Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, May 11: Dr Ritu Singh, a well-established educationist, social entrepreneur and founder of several organizations today visited Bait ul Meeras, located at Ali Kadal in the heart of downtown Srinagar.
She was invited by Nighat Shafi, the chairperson of HELP Foundation to explore the heritage house, reviving and safeguarding the rich heritage and vibrant culture of Kashmir.
During her visit, Dr Ritu met the artisans present in Bait ul Meeras who depicted their unique skills in turquoise craft, pottery in Khanyari tiles, papier-mâché (Saktha Saaz and Nakashi), pashmina-weaving on handloom, carpet-weaving, pashmina spinning, staple ari, crewel ari, sozni, copper jewellery and ornament making and calligraphy.
Later, she toured the gallery, which is the main attraction of the heritage house. She was introduced with the artefacts, traditional dresses, copper utensils, silver Jewellery, musical -instruments and other items of yesteryears, carefully safeguarded in Bait ul Meeras that were used in day to day life of a Kashmiri household but are rarely seen now.
Dr Ritu also took deep interest in the library set up at the heritage house boasting of a vast collection of books catering to all age groups like story books, science fiction and other literature and publications.
Bait ul Meeras, as it is now called was built during the era of Maharaja Pratap Singh, between the years 1885 to 1925 and the owner was an influential businessman, personally known to the Maharaja. Pertaining to this historical reason Dr Kunwarnai shared that she felt an immense emotional connect with the heritage house as she delved herself into reading about its history from an introductory board set up right at the entrance.
She talked about the need of promoting these unique skills and encouraging youth to take lead in the same with an entrepreneur mind-set. She said that with latest fashion trends and design interventions in traditional garments, the demand will increase rapidly.
She also expressed her intention to do several outreaches to maximize impactful benefits for the artisans and support the initiative of HELP Foundation for uplifting art and artisans.
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