I’m leaving for Lucknow tomorrow morning for a wedding and I’m already in nostalgia mode (that it is my parents’ anniversary, most of which I remember celebrating in Lucknow added to this trail of thought!). Planning the trip in my head, I remembered to look up the pictures of the last jaunt to the city in November 2011 for another wedding.

This trip was special as it was the first time I was staying on the SGPGI campus where I grew up after my mother retired a few years ago. Initially it felt strange not to drive direct to VA/1, the spacious bungalow that was home from June 1997 till August 2009. Someone else lives there now, but I didn’t have the heart to go there or even take pictures!

Udai remembers the campus well from our summer visits to stay with mum, but Aadyaa doesn’t. Yet, the open space, parks, well-maintained gardens with lovingly tended flower beds, vegetable patches and fruit trees, general greenery and friendliness of the people we still know won the kids over and we had a great time just soaking in the winter sun, talking about the old days and about common acquaintances.

Here are some clicks by Ma, me and the kids to give a glimpse of the campus that is  the largest hospital campus in Asia!

Two monkeys inside a tree!

Aadyaa took this picture; methinks she was trying to get inside the rose!

Yummy Gobhi; the pleasure of the kitchen garden

We took a walk by the lovely artificial lake that is built as a catchment. Sadly, someone has decided to erect this ugly tall fence all around!

Ma chats and I smile into the camera as Udai clicks! Soaking the sun 🙂

This is the kind of bungalow we lived in; Felt so much at home in aunty's house 🙂

Gyan (in dark glass, short for Gyanvati) was our maid's daughter and my best friend for most of the time we lived in Lucknow. We shared giggles, cooked together and chatted endlessly! Here she is with her three daughters, me with my two and a neighbor's kid as well!