There are three must-do things for a visitor to Lucknow, said the cab driver: ‘Tunday kabab khaen, Imambara dekhen aur chikan khareeden.’ (Eat tunday kabab, visit the Imambara and buy chikan.) Not heeding his sound advice, a group of four writers at the Lucknow litfest decided to spend a day with Lucknow’s dead poets.
I was in Lucknow to attend the literary festival. Apparently I was. The not-so-apparent purpose of my visit unveiled later. I had emailed the organisers asking about Mir Taqi Mir’s mazar. . .