ALIEN IN LUCKNOW.
After completing our one-year course from Noida my friend Shalabh and I came to the city of Nawab and Kebab, Lucknow. Right from the first day we didn’t felt like a Nawab but yes we had some mouth watering Kebabs. We came here for our training. Lucknow was near to our home but it was new for us. May 21 was the day when we reached here. People around us were celebrating 150th anniversary of the first war of freedom and we were getting ready for our battle. We didn’t have permanent place to live and eat. Shalabh was staying in a guesthouse near Dainik Jagran chowk and I was staying at my relative’s house in Gomti Nagar. We had only one aim “ mission accommodation”. We started looking for an accommodation for two at war front. But we never ever thought that it would be so hard to get shelter in the state capital.
We didn’t want to get into the trap of a real estate agent as many of our friends had a bitter experience. We were also not in a mood to spend lavishly after two beds so we decided to find room our self. Our office was at Ashok Marg so we tried to find accommodation near by.
We started our search from the students’ destination Narhai. We were told most of the student stays here. We took a break from our office and in the scorching heat knocked almost all the doors of lodges, paying guests and hostels here but all in vain. No body was ready to give us accommodation for two months. Every one asked us one common question what you people do? We were very honest and replied we are here for “training”. It seemed “training” was a new word for every one here and they closed the door on our face. Searching house in Narhai was same as solving crystal maze. Narhai is full of galies and rooms are architect in old fashion. Most of the hostels and paying guest had common bathrooms and toilets, which stinks badly. So staying in Narhai was not our cup of tea.
I even felt my appearance (shoulder length hairs) was also the problem. People here could not digest my shabby looks and stared me. My hairs guaranteed me second look. Few sarcastically remarked me Dhoni.
Our next destination was Hazratganj hub of Lucknow it is also compared with Connaught Place of Delhi. But I am sorry to say CP has no match with Hazratganj. We faced the same problem of accommodation here. Rooms were small and at very inconvenient place. Even they were very costly. I was badly missing comfort of my hostel in Kolkata and Munirka (Delhi). We were in desperate need of room as Shalabh had to leave his guesthouse. We only had one topic of discussion that was “where do we stay”?
We almost went to every possible place near Ashok Marg but could not find a place to hide. We were losing hopes when by chance we saw an advertisement of new boys hostel in Dalibagh. It was a hostel of Nazim bhai runned by Sharma jee the caretaker. Hostel had many rooms and problems along with it, but still it was not that bad to spend two month there. This hostel made us stronger as every day we had to face a new problem. Electricity and water were prominent. At times there was no water and some time there was water logging. In morning we even had to wait for our turn to do our morning activities. We were living in “Chaal of Lucknow”. For food we had to walk at least half a kilometer and after all these pain we got unhygienic and oily food. Every day we made plan to look for a new place but busy work schedule kept us engaged. Gradually we started loving it and after spending a month we decided to continue there for the next month.
After completing our one-year course from Noida my friend Shalabh and I came to the city of Nawab and Kebab, Lucknow. Right from the first day we didn’t felt like a Nawab but yes we had some mouth watering Kebabs. We came here for our training. Lucknow was near to our home but it was new for us. May 21 was the day when we reached here. People around us were celebrating 150th anniversary of the first war of freedom and we were getting ready for our battle. We didn’t have permanent place to live and eat. Shalabh was staying in a guesthouse near Dainik Jagran chowk and I was staying at my relative’s house in Gomti Nagar. We had only one aim “ mission accommodation”. We started looking for an accommodation for two at war front. But we never ever thought that it would be so hard to get shelter in the state capital.
We didn’t want to get into the trap of a real estate agent as many of our friends had a bitter experience. We were also not in a mood to spend lavishly after two beds so we decided to find room our self. Our office was at Ashok Marg so we tried to find accommodation near by.
We started our search from the students’ destination Narhai. We were told most of the student stays here. We took a break from our office and in the scorching heat knocked almost all the doors of lodges, paying guests and hostels here but all in vain. No body was ready to give us accommodation for two months. Every one asked us one common question what you people do? We were very honest and replied we are here for “training”. It seemed “training” was a new word for every one here and they closed the door on our face. Searching house in Narhai was same as solving crystal maze. Narhai is full of galies and rooms are architect in old fashion. Most of the hostels and paying guest had common bathrooms and toilets, which stinks badly. So staying in Narhai was not our cup of tea.
I even felt my appearance (shoulder length hairs) was also the problem. People here could not digest my shabby looks and stared me. My hairs guaranteed me second look. Few sarcastically remarked me Dhoni.
Our next destination was Hazratganj hub of Lucknow it is also compared with Connaught Place of Delhi. But I am sorry to say CP has no match with Hazratganj. We faced the same problem of accommodation here. Rooms were small and at very inconvenient place. Even they were very costly. I was badly missing comfort of my hostel in Kolkata and Munirka (Delhi). We were in desperate need of room as Shalabh had to leave his guesthouse. We only had one topic of discussion that was “where do we stay”?
We almost went to every possible place near Ashok Marg but could not find a place to hide. We were losing hopes when by chance we saw an advertisement of new boys hostel in Dalibagh. It was a hostel of Nazim bhai runned by Sharma jee the caretaker. Hostel had many rooms and problems along with it, but still it was not that bad to spend two month there. This hostel made us stronger as every day we had to face a new problem. Electricity and water were prominent. At times there was no water and some time there was water logging. In morning we even had to wait for our turn to do our morning activities. We were living in “Chaal of Lucknow”. For food we had to walk at least half a kilometer and after all these pain we got unhygienic and oily food. Every day we made plan to look for a new place but busy work schedule kept us engaged. Gradually we started loving it and after spending a month we decided to continue there for the next month.
