CHALLENGE DEHRADUN
The Virasat Art and Heritage Festival 2022 is held at Dr B R Ambedkar Stadium on Kaulagarh Road, Dehradun. In this heritage festival, different types of stalls have been set up, keeping in mind the people of Dehradun. Stalls of different kinds of artefacts and other items have been set up.“Kabuli Mewa Afghanistan Dry Fruit” is a unique stall put up for the first time by an uncle and nephew from Afghanistan. Haji Ali, Akram, and Ajmal, who are running their stalls say, “we started speaking, writing and reading Hindi to get into Heritage. We have come for the first time to this heritage festival held in Dehradun and have brought different types of nutritious dry fruits and nuts from Afghanistan to the people of India. We have brought pistachios, figs, cashews, almonds, Mamra badam, chilgoza, walnuts, apricot, saffron, almond oil, dates, and Afghan asafoetida with various types of raisins.”
Similarly, different types of dry fruits have their properties. Chacha Haji Ali and Ajmal tell us that if one eats two dates with half walnuts in the dry fruits that they have brought from Afghanistan, it will provide energy to one’s body and keep you fresh for the whole day. They also serve Afghani Green Tea to people in their stall and say that it is refreshing and will cure one’s cold, fatigue and lethargy. Akram further states that the people of Dehradun are very fond of his stall, and many people have bought goods from them and have also praised them. He says, “I love talking to people in Hindi, although I am talking to so many people in Hindi for the first time. I came to Dehradun and came to know why people from Afghanistan want to come to India; we also like the culture and tradition here very much. I participate in heritage cultural programs every evening and sit there. Sometimes one of us stays at the stall and keeps watching programs in a pandal.”
He further says, “I have decided that whenever Virasat is organised in Dehradun, I will come from Kabul to Dehradun with my stall. Next time, I will try to bring my children to Dehradun and introduce them to India’s culture, tradition and people. I get a lot of love from the people of Dehradun; it is a matter of pride that the people love us so much and the dry fruits of Afghanistan so much. I thank all the organisers of Virasat for giving us the kind of facility that I am doing by coming to India from Afghanistan to do my business.”
