Lucknow

My first impression of this dilapidated relic of a city,passing off as an excuse of a state capital,evoked a mixture of claustrophobia and wonder.The sheeer number of people overwhelmed me.

The more interactions i had in the city the more i could undertsand the reason UP is part of the infamous BIMARU group.The most striking aspect about this place is the lack of intelligence/efficiency of the people who are part of the government machinery.Getting a ticket reserved in a railway station can be a pain for someone who is accustomed to doing the same in other parts of the country.

Usually the guy on the other side of the counter is more informed about the various rules and intricacies that lace the reservation system in the Indian Railways.On multiple occasions i found that in Lucknow the people in charge of this job do not know some basic features like a "break journey".I tried to attribute it to the low literacy levels,until i visited a dentist yesterday.

Impressed by decent exteriors and qualifications on the nameboard i entered into a dental clinic.It was house cum clinic.I asked the "maali" whether the doctor was in because i had arrived 5 mins earlier than the visitng time.Yes, im the doctor came the reply.Now i understood reel life does borrow from real life.

Upon being seated on the dentist's equivalent of a shrink;s couch, i realised that he had his son who was studying in a Dental Collge was moonlighting as an apprentice.The doctor himself was like the "Bada Imam Bara"- a relic.The father and son duo proceeded to work on me -the proverbial guinea pig,frog ..cockroach.The good dad giving his son fundaes at the expense of my "batthisi".

Then came the coup de grace,the apprentice who had just gone into the other room to snatch glimpses of the cricket match let out an exclamation in the aftermath of a Rahul Dravid six.

I couldnt believe my ears.I had bought a friend along who was watching the cricket match in the waiting room and i had told the doc that i study at the IIM and thereby hinting that do not butter me up with CRM coz im not a lifetime customer for a you.

Neways as soon as the ball landed beyond the boundary the apprentice/son exclaimed "By Jove, thats a shot".Now nothing could explain this expression.Colonial hangover, reading too much about butlers and royalty,PG Wodehouse..nothing could explain it...i wish i gave the doc and the son a piece of my mind...but then i had too much at stake- a tooth and decent sum of money....

I returned to the only heaven/haven i know in Lucknow ..campus...