In the mid1990s, Shariq Bin Raza, with his wife Alka Raza and with his own financial resources initiated the unimaginable gigantic task of consolidation, acquisition, extensive restoration, reconstruction, renovation, refurbishing and furnishing of the remnants and ruins of the two remaining Havelis.
The 15 yrs long painstaking and meticulous process was completed with the invaluable and precious support of Tariq Bin Raza, a civil engineer by profession who with his vast and varied experience, technical knowledge, skills and abilities, patience, creativity, ingenuity, resourcefulness and organizational abilities combined with his love and interest for art, culture and heritage directed, guided, supervised and managed the entire operation.
Master craftsmen, artisans and the human resources were mobilized from the region itself who, in addition to their skills and labour, contributed their ideas, wisdom and inputs based on their memories. The stone pillars and columns, wood and Shahteers, stone jalis, jharokas and chhatris, wooden doors etc were procured from the owners of centuries old houses from the region who were unable to maintain the crumbling houses or wished to replace them with new ones to reproduce the replicas of the original items and to supplement or replace the decayed ones.
Shariq's mother, Noor Jehan Begum, used to call him "Shikwa".
