CANCELLED--CSAS Lecture Series | Lucknow in Letters: Endeavors, Achievements, and Tragedies

We regret that we have had to cancel this event and we apologize for any inconvenience.

"Lucknow in letters: endeavours, achievements, and tragedies" is a multilingual (Urdu, English and Hindi) reading of personal letters written to/from Lucknow along with some contemporary newspaper reports and essays that provides glimpses of and chronicles the lived experience of the city since the 'ghadar' (Revolt of 1857) to the present times. Accompanied by images of original manuscripts, letters and the people who wrote them, the event has been conceived of as a labour of love for the city and its syncretic culture. The letters have been sourced from family archives and published material recording memories of everyday life in the city as well as events in history and interesting intersections of the personal and the political.

A contemporary Urdu newspaper account of the beginnings of the revolt of 1857 in the cantonments of Lucknow , letters written by British officers stationed in the city in the late 19th and early 20th centuries….letters recording the sacrifices made in the struggle for independence….letters about memories of separation and longing of families torn apart by the Partition….of the determined struggle by the oppressed and marginalized groups as they struggled to lead a life of dignity in an independent India…..letters about everyday life….of childhood pranks, marriage proposals and food….these letters weave a tapestry of what it meant to live in the city and how those who wrote these letters interpreted and narrativised what they experienced of life in the city.

Saman Habib is currently a Senior Scientist at the Central Drug Research Institute in Lucknow where her work involves dissecting the molecular workings of the malaria parasite. She is also interested in the public interface of science and the spread of evidence-based, rational thought.

Sanjay Muttoo is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Journalism in Kamla Nehru College, Delhi University. He has been associated with All India Radio as a newsreader in English. In partnership with publishing firm Scholastic, he tells stories to children in primary schools. He has made documentary films and worked in television.