Jaada bahut hai...

Lucknow (ˈlʌknaʊ/ is the capital city of the state of Uttar Pradesh.^[8] This metro city is the administrative headquarters of Lucknow District and Lucknow Division.^[9] Lucknow has always been known as a multicultural city and flourished as a cultural and artistic capital of North India in the 18th and 19th centuries - Wikipedia)

Truth be told, I have lived there not more than 4 years in all but I can never have enough of the place. And mind you, it is not because there is always something different when I visit the place...it is the same of what it always had. Yes, the roads seem to be wider at places, there aren't as many cows blocking the intersections, single screen movie halls have been duly replaced with multi-plexes, ganesh-autos now run on CNG (or at least are painted green!)...BUT it still is the same old nice, easy paced city underneath it all.

There was brief moment in my last visit that almost made me shake my head resigned to the fact that the "India Shining" craze finally caught up with my timeless hometown....that was the time when I came to know that Tunde-miyan ke kababs are now available in one of the bustling malls of the city now. Alas, I thought...how could that ever be? I mean...what fun is it to have those melt-in-your-mouth kababs if you aren't having them in the old city, standing in a crowd with a "pattal / dona" (small bowl made entirely of dry leaves) and a rumali roti tightly clasped in a fist, lest it looses the softness... The rest of the trip thankfully did little more to build on that feeling so I came back giving it the benefit of doubt.
 
While speaking to my Dad this morning, as he continues to make me jealous enjoying his well-earned retirement in Lucknow, I finally got the confirmation for what I'd be looking for the past 2 odd years.

See the thing with retired people is, especially if they've been in the armed forces all this while, that they are suddenly expected to come to terms with something they've never really had before.

Time during the day. Monday...Tuesday...Wednesday...-....Any-day.

So armed with this...time...a very lethal weapon in the hands of someone originally from Lucknow and who's never been able to use it in the past more than 3 decades, he took his 1998 model music system to an electronics shop, determined to invest as much....time...as was required to get the thing working again. A young man greeted him and inquired about the purpose of his visit and when our antique model music system was handed to him, he looked at it and said "zara ek minute rukiye.." (pls wait a minute)...This phrase in Lucknow could mean a zillion things, needing to spit the paan and get a new one being the most common one. So anyway, my Dad patiently waited, courtesy his post-retirement weapon we talked about earlier.

After a while, an elderly gentleman came along with the young man the electronics repair shop all dressed in traditional Lucknow winter clothing accessories - kantopi aka monkey-cap, ooni moze aka woolen hand-knitted socks, large check woolen blazer, hand-knitted woolen muffler to name the visible ones. You see, this particular shop had the work division clearly defined. All post-2000 stuff was repaired by the son and all pre-2000 was taken care of by the father.

The senior-shop owner then inspected the music system and asked my dad to please excuse him for the time being and come back post Feb-15. As it usually is the case, this delay was attributed to be a work-load issue by my Dad. But this assumption was quickly corrected by the senior shop owner when he politely told my dad this -

"...dekhiye issme kaam to itna nahi hai, par abhi jo hai...jaada bohut hai. Thoda dhoop-voop nikalne dijiye fir tasalli se theek kiya jayega...abhi toh hath-vath sekne ka time hai.."

Now where else can a business ask the customer go back and come after a month or so because it is too cold for him to make some money and he'd rather be warming his hands on a fire...

The Lucknow of my memories...still remains.