Every time I came to Lucknow during Moharam.. Ashura Chehlum or Athvi.. I shot Old Lucknow ..streets bylanes and specially the cobbled lanes where my Mother spent her short childhood days ,,at Pata Nala ,, near Kankar Kua ,, and her father Daroga Nabban Sab poet was a descendant of th eminent poet Mir Anis ,,
But after his death the children of the first wife of my grandfather migrated to Pakistan.. my grandmother Nazmi Bgum refused to leave Lucknow and India ,
She lived in penury and got my mother married to my dad at the age of 14,..my dad was a Lucknow born settled in Mumbai and had witnessed the ship bomb blast ,, at the docks when he worked at old Fort with a English boss from the tailoring fraternity .
My fathers family were hardcore Sunnis from Subatiya Bagh .vinegar merchants .. his father Bashir Hussain married a Shia lady Khurshed baji and accepted Shiasm surrendering his rights wealth everything to his relatives as he was the only male heir ,, so my dad too became a Shia ..and married my mom a Syed .
So I try to shoot those old lanes of Vazir Ganj where my paternal grandmother lived with her friend Chanda Baji..
I shot all the bylanes ,,and would let my imagination soar ,, my mothers friends in the adjoining lanes near Kankar Kua Bholi Juhi and others,, all dead I think..
My mother was very close to Nawab Durani ,,,he was related to her through his mother who was close relative of Daroga Nabban Sab,,
Sadly the old stories my mother told us when we were growing in Mumbai have all disappeared ,,
My mother started her tryst with my dad living in the slums of Kurla close to a Hindu crematorium.. I was born in Lucknow came to Mumbai as a year old .
Fro Kurla my dad bought her to Wodehouse road where we stayed in the palatial servants quarters of Late Nawab Kashmiris family ,, after living at Wodehouse road my dad got temporary accommodations at Neelam Breach Candy and finally settled with a huge brood at 3 Mohini Mansions ,,Strand Cinema Colaba .
Both my parents opted for Mumbai and are buried side by side at Rehmatabad Shia cemetery...
So when I come to Lucknow I try to wander to the birth place of my parents ,, try to capture it for posterity ,,
My in laws the Qazilbash are from Lucknow ,, the only house where my mother lived in Lucknow was sold off by my uncle ,, so all the memories have vanished so to speak.
And this is the introduction of my new video that is being uploaded at You Tube in BW ,,
