Friday, March 23, 2012

Hum aur humara U.P.


The other day , I was chatting with my Bengali friend .
I got really pissed off at someone and ( angreji gayi choolhe mein ) strated ranting off in hindi .
As soon as I stopped , she began giggling ,”Now that was typical UP ki hindi “
Banaras Ghats

Which made me realize . How come I have never written a blog about hamara UP :-D
From the ‘tehzeeb’ and ‘nawabs’ of Lucknow , the ghats of Benaras , the temples of Brindavan , the Ganga at Haridwar , the ‘thugoo ke laddo’ of Kanpur , the Sangam at Allahabad , and of’course , the Taj ( excluding it’s corridor ) at Agra . 

Hum pesh karte hai  , Hamara UP *adaab arz hai*

1.Hamare UP ki chai 


“Tanik dudhwa kam daliyega . Chai maange hai , sarbat naahi “

Trust me , I’ve tasted chai in every part of the country ( and sometimes, outside the country ) . 
But there is something about hamari UP ki chai .
The way people scream across offices/fields/roads/houses ,”Bhaiya jeeeeeeeeeeee… chai piyoge kaa ? “
No matter whether you get something or not , chai toh milegi hi !
‘Kulhad’ waali station chai , that special ‘masala waali cutting chai’ , the thick ‘kadak’ chai seeping through tiny pores of ‘chhalni’ .

The tea leaves are the same , the sugar and milk too .But I guess it’s the UP ka flavour which makes it more special .

2.Hamare UP ki shaadi 

Bhaiya aisa hai , ki shaadi toh you need to see in UP ! 

The firing of fire-arms , the dance in Baraats ( and there is always that ONE guy who does a bawaaliya ‘naagin’ dance ) , the fighting over buffet and the photo-shoot of the dulan ( with flowers in the background and that red saree )
The bride’s family cursing the groom’s in songs ( if you have been to village marriages ).
The way chachi , bua , tai , mami , bhauji , mausi , naati , poti , gaav waali ‘dooooor’ ki nanad get together and gossip . Music to the ears gentlemen .

And the super loud ( totally off beat ) band wala playing “aaj mere yaar ki shaadi hai  .
Aye haye , karejwa maan aag lag jaat hai ! ;-)

3.Hamare UP ka khana 

Ye toh aapko kahin aur mil hi nahi sakta ( you just cannot get it anywhere else ) .
The khasta , poori , kachauri , oil soaked bread-rolls ,matar-paneer and chhole combo on
Special’ occasions !

Lucknow ke kabab , Mathura ke pede , Agra ke pethe , Kanpur ke laddoo .. all epic in themselves .
The imarti , gujiya , 20 different types of milk sweets ,thandai , Chandra-kala ( again ,a village delicacy ) and the most exquisite , CHAAT ! 

If you are a UPite ( even if you aren’t ) you’ll be drooling over your keyboard right now :D


4. Hamare UP ki kala
UP is the home to Kathak , one of the ancient ( and still surviving ) dance forms .

Not to mention ,the seat of Hindustani classical music ( the other form of Indian classical music is the Carnatic music .. in South India  )

Most of the hindi ( and urdu ) literature arose from UP .
Munshi Premchand ,one of the foremost hindi-urdu authors .

From the urdu shayars under nawabs , to the forlorn kavis writing on the banks of Ganga , we have held our heads high .


Be it the chikan-work of Lucknow , the Benarasi silk sarees ,the jamdani weaving , the 'batik' work or the famous 'attar' from those long forgotten bazaars ...
You know why the we are a bit 'high handed' at times ;-) 


But of’course , (if you are in UP ) you can never ignore the Bhojpuri music and the timeless classics ( saiyyan magan Pahalwani mein , Rus gayel sayya hamar , Aye Sawaan ki Bela ) 

Of’course ,in case you haven’t enjoyed the bliss of Bhojpuri … you can always opt for James Bond (translated ) ;-)
“hammar naam ba Bond … James Bond “

5. Paan aur Politics . 
'Paan' has always been a part of 'nawabi' tehzeeb . 
Those crimson paans ,and silver spitoons are inseparable from the Awadhi culture .
 However , thins do degrade with time .
I have a feeling that Paan Parag and Rajnigandha ( and other such poisons ) have been running solely on Uttar Pradesh .

The amount of paan masala , paan ki paati , choona , kattha , bidi ( and God knows what not ) that gets consumed everyday , is staggering .
And then of’course , there is the ‘peek’ .On the road , in offices , schools , hotels , shamshaan ghats ..omnipresent !

I have a feeling Congress should adopt the “peek” as their election symbol in our state  .Maybe that’ll help :D
Ah ! We are the one of biggest states ,and still send the largest number of MPs to the centre .

But alas , caste politics zindabaad ! We are caught between two parties . How do we say it in hindi ?
‘Ek ser toh dooja sava ser” *sigh*

Ganga Arti - Haridwar

All in all , I have left a lot of things out . It’s almost impossible to cover the entire state in one article . 

Yes , we are not the most developed state ( *cheeky grin* ) . But then , we’ll get there one day .If statues stop erecting themselves and people don’t get trampled under cycles .
Ji ,humara Lucknow

But the UP spirit of living ,our ‘majakiya andaaz’ , the bhaukali style , the ‘never say die’ attitude is something you wouldn’t find anywhere .

      Kabhi tashreef laiye . You'll love it :)

20 comments:

  1. Absolute nostalgia.
    This is an amazing piece of writing!
    Very creatively written. Cheers to UP! :)
    -Dhruv

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  2. What happened to your sarcastic self? Unfair!

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  3. @dhruv - thankuuuu beta . Bhatina ki bhindi *ahem ahem* :-D

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  4. MAzedaaar!! keep rockin Up waaloo!!

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  5. Wonderful yaar Akshay...
    To Bhaiyajee chai pilayoge?
    I so want to visit the Taj and chakofy the agra ke pethe :-)))
    Great post yaar!!

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  6. sexy hai yaar....i am taking my unit people to lko this time...they need to read this post now..:)

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  7. @Vanchha - I know you will love it ! :D
    @Jenny - Aap aaiye toh sahi :P
    @raghav - Le jao . I am taking Karthi there yaaaaaaaaaaaaa :D
    @Blooming rose - Shukriya :D

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  8. Hello! You have an award awaiting on my blog :-)

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  9. awesom !! .fr me its ur best 1.. i ever cam across,, luvd how u hav handled taj mahal n d corridor case..etc,,golguppa n tht bond thing was just too goood,,!!




    hats off to u buddy,,!! n i really mean it wid heart,,!!

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  10. @Jenny - Thank you ! on my wayyyyyyyyyyy :D
    @Hari - You should be there . The ghat , the Ganga flowing , the temple bells , the incense ... It's MAGIC :D
    @MISHRA - MUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUAH :*
    @Kruti - Thank you :D

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  11. ROFL .... pigs do fly ... I have experienced the buffet fights to some xtent when I attended a wedding in Kanpur ...you missed out the kofta and the Boti kebabs :P...

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  12. Waah waah janaab...U.P. ka poora tadka laga diya aapne aur phir aapka khud ka ajab gazab flavour-I loved the bhaasha and the treatment....

    U.P. government should hire you..you glorify it all so beautifully :-)

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  13. hahahaha ...sabse inportant cheez toh miss ho gayi !
    Hamare UP ki Suruchi <3

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  14. loved this post.. and seriously, shooting guns in the air at weddings :O

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  15. hahah .. well , it's quite common :P

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