“I used to visit Kozgars as a child,” says Kashmiri historian and poet Zareef Ahmad Zareef. Kozgar talks about the time when his family were the go-to for residents of the Srinagar valley for making herbal medicines that could cure “any disease”. I have grown up fascinated by the making of rose water and other syrups, and it was that fascination that pushed me to learn the process,” he says. “We used to have separate rooms full of rose petals. The shop is full of old, empty glass bottles with handwritten slips, a sign of better times. I want to keep it the way my great-grandfather, grandfather and father have kept it. “You can see the bottles have gathered dust, they look murky, the handwritten notes have faded, but I do not want to touch them or tamper with the names. These are my treasures and gifts I have inherited,” says Kozgar, who retired early from his job to carry on this legacy. “This shop, these jars remain in the same place as my ancestors positioned them. Instantly, a soothing whiff of rose water engorges the air. Photo: Safina Nabiĭressed in a traditional Kashmiri kurta pyjama, his head covered with a white skull cap, Kozgar starts to fill small, unlabelled plastic bottles from big white canes. The family name translates from Persian as “users of jars”.ĭark-coloured glass pitchers are used as 'refrigerators' to keep the rose water fresh and cool. “This shop was opened by my great-grandfather in 1820 after he imported glass jars, pitchers and carafes from France, the US and parts of UK to start his business, after he himself learnt the art from his ancestors,” Kozgar tells The National. Kozgar learnt the art of making manually distilled rose water from his forefathers who came from Turkey and settled in Kashmir. Three sides of the shop are packed with dark-coloured glass bottles and antique-looking jars of varying sizes, placed on wooden shelves with handwritten slips pasted on them. The wood and brick shop is run by Abdul Aziz Kozgar, 65, who can be reached via a weather-beaten window he opens to communicate – in fluent English – with customers and passers-by. Arq-i-Gulab is the only surviving rose water distillery in Indian-administered Kashmir, situated only a few metres from the Khanqah-e-Moula shrine. The old city of Srinagar houses a 400-year-old shop dedicated to the queen of flowers.
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