Save culture from turning into a memory

Lucknow: Centuries old culture of the city is dying and it won’t be long before it remains only in our memories. Referring to exquisite traditions of townships and hamlets, senior journalist Saeed Naqvi regretted how city life was hampering efforts to keep legacy alive.
Naqvi cited the way an elegy for Qasim, (Imam Husain's nephew) one of the martyr's of Karbala had been composed in Raag Desh back in his qasba (township) of Mustafabad and needs to be secured above religious sentiment.
Entering its second day, the Lucknow Literature Carnival remembered and recalled past glory of Awadh. As Gillian Wright and Mark Tully joined Naqvi to talk about their experiences with the culture of Awadh, the flow of nostalgia was palpable.
Wright has translated Rahi Masoom Raza's novel Aadha Gaon to English bringing cultural ethos of rustic and rural towns to a wider readership. He had to visit a native place mentioned in the story for a first-hand experience. She visited the small hamlet Moharram to hear the soz and marsiya.
Tully agreed and said we need to save the historical city Lucknow before it is renamed on a government’s whim. He pointed out that the crucial part of Awadh represents all that India and its secularism stand for.