1. Two Lucknow Mahotsavs
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Lucknowites look forward to the annual Mahotsav festival with much ado. This year, citizens were lucky enough to witness the festival two times. Once in January, at the start of the year and one just a few weeks back. The festival beautifully encapsulates the spirit of this nawabon ka shaher by having cuisine, culture and heritage all packed into one at this mega event.
2. Lucknow Metro becomes mainstream
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Lucknow made news by launching several new metro routes and phases available for use by the citizens. The metro lines were highly successful and they are stepping stones into the more developed future for the city. The lucknow metro brought convenience and acted as a daily driver for at least 34.5 lakh citizens of the city. We hope that in the coming year, Lucknow metro expands to cover more areas of the city.
3. City hosts first international T-20 match
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This year was great for sports aficionados. Lucknow hosted its first international T-20 match ever at the world class Atal Stadium. The news had Lucknowites ecstatic and they rushed to buy tickets for the match. The match was played between India and West Indies and the explosive performance by players left fans mesmerized. The city saw a lot of VIP movement as well during this time, which was a small price to pay for the massive cricketing event.
4. A Star studded year for Lucknowites
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2018 saw a plethora of stars coming into the city for performances, film shootings and a number of other things. Movie buffs flocked to shooting locations and gave their support and love to the stars. Fans also made their way into concerts, solo performances and events by Shah Rukh Khan, Amitabh Bacchan, Farhan Akhtar, John Abraham, Neha Kakkar, Hardy Sandhu, Badshah and many others.
5. Filmi Lucknow
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This year, Lucknow was well represented on the big screen. With so many film shootings and stars coming to visit the city, fans got a taste of what it’s like to have your city seen in the movies. The year marked a few of Lucknow’s famous spots get some recognition on the silver screen and citizens couldn’t ask for a more amazing gift. In the future, we hope to see more filmmakers and actors to shoot in this beautiful city.
6. New hangout places
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The one thing that Lucknowites were eagerly awaiting was a few good places to chill with a couple of friends. And now, at the end of 2018, there are so many options to choose from that it makes one dizzy. From European themed cafes to South East Asian cafes to Waffle cafes and Sizzler cafes, Lucknow now has more than just your average Mughali Cuisine.
7. Name Changes
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Lucknow has seen it’s share of development and its not up to us to say wether the changing of names counts as development or not, but it does deserve a mention on this list. The newly launched Ekana Stadium got a rename with it becoming Bharat Ratna Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium, while Hazratganj Crossing was renamed to Atal Chowk
8. Developments in Lucknow
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Lucknow is on the fast track to development and coming at par with some of the most developed cities of the country. With the metro becoming operational, the airport undergoing an overhaul and the redesign of the charbagh interiors, lucknow has a lot of potential for becoming a developed city. The start of smart busses and many improvements to the roads such as filling potholes and making flyover, all just reinforce the future of the city.
9. Food Delivery Platforms & Zomato Gold made their debut in the city
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Lucknow was swarming in offers this year as the food delivery services fought tooth and nail to create their monopoly in the city. From flat 50% to 60% on the first 5 orders, food delivery services including Zomato, Swiggy, Uber Eats and Foodpanda made the people eat and spend a little more than they would have with the lucrative offers. Lucknow learnt the art of ordering in and the companies made their profit.
10. Pollution was at its worst
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Unflinching construction and weather shifts made the city cough and strain its lungs as the Air Quality Index (AQI) went as high as 400 units. People had to wear masks and cover their faces as the air was so unhealthy that Lucknow became COUNTRY’S SECOND MOST POLLUTED CITY.
11. Lucknow went DRY (liquor less) in Feb – April
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The city went through a dry spell of three months, February-March-April as the UP excise department decided to made surprise raids on Clubs, Pubs, Bars, Hotels and Restaurants, serving liquor without valid license.
12. Lucknow ROFLed at many Stand Up Comedy Events
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This year Lucknow literally rolled on the floor laughing with the many standup performances that happened. Zakir Khan performed in the city twice once on Chacha Vidhayak hain and next for his recent special Kaksha Gyarvee, while famous comedians like Appurv Gupta, Gaurav Gupta, Amit Tandon, Karunes Talwar, Kishore Dayani and several others made Lucknowites forget their worries and laugh till we cried.
13. Several much awaited brands came to the city
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Lucknow had been deprived of cool stuff for so many years but 2018 wasn’t one of them! Brands like Forever 21, Studio Pepperfry, MAC, Kalyan Jewelers came to the city this year and created major fashion and lifestyle trends. Even the Chinese low-cost retailer and variety store chain Miniso opened its gates to the city of Newabs. And it is rumoured that Dunkin Doughnuts, Taco Bell and Sephora will soon be making an appearance as well!
14. Bike-cabs came to make commute easier for the residents
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Bike cabs came to the city and made our daily commute significantly less expensive. With the UberMoto and OlaBike distances in Lucknow ceased to mean what they did and Lucknowites travelled from one corner of the city to the other freely and without burning a hole in their pockets. Even the rampant traffic diversions couldn’t dampen people’s spirit.
15. Investors Summit put Lucknow on the international map
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Attended by over 5000 people, including industry leaders from across India and abroad, Chief Ministers, Union Ministers, and industry influencers. During the Summit Mukesh Ambani vowed to invest over 20,000 crore in UP, Adani Group declared that it would invest 35,000 crores in the state while on the CM announced that UP had signed 1,045 pacts that accounted to over 4.28 Lakh Crore on the very first day of this summit!
16. The internet speed went up to 100 MBs per Second
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Of all the good things that happened in the city this year, for youngsters the fact that internet speed was boosted to 100 MBs per second was what made the news! The city had been looking forward to this change for quite some time and it had been wanting. Luckily the last year our telecommunication facilities got the much needed overhaul which meant better internet connection, better speed and less congestion on the calls.
