly all of them were barefoot. They insisted that though some areas could be visited with shoes on, but the main structure has the mazaar of the former ruler and therefore it is the norm. It didn’t take any convincing, as all tourists were Indians, to agree to proceed barefoot. In the scorching summer heat of May, it was quite a task, but most areas were indoors so it wasn’t that difficult. Our guide, while explaining the history and culture of the bygone times, kept referring to Ganga-Jamuni tehzeeb. The group had a number of tourists from South India who may not have understood these Hindi/Urdu words, but he continued despite their limited interest.

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He must have seen my expressions. After the tour was over, he said to me, “Madam, Ganga-Jamuni tehzeeb is not a touristy notion for us but our very ethos of life. It is important for us to highlight it as people nowadays are more influenced by what they see and hear. They may not see how Lucknowi people coexist with love and respect for each other despite the difference in religion." He reiterated how the rulers had got both temples and mosques made in those times and all religions were respected and appreciated by the Awadhi rulers.

As I walked back to my car, I felt his unsaid anguish over Pahalgam terror attacks that had occurred a day earlier, and the media was in an overdrive covering it. Though neither of us actually spoke about it but sometimes the unsaid words can convey feelings much more than spoken ones. The nawabs, the kebabs and the mithaas of the beautiful city has since stayed with me.

Dr Nidhi Sharma, Patiala