The lockdown has been a busy time for Abha Narain Lambah and team. "I got a special pass [issued by the civic body for essential service workers] made so that I could visit the sites I was working on across Mumbai," says the conservation architect behind the restoration of the BMC headquarters and Crawford Market. But the project that came her way as a proud challenge right before the lockdown in January, was the one involving Kashmir's six Mughal Gardens. The team was made in charge of preparing the crucial nomination dossier that would place the gardens among top contenders for the tag. "In the dead of winter, we were awarded the project. It is a serial nomination, where the proposal will cover all six imperial gardens built from 1620s to 1650s. These include four in Srinagar—Shalimar Bagh, Nishat Bagh (garden of joy), Chasma Shahi (royal spring) and Pari Mahal, and two in Anantnag—Achabal and Verinag," she explains.

Lambah, who interestingly traces her roots to Kashmir, pored over documents as part of research on the design of these royal gardens built and nurtured by the Mughals. "While Akbar was the first Mughal emperor to visit Kashmir, Babur is credited with the idea of building pleasure gardens in India. He built them in Agra, Dholpur and Panipat. Akbar refined the concept; he commissioned them in walled, urban spaces like Fatehpur Sikri. Jehangir and Shah Jahan took them to Kashmir, and raised garden architecture to the greatest heights," she elaborates, citing references from each of the emperors' memoirs.