Lucknow in 3 days

Residency (The Residency — Residency Road; the ruins of the British administrative headquarters in Lucknow; the most important historical site of the 1857 Indian Mutiny / First War of Independence outside Delhi): the siege (the Siege of Lucknow (June 30 – November 27, 1857): on June 30, 1857, approximately 3,000 British civilians, soldiers, and loyal Indian sepoys (including women and children) took refuge in the Residency complex (a 33-acre walled compound of colonial buildings) under the command of Brigadier-General Henry Lawrence (who was mortally wounded on July 4, 1857 by an artillery shell — his dying order: 'never surrender'); the siege lasted 87 days (the besieging force of approximately 30,000–60,000 Indian sepoys and Awadhi fighters surrounded the Residency until the first relief column (under General Havelock) fought through to the Residency on September 25, 1857; the second and final relief (General Campbell) on November 17, 1857 ended the siege)); the ruins (the Residency buildings have been preserved in their ruined state since 1857 — the damaged walls and collapsed rooms are maintained exactly as left by the siege; the cannonball scars on the walls are deliberately preserved). Adults INR 300.

State Museum Lucknow (Banarsi Bagh; the most important museum in Uttar Pradesh and one of the finest provincial museums in India): the collection: (1) the sculpture gallery (the most important collection in the museum: Mathura sculpture (the ancient city of Mathura, 80km from Lucknow, was the most important centre of early Indian Buddhist and Hindu sculpture (1st century BCE–12th century CE); the Mathura school produced the first anthropomorphic images of the Buddha in the 1st–2nd century CE (the Buddha was previously represented only by symbols in Indian art — the footprint, the Bodhi tree, the wheel; the Mathura school, under the influence of the Kushan Empire and Hellenistic art traditions brought by the Alexander the Great legacy in the region, created the first full-figure Buddha images))); (2) the Nawabi artefacts (the swords, textiles, and personal objects of the Nawabs of Awadh)); (3) the natural history section (the Indus Valley Civilisation seals from the Lucknow region excavations). Adults INR 15.

Awadhi Cuisine (the most sophisticated cooking tradition in North India — the dum pukht technique ('dum' — breath; 'pukht' — cooking; 'dum pukht' literally: 'cooked by breath' or 'sealed cooking'): the technique of slow-cooking ingredients in a sealed vessel (traditionally a handi — a round-bottomed terracotta or brass pot) over a very low charcoal fire (the vessel is sealed with a flour dough paste (the 'dum' seal) so that no steam escapes; the food cooks entirely in its own moisture and aromas for 3–6 hours); the most important dum pukht preparations: (1) Lucknow biryani (the 'pakki dum' biryani — the fully pre-cooked biryani: the rice and the meat are separately cooked to near-completion, then layered in the handi and given the final dum (30–45 min sealed steaming): the Lucknow biryani is light, fragrant, and delicate (in contrast to the Hyderabadi 'kacchi' biryani where the raw meat and rice cook together)); (2) nihari (the dawn stew — slow-cooked shank meat in a rich spiced broth; traditionally served as breakfast); (3) the kakori kebab (the precursor to the tunde kebab — softer and finer). INR 1,500–3,000 cooking class.

Lucknow dessert tradition (the Nawabi dessert culture of Lucknow — the most elaborate dessert tradition in North India): (1) Malai Makhan ('Daulat ki Chaat' / 'Nimish' — one of the most extraordinary foods in India: a winter-season (October–February) dessert made from the dew-set foam of fresh cream: the technique (the cream is whisked vigorously in large vessels and left outdoors overnight to collect dew; the chilled dew-moistened cream is then churned to produce an impossibly light, cold foam that dissolves on the tongue like sweet winter fog); the malai makhan vendors of Lucknow (the most famous: the stalls in the Nakhas area of Old Lucknow)); (2) Shahi Tukda (the Mughal-era bread pudding of the Nawabi courts: slices of white bread (original: the mawa-enriched shahi bread) deep-fried in ghee until crisp, then soaked in reduced sweetened saffron milk (rabri), topped with dried fruit and silver leaf (vark)). INR 50–150 per portion.

Bhatkhande Sangit Vidyapeeth (Bhatkhande Music Institute — one of the most important institutions for Hindustani classical music in India; named for Vishnu Narayan Bhatkhande (1860–1936) — the music scholar who systematised the entire Hindustani classical music system (the raga classification into 10 parent scales (thaat); the standardised notation system (the sargam notation: Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Dha Ni)); the Lucknow gharana (the 'house' or school of music: the Lucknow gharana is one of the most important in North Indian music — the Lucknow gharana of thumri (the lyrical semi-classical genre associated with the Nawabi courts: romantic poetry set to melodically ornate music with Kathak dance); the Lucknow gharana of sarangi (the bowed string instrument that accompanies vocal music: the most important sarangi players in India are from the Lucknow tradition)). Visitors can attend morning riyaz (practice) sessions with permission. Free/INR 100 to observe.

Qaiserbagh Palace complex (the Kaisarbagh — the 'Emperor's Garden' palace complex of Nawab Wajid Ali Shah (the last Nawab of Awadh, r. 1847–1856): the most culturally significant ruler of 19th-century India): the complex (built 1848–1850: the Qaiserbagh was the most ambitious palace project of the Awadh court — a walled city within a city (the complex originally covered 24 acres with 338 apartments, numerous pavilions, and private theatres); the palace was partially demolished by the British after 1857 (as punishment for the Lucknow uprising); the surviving buildings are scattered around the modern Kaisarbagh area): the cultural legacy of Wajid Ali Shah (Wajid Ali Shah was the most culturally accomplished ruler in Indian history (by his own account): (1) he was the most important patron of Kathak dance (the thumri musical form reached its definitive form in his court); (2) he composed over 14,000 poems and ghazals; (3) he invented the Lucknow style of chess (the most complex regional variant of chess in India); (4) he was a trained cook (he developed new dishes for the Awadhi cuisine). Adults INR 50.

Rumi Darwaza (the 'Turkish Gate' of Lucknow — the most iconic architectural landmark in the city: a 60-foot-high ornamental gateway built in 1784 by Nawab Asaf-ud-Daula (simultaneously with the Bara Imambara, as part of the famine relief construction programme)); the design (the gate is built in the Awadhi Indo-Saracenic style — a unique architectural fusion developed in Lucknow that combines: (1) Mughal architectural forms (the use of the chhatri (the small domed kiosk on top of the gateway towers), the kangura (the stepped merlons of the crenellation), and the jali (the perforated stone screens)); (2) local artistic traditions (the distinctive 'gosha' (corner) decorations of the Awadhi style: small decorative pavilions at the base of the main arch)); the name (the gate is called the 'Rumi Darwaza' ('Turkish Gate') not because it has any direct connection to Turkey or to the poet Rumi, but because it was built in the style of the Sublime Porte (the main gate of the Ottoman imperial palace in Istanbul) — the connection to Turkish architecture is associative rather than direct). Free.

Kathak dance performance (the classical dance of North India — the dance tradition most associated with Lucknow): the history (Kathak (from 'Katha' — Sanskrit: 'story'; the 'one who tells stories') is the oldest of the 8 classical dance forms of India: the dance form developed from the devotional storytelling tradition of the itinerant Kathaka (storyteller-priests) who used gesture, expression, and movement to narrate the stories of the Hindu epics (the Ramayana and Mahabharata) and the Bhagavata Purana (the stories of Krishna)); the Lucknow gharana (the most refined and lyrical style of Kathak: developed in the Nawabi court under the patronage of Nawab Wajid Ali Shah and his court musician Bindadin Maharaj; the Lucknow style emphasises: grace (the thumri abhinaya — the expressive storytelling aspect of Kathak, using the hasta mudra (hand gestures) and facial expression to convey emotion); the footwork (the intricate rhythmic footwork (the taatkar — the rhythmic foot-stamping that creates complex cross-rhythms against the tabla and the thumri vocal))); best performances: Sangeet Natak Akademi (Lucknow), Bhatkhande Institute evening programmes. INR 200–500 for organised performances.

Sheermal (the most refined bread in the Indian Muslim baking tradition — the signature bread of the Lucknow Nawabi court: a slightly sweet, saffron-yellow flatbread made from maida (fine white flour), milk (the 'sheer' in sheermal means milk in Farsi), ghee, sugar, and a large amount of saffron (the saffron is dissolved in warm milk and kneaded into the dough — the resulting bread is an intense golden-yellow colour and has the distinctive floral, honeyed aroma of saffron throughout); the baking (the sheermal is cooked in a tandoor oven (the clay-lined cylindrical oven): the flatbreads are slapped onto the inner walls of the heated tandoor and baked until just done; they are immediately removed and brushed with a generous coat of saffron-milk-ghee glaze and returned to the oven for 30 seconds to caramelise the glaze: the result is a glistening, golden, slightly sweet and intensely aromatic flatbread); served with: nihari (the slow-braised shank stew of the Lucknow breakfast tradition — the sheermal and nihari combination is the definitive farewell Lucknow meal). INR 20–30 per sheermal; nihari INR 200–350.