For a green Lucknow
Lucknow Metro Rail Corporation is gifting metro commuters saplings to encourage them to plant trees and to spread awareness about the environment. The gifting of saplings was held at four operational metro stations: Transport Nagar, Krishna Nagar, Alambagh Bus Stand and Charbagh. Saplings of different flowering plants and trees like neem, peepal, sheesham, arjun etc. were distributed by LMRC officials at each Metro station. They were seen telling commuters about the benefits of having a clean, green environment.
Music lovers enjoy soulful melodies
When the weather turns hostile and temperatures soar, some soulful music turns the evenings a bit cooler after a hectic, hot day. Last week witnessed a few such evenings when Lucknowites were treated to soulful jazz music by Brazilian musicians Pedro Carneiro Silva and Luiza Sales. The duo presented many compositions, such as Versos Do Capitão from their first album. On another evening, music lovers in the city were taken on a spiritual journey by with Anup Jalota at his melodious best, as he belted out some of his famous songs, including ‘Aisi Lagi Lagan’, and ‘Gori Gori’.
A ridiculous quest
A ridiculous quest to grab political credit presented a strange sight at the newly-built Alambagh bus terminal when the workers of a political party donning red caps thronged it in large numbers to inaugurate it a day ahead of its official inauguration by the chief minister. They started off by distributing sweets and ended up raising anti-government slogans. It was hoopla created to flag the point that the terminal was conceptualised by their leader, who headed the previous dispensation. They shouted slogans in support of their party chief and thanked him for conceptualising the ‘world-class facility.’ They even put up banners stating the same at the terminal.
Lucknow prays for its ‘Atal’
“Than gayi, maut se than gayi, jhoojhney ka mera koi irada na tha, mod par milenge iska wada na tha, raasta rok kar woh khadi ho gayi, yun laga jaise zindagi se badi ho gayi (A face-off with death is a certainty now. I was in no mood to fight since I never knew what lay in store. Death is trying to scare me and threatening to become larger than life, but I won’t give in without a fight).” These words penned by former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee years ago have suddenly become more meaningful than ever, and Lucknowites are drawing strength and inspiration from his poetry and have come together to pray for a long life for him. Vajpayee shares a special relationship with Lucknow, which he represented for a record five terms in the Lok Sabha before illness forced him out of active politics in 2009.
Namita Bajpai
Our correspondent in Uttar Pradesh
namita.bajpai@newindianexpress