Hunderman is a small village around Kargil town along the northern border of India. But before this village, there existed an earlier settlement. This fact would have remained anonymous if a tiny museum were not built in 2015.
Unfortunately, in the last war, families split up and some went to Pakistan while others remained in India. Life not has been easy for residents of this tiny village among two nations who are constantly in conflicts.
The Museum of Memories is located in one of the restored private homes among the storied blocks of abandoned buildings. This museum connects the past with the present with the help of exhibits which range from old and traditional kitchen utensils to jewellery to indoor games, from family documents and letters to armaments from the wars.
Media reports say that Ilyas Ansari was first with the idea of preserving the history and culture of Hunderman. Ajaz Hussain Munshi, a museum curator from Kargil (who has successfully set up a cultural museum named the Munshi Aziz Bhat Museum), and several local organisations, is mainly credited with setting up this museum.
One can also visit and look around the village with the help of a guide to learn about the architectural intricacies. The entire foundation if this village mostly consists of people’s homes and cattle sheds and was interconnected. This interconnectedness could be explained as convenience of not having to step out when it snowed during winter. The rooms in these houses had three built walls while the fourth was formed of rocky mountain. Each house used a lever-based locking system and it appears that the secret of opening the door was known only to the homeowner.
Hunderman Bok (old village) is located around 10km from Kargil market and is connected to it by a rough motorable road. The hills on the opposite side of this village are in Pakistan.
