The grand stone-and-brick building sums up the everyday reality of Kashmir well: a massive bunker rests at the entrance of the building, cheek-to-cheek with coils of concertina wire. Security forces search everyone before letting them in. There are barracks of paramilitary forces in the ground. The two-storey building built during the Dogra regime in the old Secretariat complex in Srinagar – known as the “stone building” – is now a temporary art gallery showcasing heritage materials as well as contemporary works of Kashmiri art Is. The gallery in the stone building was inaugurated by Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha on August 15 this year. So far only eleven people including this reporter have come here.
Kashmir’s wait for the Central Art Gallery has been long. The building earmarked for the State Gallery is next to the 18th-century Sher Garhi Mahal – its quadrangular stone façade boasts splendid, vast corridors of faded brick, beautifully crafted wooden windows, often with balustrades, which extend to the floor. reach, and the parquet …
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