Coming out of the library, we headed to the East Gate.
There is a small chabutara in front of it. Surrounded with a fence, it is still beset with garbage and for some reason, a whole pile of orange peel. Made out of marble, there is no sign to tell me what it is about. Nothing that google tells me either. Behind you can see the east gate. 
The mango tree in full bloom, there will be a nice crop this year then of mangos. 
I start walking down the left hand side of the fork. The gate seems to be in the middle of restoration. Bit eye catching, that difference. 
The bottom of the left hand side pillar still needs to be improved, because the difference between the restored portion and the older portion is shocking. 
The carvings holding up the roof seem to be of elephants although its very difficult to make out. 
The restored pale salmon coloured topping. Looks nice, eh? 
Its getting extended to the top of the gate now. Bamboo scaffolding strung around the top. 
The fish emblem of the Nawabs of Oudh. 
The right hand side of the gate has a gate and seems to be locked away behind another railing. Some kind of house or office inside? With the usual disfiguring political graffiti and posters on the wall. 
The gate itself. 
Scanning further to the right, this seems to have been restored but looking at the damage caused by sticking the bloody posters, its a wonder. Bloody vandals we are. 
The top of the right hand side of the gate seems to have been restored but not polished yet. 
Back to the centre. Fascinating architecture. You can see two mermaids on either side of a plate with a crown on top. Can you see the entwined tentacles which ends with webbed feet? First time I have heard of mermaids who had tentacles rather than a fish lower body. Both of them also have wings, are wearing a headdress, holding a mace, with big earrings and a pectoral plate necklace. Below the crown, you have two flags (presumably the kingdom flag) with a round shield and two tulwars (swords). They are still showing the signs of paint, eyes outlined in blue and lips painted in red. And both seem to be male at least looking at the arm muscles but then there seem to be breasts as well. Anyway. The background is scalloped and there is a hemisphere on top with paintings culminating in a representation of the run.
Sangeeta tells me that the story behind the usage of the fish as the symbol of the dynasty goes back to the first chap of the dynasty who was coming from Delhi down the river and a fish jumped from the river into his lap. Considering it to be a good omen, they adopted it. The Nawabs are BONG! I knew it!
There is a cast iron gate attached to the sides. Well, an apology for a gate. Its all manky, falling apart, looking very tired indeed. 
In the middle of the gate, this rickshaw rider is having a nice snooze, fully covered with his blanket. 
Srimati Meena Sahu is wishing all of you a happy holi. Another bloody vandal, may you lose the next election. Disgusting. Eye catching barbarity and devastation. 
The arches are beautiful, very delicate plaster work with the symbol of the sun in the middle. A Scalloped design echoed in the plastering in the back. Really beautiful. There is a manky lamp cover which is over the road. 
The top part, just below the roof, is covered with arched fish. Yes, the same fish indeed. 
The shelves and arches on the main pillar. Lovely work indeed. The vertical carvings look painstakingly done. 
See what i mean by a dual arch? with a very delicate plaster of Paris in the front with scallops behind it. Further behind it, you have a horribly disfiguring brick wall. And electricity wires running through. 
There is an attempt to repair the top of the arch but have ended up looking scabied. The warm saffron golden hue of the walls look horrible in comparison. 
Looking back at the other wall with the rickshaw. 
Now walking through to the rear of the gate. There is no iron gate but the remnants of a wooden gate. With couple of film posters. I hope your film crashes and burn you horrible mean people. 
There seems to be provision for a room on top. of the gate. The floor/roof of the first floor seems to have existed before. 
The actual roof is near falling down, actually one bit already has with a big hole.
All that rain and sun isn't doing any good to the interior decor and plaster. Look at it, it seems to be made out of some form of concrete and the mouldings are mouldering away. 
Now I have come to the back of the gate and while the top has been restored, the right hand side of the gate is falling to pieces. Somebody decided to restore the bottom by themselves and its just a mockery. A bilious yellow, it looks horrible. And the tree. Good lord almighty. Why the hell would you have a tree there which will damage the monument even more? 
Its the same in the back as well, although the carvings of the mermaids are poorer. They also seem to have restored the top of the gate with the flower like bulbs on the top. 
Look at it, just look it it, Mayawati. I know your preference for statues and grand monuments, but FFS, look at what they have done to this. Made huge holes, cracked the walls, hung electricity boxes on the walls. Makes one weep, I tell you. 
This is a restored piece. And its already falling apart. What on earth? 
Now walking back through the gate. 
Damn feathered rats, shoot or poison them, poxy things screw up the monuments with their shit. 
The roof, thankfully looks to be well maintained for now, although one wonders how it looks from above. But the fishes make an attractive counterpoint. Lovely. 
The most beautiful part is the top, which seems to be a four way set of stairs, each set of stairs has a couple of statues of rather porky ladies holding up the bottom of the stairs. The sides are covered with delicate frescos and the tops (between the holes) has fishes. And then they put a horrible looking lamp post in front. Bah. 
So work in progress I guess, here is the slideshow with more photographs.
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