Kashmir Diary

[Indu]

Some fifteen days back as i was sitting at home planning a vacation,my cousin suggested a trip to Kashmir,the paradise on earth.Since this would be my last long vacations for the next few years i decided to join them for the trip.And as i found out Kashmir turned out not just to be a destination,but an experience for me..

My journey started at Kolkatta from where we flew to Jammu.We were to have the darshan of Mata Vaishno Devi before we embarked on our Kashmir sojourn.Our entire journey was planned over nine days.My blog from here will be divided into the days and places we travelled.

DAY 1,Vaishno devi yatra

As we stepped out of the Jammu airport we could feel the intense heat .We booked a taxi to Katra,our next destination at a distance of 60kms from Jammu.Once there we checked into a hotel and after a quick meal,we refreshed and got ready for our 14km trek to the shrine of Mata Vasihno Devi.Even though there was a huge rush we found ourselves a hotel.(During October,it's hard to find a place even if you are willing to pay any amount).
We started walking our way to the top around 8.30 in the evening.2 kme up and we were tired and decided to use the pony for the rest of our journey.Initially the ride turned out to be one exciting experience.I felt like an Arabian princess surveying the streets of her country as people moved aside to give way to the horses.Thousands of devotees were walking alongside.Some like us had taken horses/ponies and a few others had taken the palanquin(palki) which was carried by 4 people.The roadside was lined with shops selling puja items.There were coffee kiosks and eateries every 500 mts..I was surprised to find a Cafe Coffee Day outlet 3kms up the hill and it seemed to be doing a brisk business.People were enjoying their way up singing songs in the praise of the goddess.Half way up my back was aching and i felt like an old haggard.So I got off my pony and walked the remaining distance.As i looked down,the city below looked beautiful at night.A cold breeze had started to blow.
We reached the top at 2 in the morning.We deposited our baggage in the locker room and again queued up for the darshan.It took us two more hours through the long winding queue to finally have a few seconds glimpse of the goddess.Happy to have the darshan among the 40,000 odd devotes, we started on our journey back,again on ponies.And trust me it was one hell of an experience.My back was giving away and the pain was unbearable.And after 4 hours when i got off the back of chandramukhi,my mare I was more than glad.Lack of food and sleep was having its effect as i struggled on my way to the hotel.I took pain killers and slept.Around 6 we got dressed to have dinner.It was 24 hours ago that i had had my last morsel.So after a full meal we did some shopping and looked around the city.Next morning we were on our way to Jammu

Day2,Jammu to Srinagar:
All the roads are constructed by the Border Road Organization(BRO) and come under Project Beacon.Spare a 10 km stretch from Katra to Jammu which is under construction the BRO have done a commendable job.They have posted signboards along the way instructing drivers to go slow.Some of the captions that caught my attention were "Be Mr late than Late Mr.","It's highway not Runaway","Be gentle on my curves".I couldn't help but smile at the last one. We also found many monkeys along the road who loved chasing vehicles.They are such a menace that Govt of India has made it punishable under the wildlife protection Act,1978 to feed the monkeys.We reached Jammu in 2 hours. At Jammu,we joined three other families on their way to Srinagar.The road from Jammu to Srinagar was beautiful and winding with blind curves and hairpin turns.We passed through small villages,cherry orchards,apricot trees,uniformed school children,wild rose shrubs,hairy dogs,barley fields and rugged villagers.The Tawi river flew alongside.As we climbed up the hills,the air got cooler and the vegetation slowly gave away to conifers.We made a brief stop for lunch atop the Patni hills,which is the highest point in Jammu.Army men are posted along the slopes every 100 mts as several army vehicles passed us with smiling uniformed men.As we descended down the slopes,the river below looked like a thin silvery thread winding its way through the maze.The weather was also romantic with rain and sun playing hide and seek from time to time.We passed various small villages like Udhampur(famous for its sweets),Kud,Batote,Banihal before we entered the avalanche zones of the mighty Pirpanjal range.

The cool pleasant breeze was suddenly replaced by a cold gushing wind.I almost froze and luckily the driver lent me his jacket.How sweet! i thought.And then we entered the 2200 m long Jawahar tunnel which comes under the Banihal Pass.This long tunnel is the economic lifeline of the Kashmir valley.Hats off to the BRO and the Army who make sure that the lifeline stays intact.After we passed the long dark tunnel,we had the first view of snow capped mountains and the Kashmir valley below.With the rays of the setting sun giving a golden tinge to the magnificent sheet of white to the floating clouds that kissed the mountain tops,it was one exhilarating moment.As twilight descended into the valley we were again passing through fields and villages.The mountains had changed their colours from a golden orange to pink and then finally blue.It was already night as we entered Srinagar.We were booked in a hotel facing the beautiful Dal lake which glittered in the night with the street lights and the numerous houseboats on it casting multicolored reflections.Tourists were busy enjoying shikara rides,street shopping or simply soaking into the beauty of it all.I was too tired and after a quick supper was fast in my bed.Srinagar tour was next on our diary.
Day 3,Srinagar tour:

Dal Lake:
Srinagar is a beautiful city with well planned roads,lovely mughal gardens,beautiful houses with manicured lawns, and of course beautiful and friendly people. The Dal lake that flows through the city sits like an emerald stone in a golden pendant.(the snow peaked mountains that surround the Dal look golden with the first and the last rays of the sun)Srinagar is also called the Venice of the East.On our Srinagar tour,our first stop was at the Dal Lake.We enjoyed a 4 hour long shikara ride on its green waters.The lake was lined with beautiful house boats with arcades beautifully decorated with rose shrubs.Some of them had meaningful names like Noah's arc,London house,Floating Alaska etc.Story goes that when the English came here for trade,they went to the king to allow them to buy property on land but the king refused.And so they requested him to allow them to settle on water.The king agreed and we had the beautiful houseboats introduced by the British.As we moved ahead hawkers on boats passed by selling eateries,saffron,shawls,vegetables and persian ware.We stopped at a small island,Nehru park.It had a beautiful rose garden and a cafeteria.And it was there we found people trying out the kashmiri costumes.I also joined them and had my pic taken.It felt good.Next we were again back on our boat.Our next stop was at a kashmiri handloom/crafts shop.We shopped a lot there and took back souvenirs for family and friends.After shopping we decided to return.On our return journey we saw a houseboat factory where they make the house boats.Houseboats are usually made of walnut wood and cost around a crore or two.We also found a floating vegetable garden and different species of birds nesting on the floating lilies that covered the lake.Our boat ride over ,we headed to the hotel for lunch after which we joined the others on a city tour.

Hazrat Bal:
A holy shrine of the muslims,it's the dargah of saint Hazrat Bal.Only men are allowed inside to pay homage although women can offers their prayers outside.The story goes that emperor Aurangzeb got this hair of the Saint from Persia and kept it in Ajmer before moving it to Kashmir.And on 12 occasions in a year when people are allowed inside the hair rotates of its own inside a glass case as long as the prayers are on.Outside the shrine pigeons gather in flocks as people feed them.

Shalimar gardens:
One of the three mughal gardens,this garden was built by emperor Jahangir for his beautiful wife Nur Jahan.This garden,also known as the "garden of love",has a cascading fountain at the center and beautiful flowers of all colours from across the globe.As we clicked away photographs i felt like living a flowery dream.
Nishat gardens:
The largest of the mughal gardens,it is known for its lush green trees .This beautiful garden was built by the brother of Nur jahan,Asif khan in 1633.The beautiful Chinar(maple),apricot,willow,safeeda,pines and many other trees are confined to this geographic region of India.The mighty Zabarwan hills serve as the backdrop to this beautiful garden.
Chasmashahi:
The smallest but the most beautiful of the Mughal gardens,Chasmashahi was built by emperor Shah Jahan in 1632.This garden has a royal spring and has lines of beautiful trees and flowers.It also boasts of a tulip garden and a garden of medicinal plants.With lush green meadows dotted with white flowers,this place can soothe your senses and leave you craving for more.
With this our srinagar tour ended.We had no time to visit chirarisharif ,another popular tourist site,at a distance of 35kms from srinagar.

Day 4,Sonmarg:
Situated at an altitude of 2800 mts above sea level and located at a distance of 87 kms from Srinagar,Sonmarg is a beautiful small town nestled among snow covered hills and the Sind(Indus) valley.It's the last stop of Kashmir district and the road ahead leads to Kargil and Leh.Sonmarg literally means "meadow of gold" .It also gets its name from the waters of the Krishnasar lake that glow golden when the the rays of sun fall upon it.On our way to Sonmarg we saw Army Jawans trying to scale the steep rocky slopes of the mountains and it reminded of the way Tiger Hill was recaptured by Indian Army.Baltal which is just besides Sonmarg, is used as a base camp for starting the holy Amarnath yatra.
From the base camp we covered the distance(4kms) to the snow covered Tejaswini(m not too sure of the name) glacier on horse back.The horsemen there were gujjars and identified themselves as different from kashmiris.The camp at the top was swarming with tourists and many were making use of the various winter sports options.I decided to go sledding.And it turned out to be one amazing experience.I could feel my heart in my mouth as we went sliding down the glacier.

There are also points where different movies had been shot and the points have been named after those.Our ride back to the base camp was again on horse back and unfortunately my horse was a bit playful.It took me near the edge of the slope once and started grazing.It took some effort by the horse master to have him back on track.But by then i had also somewhat learnt the art of horse riding,so could manage the rest of the journey of my own.

Day 5,Gulmarg:

Gulmarg,famous as an winter sports hub is located at a distance of 54 kms from Srinagar and an altitude of 8750 ft.It's a paradise for skiers and ice skaters.The government also provides free training in the training institute there.The place also boasts of the highest golf course in the world and India's highest cable car.A bowl shaped valley it provides a picturesque view of the snow covered hills and the wullar lake.It also borders Pakistan and has a road that leads to POK.I was enthralled to see the LOC.Though it hardly made a difference to the lazy cow grazing across the barbed wires,for us,the Pak army check posts signalled enemy frontiers.Next we went to see Maharaja Hari Singh's palace.The palace grounds provide a majestic view of the Baramulla district below(often in news for terrorist infiltration) and the Tiger hills.I was travelling down memory lanes as i pictured terrorists entering our soil through these rugged Himalayan slopes and our army battling it out in Kargil war.The gurgle of a small spring brought me back from my train of thoughts.Our guide showed us around the garden,the perennial spring and the dilapidated palace made entirely of walnut wood.We next visited the Mata mandir where the famous "jai jai shiv shankar.."song was picturized.Unfortunately we couldn't go for the famous gondola ride(it's major attraction) as we couldn't get our tickets.But nevertheless there's beauty in every corner of Gulmarg,so as we spent our time strolling and checked out it's market.We got ourselves more winter wear and then we headed on our way back to Srinagar.
In our journey back home we stopped to pick up a few school kids.They were studying in the Kendriya Vidyalaya,Gulmarg.The govt school provides free education to the kids and also provides mid day meals as an incentive.Unfortunately the school doesn't provide bus services so the kids have to walk the distance (of 15-20 kms at times)to school and back.Sometimes tourists are kind enough to stop by and offer them a lift.This stood out as a glaring example of indomitable human spirit in the face of adversities.We again stopped to visit a cherry and an apple orchard that line the roadsides.But we could only get a taste of the cherries as apples were out of season that time.We bought some cherry boxes from the local vendors.Some kashmiri women were selling tea in a special tea kettle called Samawar (From Samarkand in Persia).As i took in the first sip,i found the taste different.The tea tasted salty.And no wonder when asked they said that it had salt and soda as its constituents.Guess one should always take life with a pinch of salt after all. ;)

Day 6 & 7,Pahelgam:

Our last destination was Pahelgam where we had to spend a night before we moved on our journey back home.Pahalgam is in Anantnag dist and is a popular tourist destination.On our way we passed several small villages like Sangam(famous for producing the maximum cricket bats),Mattanag etc.At Mattan,we stopped by a temple that had a gurudwara in its precinct,a beautiful example of tolerant religious practices in our country.The temple had a pond swarming with trouts and had adopted a blackish tinge because of their colour. As we moved ahead we had the first view of Pahelgam valley.The valley with the crystal clear waters of the Lidder(jhelum) and verdant green mountains seemed to be straight out from an artist's canvass.And the snow peaks appeared to be the deft touch of his brush.We were booked in a hotel by the Lidder.I threw my bags and hurried to the river bank.I was surprised to find a film crew.I watched the shooting and upon asking could know it was for a movie Siqander.The Jama mosque on the other side of the bank beneath the mountains served as a beautiful backdrop for the shooting.I was even more thrilled to see Sanjay Suri,the actor and director Sudhir Mishra lazing in the hotel lawns.The shooting went on till midday after which evening descended on the valley.

As they wrapped up their shoot,I decided to sit on the river banks for some more time.The silent gurgle of the river water,the waves as they played through my feet,the cool evening breeze and the quite surroundings weren't only a visual treat but acted like tranquilizers on my soul.As i looked around sipping this beauty,I found some girls looking my way and giggling at a distance.I waved to them and gestured them to come over.They were muslims and were very shy when i asked their names.Slowly they introduced themselves as Nusrat,Rafa,Sofie,Tabasum and Asif ,a small boy dressed in a frock who i took for a girl.It took them a while to open up but once they did their was nothing stopping them.They sang kashmiri songs,played with my hair(sofie even braided my hair the way they do),Nusrat was the smartest as she danced to the songs as well.As i looked into the waters i found the level had risen.I casually asked the girls if they can swim.They all nodded and suddenly Nusrat jumped into the icy cool waters and performed a stunt.I was stunned.But she swam to a big rock on the middle of the river and began to sing and dance in gay abandon.She signaled me to join her as i signaled her to return.I was taken in by her innocence.As she swam across to us with a toothy grin,i hugged her.This little girl in her small unknown ways had taught me a very important lesson,that of being an unpretentious happy person. I gave them some chocolates but they were more interested in the lipstick in my purse.So i applied some on their lips(they didn't need that anyway) and gave the stick to Rafa,the eldest.
It was already evening so I returned to my room.I found my cousins getting ready for the market and joined them.Pahelgam market,is a small bustling place with nicely cobbled pavements and souvenir shops dotting the sideways.We got more winter wear,dry fruits and yes money(fortunately it had an SBI Atm,a rarity in Jammu n Kashmir).
Next day we headed for Betab valley(where the movie with the same name was shot) and Chandanwadi.The journey to Chandanwadi can only be covered on small vehicles,like cars and Tata Sumos.The journey was beautiful,and as we climbed up the steep slopes we could have a panoramic view of the Betab valley below.Chandanwadi acts as one of the starting points for Amarnath pilgrims(other being Sonmarg).At Chandanwadi,I enjoyed the snow and posed with Channo,a month old goat.As army men stood vigil, people were having a rollicking time on the snow.We returned to our resort and had a beautiful lunch under the apricot trees on the garden lawn with the gentle rays of the sun keeping us warm.Lunch over,I sat by the river reading a book.I was thoroughly enjoying "the bliss of solitude" like Wordsworth puts it.In the evening the kids came by to see goodbye.It was a little saddening.I asked them to make full use of the education that they were getting(female literacy in pahelgam is as low as 17pc) and in turn they took a promise to visit again.I enjoyed the last evening in the company of the delightful hotel manager(do i need to add,he was good looking..lol)who gave me details on Kashmiri cuisines and customs.
Next morning it was time to say goodbye to the other families who had been with us through our trip,Mr Rajinder Singh,the driver;Mr safique,our tour guide;Swapan da,Sandeepan,the managers and Chotu,the helping hand.We took a group photo to preserve the memories and cherish the good times together.There had been a snowfall,the night before and the entire surrounding was covered in a blanket of white.Just the picture perfect ending to a beautiful journey.


Some of my insights which may help you on your trip to Kashmir:

1>If you are planning a trip to Vaishno Devi register in advance through online bookings for there is a limited number they allow for darshan on a day.If you want to avail of the helicopter services then bookings should be done 7 days in advance

2>Carry an aircel ,airtel or bsnl postpaid connection with you.Aircel provides the best coverage there.

3>You may not find your bank's atm easily but JK banks atms are always around the corner

4>Riding on horse back is a torture.But still if u want to avail of this facility do not forget to negotiate the prices for they charge a lot more then the govt specified amount.

6>At all tourist spots(esp Gulmarg)be ready to shell out extra amount for every point you choose to visit(hidden costs).Motorized vehicles are allowed only upto a certain point.So u can make use of the ponies,palkis etc.

7>While shopping,do not forget to check out the prices of the same product in different shops before you zero in.Prices can vary from 500-600 in the same market.

7>At Pahelgam, you can always make use of the JK local transport buses,that ply every half an hour to the market place.They are way cheaper than the private vehicles that connect the valley to the city.

8>Safe to carry an umbrella/wind cheat for the occasional downpour.

9>Always carry a proof of identity with you.

[Hillary]

wow! this is amazing! I am sooo jealous! I think I may like to take a trip to Kashmir now and see what is up! Great job!