By TCN Reporer,
Lucknow: If you want to explore the essence of the Old City of Lucknow, there is perhaps no better introduction to the enchanting heritage hidden in the narrow lanes and bylanes of the historic Chowk area than the ‘Heritage Walk’ that kicked off on Sunday morning with enthusiasm and fanfare.
The walk from Lal Pul to Akbari Gate, organised by the Tourism department, was flagged-off by Tourism Minister Vinod Singh in the presence of senior officials of the district administration. Aimed at revisiting the city’s grandeur, the ‘Heritage Walk’, that started at 7 am from Tilewali Masjid, witnessed a huge participation of denizens walking through the narrow streets of old Lucknow, that go through a cluster of housing blocks.
Even the minister walked all along the route with other senior officials including Director General, Tourism, Avneesh Awasthi, District Magistrate AK Sagar.
The enthusiastic participants walked through traditional monuments depicting the architectural legacies, mosques with tall minarets jostling the sky, temples, majestic gates and splendid havelis.
Guided by tourist guide Naveed Zia, the walk also led the participants through the fragrance laden Phool Wali Gali, itr (fregnmance) shops, world famous silver and chikan workshops and saraf khanas thus providing an enriching experience of royal culture of the City of Nawabs.
The grave of poet Mir Anees and haveli of musician Naushad were also a few stops during the walk.
“I came to know about some startling things which I did not know before,” said a hotel management student Debashish.
The highlight of the walk on Sunday was the pair of fish emblem facing each other on top of nearly all the doors. It is believed that the fish emblem, considered to be a lucky mascot, is found as far as in South Korea, Egypt and Turkey.
“Heritage Walk is a great way of creating awareness about rich culture of the city,” said advisor, heritage programme, Ahmedabad Muncipal Corporation, Debashish Nayak, who is behind the idea.
Meanwhile, speaking on the occasion, Awasthi said that the department was planning to organise a similar walk through Kaiserbagh and Aminabad in the near future. He also said that a similar walk would be started in Agra, Varanasi and Kanpur also.
The walk will continue and the participants will be guided by volunteers.