The Pioneer

Pic October 1988: In the background is the old Pioneer Press
 building designed by American architect Walter Burley Griffin. The 
foundation stone was laid by Viceroy of India, the
Marquis of Linlithgow on December 16, 1936. Griffin died in
 Lucknow the following  year. The excavation work for a
multistorey building to replace the Griffin building came too
close leading to a wall sinking.
A reticent editorial staff stand for a pic: L to R KC Khanna, Sudarshan 
Bhatia, David Solomon, Somnath Sapur (Editor), George 
Shepherd (back), CK Mukund, Alpa Kapoor, Lance Mannays (back),
 Kaliyani Malviya(?) and Ravi Dutta.
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Owned by the Jaipuria family, industrialists of Kanpur.
the paper was handed over to the Thapar Group in the early
1990s that resold it a few years later.
The Pioneer was started by Sir George Allen in Allahabad 
in 1865. It shifted to Lucknow towards the end of
the 1920s or beginning of the 1930s and was located
near Maqbara on Hazratganj before it moved into a the building
specifically planned for a press on Abbott Road, the present 
Vidhan Sabha Marg. The move from Allahabad to Lucknow was 
done over several days and that too without missing an 
edition. The editor Desmond Young, later author of The Desert Fox, 
travelled from Lucknow to Allahabad and 
back by car carrying the lead plates so that 
readers had their copy of The Pioneer in the 
morning. This will be a world record the shifting of
tons of machinery over a distance of 179 km and not missing 
a single edition!

In the pic: A tea shop where for years press people had their cuppa
and samosas is now called Pioneer Cafe. The construction taking place
is the rebuilding of the old mosque outside the gate of Ratan Square,
the new Pioneer building that is now a complex of offices, while the
paper moved to another office comples on Faizabad Road.

UP Governor Ram Naik against British legacy

George Orwell was of the opinion that 'Nationalism is not to be confused with
patriotism', something that many people in India believe to be interchangeable.
Rajbhavan or Government House in Lucknow must be a very
stifling abode for Governor Ram Naik with all the memorabilia from the past 
(maybe even spirits) flitting through the massive mansion he occupies in Lucknow!!

Up ahead is the Burlington crossing, the name derived from the hotel
by that name to the right of the road that was replace a few years
ago by a mall

OCR building in centre of the pic: While old names are routinely changed,
the 12-storey building that replaced the bungalow known as the Old
Councillor's Residence of the British Raj has retained the name.

Bapu Bhavan on the left replace the old, old Royal Hotel

Hazratganj, Lucknow

The new building built by the Samajwadi Party
 government of Ahkilesh Yadav...

Hazratganj xing, Lucknow

The Council House, Lucknow

Hussainabad talaab and clock tower, Lucknow

The Hussainabad Clock Tower

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The Satkhanda or 7-storied
building was never completed

In the background is the picture gallery that has
paintings of some of the Nawabs of Oudh.
Wife Audrey accompanied me to check out the progress
in the beautification drive at the Hussainabad Talaab
and Clock Tower, Lucknow on Sunday, July 17 2016

Crosthwaite Homes, Lucknow

They are old, but cheerful
Herald News Service                         (National Herald, Lucknow 1989                                                                               cutting courtesy Vernon Goss)
One generally associates an old people's
home with dreary surroundings and drearier people, but a visit to the Dorothy Crosthwaite Home in Ashok Marg proves to be a happy exception.
Built in a large compound with lots of sunny patches, the surroundings are, in fact, far from dreary and the people appear to be a friendly lot as they warmly welcome a visitor into their midst. If they're unhappy and lonely, then they hide it very well under warm smiles and cheerful banter.
The D.C. Home, as it is more commonly known, was established as far back as 1939 for Europeans and Anglo-Indians who had nobody in this world. Named after the wife of one of the last British commissioners of Lucknow, the home presently houses about a dozen residents, explains its general secretary, Mrs Sheila D'Costa.
Anglo-Indian all, these quaint people with names and accents that remind one of ye olde England are happiest when talking of the good old days when the foxtrot was still the in thing and old world courtesy and chivalry had not yet gone out of fashion.
There's Mrs Betty Young who laughs and says, "don't let my name mislead you" for she is, in fact, all of 76 years old. Indulging in nostalgia, she fondly remembers the days of her youth happily spent in Lahore.
While admitting that she is, obviously, much past her dancing days, old Mrs Young regrets that the younger generation has done away with ballroom dancing completely.

Liquor politics

An assortment of pics!

Denzil Bayley and Jake

Jake 

The Jagran crossing

St Joseph's Cathedral, Hazratganj, Lucknow

Near the IT College

The Jagran press-Jopling Road crossing

Gorakhpur

Ivor Rozario and Dennis Bayley, retired
NER drivers (Gorakhpur)

Mr Rodney Potter (L) retired Railway Protection
Force official

At the Potter residence in Bisharatpur, Gorakhpur
Mr Potter's wife, Shirley had expired
December 27 2015 late  evening. The funeral
took place in the afternoon of the 28th Dec