Picto Diary - 13 December 2019 (1) - La Martiniere School, Lucknow
Above: The Constantia Building. La Martiniere School, Lucknow, India. 13 December 2019.
The Economist has described The Constantia building as "perhaps the best-preserved colonial building in Lucknow."
La Martinière College is an educational institution located in Lucknow, the capital of the Indian State of Uttar Pradesh. The college consists of two schools on different campuses for boys and girls. La Martinière Boys' College was founded in 1845 and La Martinière Girls' College was established in 1869. The Boys' College is the only school in the world to have been awarded royal battle honors for its role in the defense of Lucknow during the mutiny of 1857. The two Lucknow colleges are part of the La Martinière family of schools founded by the French adventurer Major General Claude Martin. There are two La Martinière Colleges in Kolkata and three in Lyon. La Martinière provides a liberal education and the medium of instruction is the English language. The schools cater for pupils from the ages of five through to 17 or 18, and are open to children of all religious denominations. The schools have day scholars and residence scholars (boarders).
Above: Drums and school boys. La Martiniere School, Lucknow, India. 13 December 2019.
La Martiniere school boys, mid tour, came and grabbed Drums and took him on a private tour of their school. Boys go home tomorrow to points all over India for one month Christmas break. PS. Boys were dressed as school boys should be: Monogrammed jackets and school ties.
Above: Bust, Major General Claude Martin. La Martiniere School, Lucknow, India. 13 December 2019.
Major General Claude Martin (5 January 1735 – 13 September 1800) was an officer in the French, and later the English East India Company's army in India. He rose to the position of Major General in the English East India Company's Bengal Army. Martin was born in Lyon, France, into a humble background, and was a self made man who has left a substantial lasting legacy in the form of his writings, buildings and the educational institutions he founded posthumously. There are now ten schools named after him, two in Lucknow, two in Calcutta, and six in Lyon.
Above: Gun. La Martiniere School, Lucknow, India. 13 December 2019.
Gun cast in 1786 by school founder, French adventurer, Major General Claude Martin, and dedicated to Charles, Earl Cornwallis, to whom he served as aide de camp. After the British defeat by George Washington at Yorktown, October 19, 1781, Cornwallis was sent to Calcutta head British East India Company as Governor General.
Above: Pipe band rehearses. La Martiniere School, Lucknow, India. 13 December 2019.
This wonderful school reeks of history and tradition. Drums should go there for a year!
Above: Roll of Honor. La Martiniere School, Lucknow, India. 13 December 2019.
These La Martiniere students died in defense of the Residency during the Sepoy Rebellion/Mutiny, 1857.
Above: Painting of Nawab Wajid Ali Shah on Mughals Dasterkwhan Restaurant wall. Lucknow, India. 13 December 2019.
Local "hero" Wajid Ali Shah, last Nawab of Awadh, deposed by the Brits for indolence in 1856. He had 365 wives. Ouster was not the only, but a proximate, cause of the Uprising (Mutiny) in 1857. Broadly speaking, the increasing power and greed of the British East India Company and fear of forced conversion to Christianity gave rise to climate where the Mutiny was predestined.
Otherwise, fast forward to 2019. Eatin' good in the neighborhood.
Paratha
Roti
Vegetable Biryani
Chicken Masala
Mixed vegetables
Lucknow. Best eating on this India trip.