Old Lucknow will come alive in Kolkata this month with two events — a heritage walk and a two-month long art exhibition — that will not only celebrate Wajid Ali Shah, the last Nawab of Awadh who stood for communal harmony, but also look beyond what is already known about him.
In the exhibition, titled Shahrashob — Letters between Lucknow and Calcutta and to be held from November 23 to January 20 at Studio Bari, the works of artist Soumyadeep Roy, one of whose favourite subjects happens to be the Nawab, will be based on eight years of his research on the links connecting the two cities.
“The back and forth between the two cities led to the publication of several seminal works. Then there were artists travelling from Calcutta/Santiniketan and working in Lucknow, like Lalit Mohan Sen and Asit Haldar — that’s another thing I am touching upon. There are also drawings I’ve done on the letters that Satyajit Ray wrote to his mother from Lucknow while he was still a college student. Then, of course, I’m presenting all the people who migrated from Lucknow to Calcutta during Wajid Ali Shah’s time and their almost unknown stories,” said Mr. Roy.
Manzilat Fatima, foodpreneur and great-great granddaughter of Wajid Ali Shah and his wife Hazrat Mahal, who will be inaugurating the exhibition, said the Ganga-Jamuni Tehzeeb (culture of communal confluence) had reached its peak during the reign of Wajid Ali Shah in Awadh.
