A city of splendid gardens & Gomti

A city which was home to rich heritage and culture, still has some of the most well-kept gardens and landscapes in the country. We must preserve these for future generations through sustainable model of development, says Ritu Gulati
Lucknow is a culturally and architecturally magnificent city. It has evolved over centuries of varied influences that have left an indelible mark on the city’s character.Like most Indian medieval cities this, too, has its origin on the banks of a river, in this case the Gomti. The river served as the most important source for water, livelihood and transportation. In due course of development, all important buildings and landmarks came up along Gomti and their access was also through the water with most people navigating on boats. Preliminarily a conglomeration of mohalla type settlements, Lucknow has witnessed spurts of development in various lineages. From the most initial structure of Macchhi Bhawan to the recent Chak Ganjaria City developments, the Gomti has remained the lifeline of this fast-developing city. While the earliest settlements emerged towards the Northwest side of the river, they extended spontaneously to the south east due to the influences of Nawabi, British and post Independent developments.

GOMTI AS A LIFELINE
During the Nawabi era, all the magnificent palace complexes including Daulatkhana, Chhatar Manzil and Kaiserbagh along with the religious complexes like Asafi and Hussainabad Imambaras and Jama Masjid beside others were placed strategically with respect to Gomti. This old city area, including Chowk, assumed prime significance in those times. After 1857, however, the morphology of the city transformed due to British re-planning. Thereafter, Hazratganj and Cantonment areas became more important and the most significant
public buildings like Vidhan Bhawan & Charbagh were located there. Hazratganj and adjoining areas continued to remain significant much after independence too, and only later, when further expansion of the city happened, a new core towards Gomti Nagar blossomed. In due course of multiple floods the Gomti was forced to be segre gated from habitation by embankments to such an extent that despite earlier being considered the entry point to the most significant buildings, it started becoming the backyard. Something we did not see or use much took the toll of apathy.
A CITY OF PALACES & GARDENS
Beside the Splendid Gomti, a unique aspect in Awadh were the garden palace complexes created and nurtured by the Nawabs. Developed on lines of Persian gardens, these included the Musa Bagh Badshah bagh, Sikander Bagh, Kaiserbagh, and Alambagh beside others. They were walled gardens enclosed for selected royals and elites having the choicest of trees, water bodies, flower beds, pavilions and even animals. Made for the sole purpose of rejuvenation and entertaining fellow elites, these were paradises which hosted many talented performances patronised by the Nawabs.
RESTRUCTURING OF LUCKNOW
Most of these palace gardens lost their significance when Lucknow was restructured by the British after 1857. Wide roads cut through, disjointed the overall ambience of these enclosed gardens, although even now we can see a faint glimpse of the splendour that must have been. The Europeans had a very different outlook to buildings and gardens for them meant landscape becoming the foreground and background for large ornate Palladian type villas and bungalows. They developed generous manicured green spaces that were aesthetically vibrant but not most suitable for our harsh climatic conditions. Their prime purpose was to give enough viewing space to the high ornate magnificent buildings like back in Europe where sun and heat were considered desirable.
POST INDEPENDENT LANDSCAPE
After independence, being a nation with limited resources, our approaches were more pragmatic and utilitarian to be used by the people of the democratic republic. The newly formed parks and gardens were either a collection of zoological and botanical specimens like the zoo, botanical garden and Kukrail forest; or landscaped ghats and spaces for religious rituals or melas. Many parks were also developed in the city for recreation or activity for children and evening out with families like Buddha, Globe or Hathi parks. Some gardens were also delegated as commemorative gardens for our freedom fighters, leaders, and personalities having varied political ideologies. In this course many more green areas kept on adding to a city already known for its gardens and parks.
(Writer is professor and HOD at Faculty of Architecture and Planning, AKTU)