KASHMIR GOVERNMENT ARTS EMPORIUM BUILDING SRINAGAR

                   

                                                         
 PHOTOGRAPHS  BY Autar Mota 2012.

KASHMIR GOVERNMENT ARTS EMPORIUM BUILDING SRINAGAR .

This is government Arts Emporium Building Residency Road srinagar . The building  suffered extensive damage in a devastating fire some years back but it goes to the credit of the government and INTACH J&K chapter that the building has been restored to its original glory .   It is one amongst city’s  Heritage buildings .Previously the British Residency was housed in this complex .

The  Emporium garden too has been beautified . you find more trees and flower beds . fountains have also been added . I found that the Deodaar tree which i saw some years back has grown  up in stature and grace . So are the chestnut and other fruit trees. About this garden,  Sir Francis Younghusband,  In His book KASHMIR  ( Published in 1909 ) writes ,

"Among the beauties of Kashmir the Residency Garden must surely not be omitted. The Maharaja has provided for the Residency one of the most charming houses in India—a regular English country-house. And successive Residents, in my case aided by Mr. Harrison and Major Wigram, have striven to make the garden worthy of the country and the house. Here grows in perfection every English flower. The wide lawns are as soft and green as any English lawn. All the English fruits—pears, apples, peaches, apricots, plums, greengages, cherries, walnuts, mulberries, gooseberries, currants, raspberries, and strawberries—grow to perfection and in prodigious quantities; and the magnificent chenar and innumerable birds add a special charm of their own.

Perhaps a record of the cycle of the birds 88and flowers will give an idea not only of the beauties of the garden, but of the climate of the valley.

Early in March the garden beauties begin to develop. The turf is then still quite brown and the trees leafless, but on March 8th, when I returned to Srinagar this year, violets, pansies, wall-flowers, narcissus, crocuses, and daisies were all in flower. Daffodils, hyacinths, stock and a few carnations were in bud. Columbine and larkspur leaves were sprouting. Peas and broad beans sown in November were a few inches high. And of the trees, willow leaf-buds were just bursting and showing a tinge of fresh light yellow green, and one apricot tree was nearly bursting into blossom. Of birds there were thrushes, minas, bulbuls, sparrows, crows, kites, blue-tits, hoopoes, and starlings; and of butterflies, a few tortoise-shell and cabbage-whites. "

 I conclude this post by adding   lines from my Poem "Hamaara Shehar  " or Our City ...

Woh Parinday Woh Pyaar ke Raahi

Shehar Ko Jin Pe Naaz Thaa kal Tak

Aaj Jaane Kahaan Bhataktey hain

Ya issi Shehar mein hain Chupp Bebas

Apne Khwaabon mein rang Bhartein hain.

Khwaab woh Hain Ki Sunaaye Na Banay

Dard Woh hai ki Dikhaaye Na banay

Fir Bhi Har waqt Yeh Dua Woh Karein

" Aey Mere Shehar Tuu Aabaad rahay

Mausamon ki Mehar rahay har saal

Tere Baagon mein Parindey hon sadaa

Teri Jheelon mein Aabshaaron mein

Inn safedon mein in Chinaron mein

Har Choraahay mein basti koochay mein

Zindagi Laut ke har pal Yeh kahay

Pyaar Ka Jashn Manaana Hai Ab

Har Andhere ko Mitaana Hai Ab”"

(Autar Mota )

 2nd June  2013  ,  Time  11.55PM.. Good Night 

CHINAR SHADE by Autarmota is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 India License.
Based on a work at http:\\autarmota.blogspot.com\.