Lucknow, the ‘golden city of the east’ retains an old world charm that fascinates one and all. Regarded as one of the finest cities of India, Lucknow emanates a culture that combines emotional warmth, a high degree of sophistication, courtesy and a love for gracious living. This sublime cultural richness famous as ‘Lucknowi Tehzeeb’ blends the cultures of two communities living side by side for centuries, sharing similar interests, speaking a common language – Urdu.
Tehzeeb means to be orderly and dedicated to building ones lives on a solid foundation of order and service. Many of the cultural traits and customs peculiar to Lucknow have become living legends today. The credit for this goes to the Nawabs of Awadh, who took keen interest in every walk of life and encouraged everyone to attain a rare degree of perfection.
During olden days, male children of Nawabs used to be sent to learn Tehzeeb to the Dancing girls of Chowk, i.e. inside Akbari Darwaza in Nakhas area. The language spoken by these Nawabs was Urdu, perhaps the sweetest sounding language in India. It is also said that since the time of Nawab Wajid Ali Shah, it was a social prevalence to be extra courteous and soft-spoken using chosen lingua; interacting with each other and going to the Nawab’s palace which was open to all. This free access to approach the Nawab made his ‘riyaya’ so ‘tehzeebzada’ that it became a tradition and was carried through generations.
Sample this funny story (chances are you might have heard it before already in some form):
Two Nawabs of Awadh wait to board a train. When they find they are both making to enter, they step aside and the first immediately makes way for the second saying, ‘Pehle aap’. But the second will have none of it and likewise insists, ‘Pehle aap’. The first Nawab however will not budge from his position and neither will the second, both insisting that the other must board first. The polite impasse continues until the train departs.
Maybe they were carrying politeness a bit too far, but history tells us that the tehzeeb of Awadh really was something else. It showed in the care even ordinary citizens took in dressing themselves, in adornment, in speech, and manner, in their appreciation of art and music and especially in developing a refined culinary standard.
kakorikababs 