Our President and CEO, Prateek Hira conducted a Knowledge Sharing Webinar for the Department of Tourism Government of India which was highly appreciated and acknowledged by the department through a personal letter by the Secretary Tourism, Government of India.
Hakim Mehdi Ali Khan
Hakim Mehdi Ali Khan the Prime Minder of King (Nawab) Nasir-ud-Din Haider had put forth a proposal to construct an observatory in 1831. Hakim Mehdi was entrusted with many projects that included educational institutions, hospitals and many other projects of public utility. Nasir-ud-Din Haider was an astronomy buff and had interest in astrology which was linked to astronomy. He also studied astronomy while in Calcuata. Possibly this might have the reason for Hakim Mehdi to propose an observatory in Lucknow. Also Raja Ratan Singh was a famous astrologer and a scholar of those times and had written many texts. He had travelled to England and his book ‘Garden of Astronomy’ was published in which he wrote about telescopes that he inspected in England and France. Raja Ratan Singh also gave a detailed description of Halley’s Comet. Also Raja Ratan Singh was a famous astrologer and a scholar of those times and had written many texts.
Astronomical drawing by Raja Ratan Singh
The observatory that was called ‘Tare Wali Kothi’, (also Tara Wali Kothi) meaning ‘Mansion of Stars’, was ordered to be made on the lines of England’s Greenwich Observatory, under Capt Herbert who was called to Lucknow from Calcutta to supervise the construction along with one Bakhtawar Singh. But as the King wanted the constriction to be at a fast paced, the charge was taken away from Herbert in 1835 and instead given to one Lt. Col Richard Wilcox. Wilcox was given the post of a Royal Astronomer in the court of Nasir-ud-Din Haider. The Royal Astronomer, Lt. Colonel Wilcox too was given a house to live just by the side of this observatory and his house too had a similar exterior and looked quite alike the main observatory.
King Nasir-ud-Din Haider ruled Oudh (Awadh) from 19th October 1827 till 7th of July 1837 when he was tragically poisoned to death leaving his dream of observatory unfulfilled. The observatory only could get completed in 1841 when Mohammad Ali Shah took over and then it started functioning only when his son Amjad Ali Shah took the charge of the Kingdom of Awadh.
Tara Wale Kothi (or Tare Wali Kothi), The Observatory – Lucknow. (Old picture from post Indian Uprising)
The building had two stories with a lower-level floor and had two main huge halls in the center. The design was quite simple and confirmed to the neo-classical style or architecture. On the top of the building was a small circular room with a dome which was a hemispherical and had removable shutters. This entire structure could revolve on six huge wheels made of iron and suspended by pulley. A very large and an impressive telescope was placed here in such a manner so that it could be moved in any direction one wanted to focus the gadget. The primary telescope was placed on a pillar, constructed with mortar that was erected to pass through both the floors of the building. Apart from the telescope, many other astronomical gadgets were placed on different pillars made of stones. The hall that was under the dome was made in a way that it could be turned pitch dark whenever one wanted to. The shutters were used for this purpose and when light was required these shutters were pushed down into the lower floor.
Tare Wali Kothi Observatory was very rich in its procession of the latest astronomical gadgets which included many different kinds of telescopes, magnetometers, thermometers, barometers and many other kinds of machines that worked on power induced by chemical reactions. All this was based on and was quite similar to the Royal Observatory in Greenwich.
At Tare Wali Kothi, astronomy classes were held for the young courtiers and astronomical works were translated into Urdu and Persian languages by the staff of the Observatory. Some great writings and researches on astronomy of those days were translated to local language here in Urdu and the court language Persian in order to make it easy for the masses to understand and relate to astronomy, which then was almost an unknown subject of study for many.
One Kamal-ud-Din who wrote about the history of Awadh in him book ‘Swanhaat-e-Salaatin-e-Awadh’ was deputed to translate the works and a journal was published from this observatory titled, ‘The Lucknow Almanack’ giving information on astronomy and information about the planets and stars.
Governor General Henry Hardinge, 1st Viscount Hardinge
Nawab Wajid Ali Shah took over the throne of Oudh on 13th of February 1847 and then he sanctioned rupees four hundred and fifty thousand for the upkeep and the advancement of this observatory, Tare Wali Kothi. But later Wajid Ali Shah got it closed as he got annoyed with Kamal-ud-Din in 1850 for not mentioning his name with flattery in his book on Oudh, rather demeaning him in one of the chapters of his book. A record by John Pemble quotes that the King was asked to put on English leather shoes instead of his Royal Lucknow Shoes when he was to meet the Governor General Viscount Hardinge who in 1847 came to Lucknow and had to visit Nawab Wajid Ali Shah’s court. This was so as it would have proven King’s superiority over the Governor General – this was the time when the air in Awadh had begun to change and British ego was inflating.
This very incident was mentioned by Kamal-ud-Din in his book and due to this the King was so extremely annoyed with Kamal-ud-Din thus ordered the closure of Tare Wali Kothi, observatory and along with it many printing presses too were shut. Finally in 1852 most of the gadgets of this observatory were sent off to Calcutta, bringing an end to astronomy in Awadh.
In 1857 during the uprising this observatory was made headquarter of the rebelling forces and was used for discussing war plans. On 2nd of November 1857 a meeting between the Taluqadars (aristocrats who owned smaller kingdoms in and around Awadh, often titled ‘Raja’) and Zamindars (feudal landlords and owners of large properties in rural India) of Oudh was held here in which they promised their support for Wajid Ali Shah’s son Birjis Qadar and Wajid Ali’s wife Hazrat Mahal, declaring Birjis Qadar the King of Awadh and Hazrat Mahal the Queen Mother, after Wajid Ali Shah was deposed by the British and exiled to Calcutta.
This observatory remained under Ahmad Ullah Shah right till November 17, 1857, and was then taken over Colin Campbell who reached Lucknow for its defense. Lucknow Residency was relieved but there was yet another conflict that took place in March 1858 when this observatory was extensively damaged and the remaining astronomical gadgets kept here were destroyed then.
State Bank of India (Lucknow Main Branch)
Tare Wali Kothi was no more the same and was further modernised and restructured to accommodate the office of the ‘Bank of Bengal’ which was later renamed as the ‘Imperial Bank of India’ and further on in 1955 (much after India had gained independence in 1947) it came to be called ‘The State Bank of India’, one of the largest banks of India till date and it still occupies the same premises. Most of the parts of this building were as they were originally for quite some time but sadly the bank unmindfully further restructured it to take away any of its remaining character. Adjoining home of the General Manager of the State Bank of India is still untouched, at least from the exteriors and this actually was the home of the Royal Astronomer Lt. Col Richard Wilcox.
Prateek Hira, Founding President & CEO, Tornos and Gastroutes, and Chairman – IATO Uttar Pradesh & Uttarakhand chapters, feels that COVID-19 has come as a further dampener to the already dampened inbound tourism sector of India, adding to its woes and putting the sector in a comatose-like situation.
-Manas Dwivedi
Sharing his view on the current pandemic crippling the tourism industry in the country, especially the inbound sector, the Lucknow-based tourism entrepreneur, Prateek Hira, believes that business was already not passing through a good phase and COVID-19 pandemic has further added to the woes of tour operators. “I am particularly worried about its ripple effects that will only pop-up after this situation has ended. Tourism largely stands on the foundation of a good economy and in this case, the global economy is shaken to the core. Of course, the industry stands with the government and is supporting each step that our government has taken or intends to take further to come out of this threat, but at the same time, I have seen that governments in India often fail our industry’s expectations after such crisis have ebbed,” he said.
“It is imperative that our government simultaneously and seriously start planning the revival of inbound tourism in India, else it will be too little too late to revive inbound tourism anytime soon. ‘Fear’ and ‘perception’ will be the two key words that will have to be addressed immediately after this health emergency is dealt with, and a robust marketing campaign has to be in place to address the after-effects of COVID-19 on tourism,” Hira further said.
According to the Tornos CEO, it is indeed encouraging that India, by and large, has done very well to contain the virus and it is time to publicise this feat well internationally to gain some interest. “If not dealt with in time and efficiently, it will only complicate the matter further and not only will it prolong recovery of lost ground, but also a large chunk of market will be lost to our aggressive neighbours who are consistent and will come up with attractive opportunities,” he commented.
| ONLINE MAGAZINE ARTICLE MAY BE READ AT: http://www.traveltradejournal.com/let-your-hopes-not-your-hurts-shape-the-future/ |
Tourism always flourishes when minds are carefree and people feel secured to escape from mundane and hectic lives to relaxed environs. COVID-19 seems to be changing our way of seeing the world and people around us, at least till the time we see it as a threat to our well-being. This perception would continue till the time we have an effective cure or a preventive vaccine in place. Having said that, we also need to realise that COVID-19 is just another viral infection and can be prevented by just a few simple hygiene and lifestyle changes and that once we have learnt to practice that, we are somewhat sorted, or at least guarded against it to minimise the risk of infection. Travellers will now be concerned about hygiene protocols and service standards will include this as a priority but at the same time it is imperative that we do not make all this look ‘abnormal’. There is a thin line between ‘Abnormal’ and so called ‘New Normal’. ‘New normal’ is practical and logical safeguards while ‘Abnormal’ is — impractical protocols, exhibited protectionism, using ‘hygiene standards’ as marketing tools et al., which if takes over, will be very unfortunate and a deterrent in rebuilding the lost confidence of an average traveller.
“I foresee a temporary change in the demography of travellers, choice of destinations, kinds of accommodation and mode of transport. But then I believe that well-planned travel programmes will come back and people would like to travel in a more structured form, through tour operators and stay at standard hotels that reassure quality, will be a priority for travellers. In the leisure segment, domestic short distance travel will be first to pick up, followed by domestic long distance and then inbound leisure will limp back to normalcy to gain the lost grounds,” adds Prateek.
Words like ‘Responsible’ and ‘Sustainable’ till now referred to the responsibility towards the host culture and environment but now, it will also refer to the guests’ well-being and safety, in a way responsibility of the host towards the guest. This is good in a way as under responsible travel and sustainable practices both will have inter-dependence and equal responsibility towards each other. Prateek further shares, “Responsible will now include responsibility of both the host and the guest to protect each other from any infection and aliment, while ‘Sustainability’ would now be not only about the destination but also about the source market as the safe and hygienic experience of travellers would be paramount for the sustenance of inflow and tourism in a destination as a whole.”
Initiatives to promote responsible and sustainable practices“We as a 26 year old business had seen many downtrends, though none as devastating as COVID-19 situation. Being an old company and financially disciplined, we could survive but the most worrying part is about the younger ones and the start-ups who are facing the worst already before seeing any good. As a company, we are seeing this period of lull as our (re)start-up days, where we are now seeing the market and avenues afresh. Our analysis points at the IBT recovery coming-in by October 2021 that gives us about 18 months of not much on the operations front. There are two ways to look at this, one that we lost all grounds and that eighteen months is too long a period for a running business to pause suddenly but we felt this would be a pessimistic approach and only letting the efforts of 26 years and the built-up market go waste; second thought was to think like a new business, like a start-up of sorts and then to restructure, re-engineer and to innovate, to position ourselves more strongly and be ready when business starts owing in.” Sustainable and responsible travel will now have new expanded meaning and to implement these, we have to be prepared well. COVID-19 has also very effectively induced empathy and care for all by all, and assumingly requirements of a traveller from travel will change even though for a short term. It is imperative that we prepare ourselves and be ready during this (re-)gestation period of our business. People might demand, uncluttered destinations, peaceful and rejuvenating environs. Slow travel would be the kind of travel that will be most in demand as people would feel more comfortable travelling that way. Seeing all this, products would have to be redesigned, itineraries restructured, choice of accommodation will have to be re-calibrated and tuned to suit the demand of COVID era traveller. |
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