Kashmir's rich history comes alive in photo exhibition

Srinagar, Oct 28 (ANI): Locals as well as tourists visited in good numbers a weeklong photo exhibition held here capturing the rich historical and cultural heritage of the valley from pre independence era to the present.

It portrayed the serene scenario of Kashmir which every visitor was curious to have a feel of as the valley continues to witness spate of violence, disturbances, and killings for over two decades.

The exhibition showcased the beauty of the valley as to why it is referred to as 'Paradise on Earth'.

Terming the exhibits to be a rare collection, Nasir Ahmad Khan, a visitor said that the experience was nostalgic.

"This is a very rare collection of photographs, that gives us a glimpse of Kashmir's rich heritage and also shows the difficult conditions during the year 1900 and before. The weather conditions were different; life was tough at that time, how our ancestors used to travel from here to Jammu," said Khan.

"We also saw rare photographs of ancient bullock carts and I am surprised to see how they used to commute. Along with that there are some photographs related to business and education also," he added.

Another visitor, Bashir Ahmad, was of the view that such exhibitions need to be held around the world to enlighten the global community on Kashmir.

"The exhibition should reach every corner of the world so that other countries can also know about the history of Kashmir," said Ahmad.

Most of the photographs depicted images of temples, mosques, rivers, roads, bridges, royalty, natural calamities, professions, lifestyles, poverty, among others.

"This is very good that our history has been preserved and the new generation can see what all used to happen in Kashmir through this photo exhibition. We can get lot of knowledge from this exhibition. Now we can visulaise what we have heard from our parents about Kashmir," said Zainab Jaan, a visitor.

The exhibition was an outcome of the initiative by Wasim Ahmed, a resident of Srinagar as the photographs happened to be a part of his private collection.

Wasim meticulously chose the photographs and acted as the curator of this educative exhibition.

Apart from the retrospective historical photographs, also on view were several pictorial snapshots of progress in the fields of education and healthcare during the post-1947 era till date(ANI)