When you take into account that houseboat construction in Kashmir has been suspended for decades, the Delhi Development Authority’s proposed ₹4-crore houseboat plan (as a permanent fixture at Baansera Park in Delhi) underscores a striking irony. Meanwhile, a British Museum-funded project has been documenting the techniques and oral histories of Kashmir’s last-remaining artisans. The research, now complete, is ready for submission this month.

Nearly four decades ago, the Jammu & Kashmir government banned the construction of new doongas (houseboats) to curb unregulated growth and pollution in Dal Lake. Since then, many master craftsmen have died, leaving behind only a few practitioners such as Ghulam Ahmad Najar. “I am bound to these boats; there is nothing else I know,” says the boatmaker from Bandipora.