Justice Markandey Katju

I have a special affinity with Lucknow. I was born there, and though I grew up in Allahabad, I visited Lucknow many times, and have many friends and relatives there ( there is even a Kashmiri mohalla where my relatives lived for generations ).

So this sher of the great Urdu poet Munawwar Rana, who in his ‘Mohajirnama’ was describing the lament of Lucknowites who had migrated to Pakistan at the time of Partition, and later regretted it, breaks my heart :

”Moharram mein hamaara Lucknow Iran lagta tha

Madad maula Husainabad rota chhod aaye hain “

Long live Lucknow ! Long live Lucknowites !