Click to play videoSrinagar: In Kashmir, spring brings with it many surprises. The surprise this season was the Badamwari or almond alcove.
Laid out by Afghan ruler Warris Shah, the Badamwari had been neglected for nearly three decades hidden below an 18th century fort and the Zabarwan mountains.
But now, after the Jammu and Kashmir Bank decided to restore it, the park is blooming again.
“Under the J&K Bank heritage trust we have recreated, renovated and designed this park to preserve heritage. We did it so that our priceless heritage is kept intact. People should now sustain it,” Chairman J&K Bank, Dr Haseeb Drabu.
Badamwari's renovation cost the bank Rs 3.5 crore. And now, as the age old magic is recreated, people of all ages are pouring in to refresh memories of the historical almond fairs.
For historian/satarist Zarief Ahmed, it is sheer nostalgia.
“When I used to come here with my parents, we would pour from the samovars and eat fruits crushing them with stones (sangade). We would enjoy music, sufiana and charki (folk theatre) people would wrestle here. It was the beginning of the spring,” says Zarief.
For 28 long years, Srinagar had been missing the spring that brings with it fountains, fragrance and blossoms.
Children who earlier came with their parents now need to return with their own children to the park.
But more is to come up yet, perhaps a ropeway that could take visitors to the 18th century fort.
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