Kashmir

11th April 2009 to 16th April 2009
Places visited: Srinagar, Gulmarg, Sonamarg, Pahalgam.
Mode of transport: Bangalore-Delhi-Srinagar by flight.

So, two awesome vacations in a span of less than 4 months that too during recession. Not exactly what I had in mind at the start of the New Year!
The Hindu supplement “Young World” had carried an article on the newly inaugurated Tulip garden in Srinagar around the 3rd week of March. The write-up said that this was the biggest tulip garden in Asia, and in fact, the 2nd largest in the world. The largest is in Holland of course.
So the boss at home casually showed me the article and I said, “Hey, I’ve been dying to go to Kashmir since a decade now, and you guys always say its too scary cos of the violence and stuff. This year, we’re gonna do it!!”. Big Daddy agreed, though somewhat reluctantly, but my Bigger Daddy at office had to give a Yes.
That done, we started planning for the trip. Having a friend in Kashmir helped things out a lot in terms of planning and getting taxis at the right price, etc.
Flight bookings – check.
Accommodation in Srinagar – check.
This was as spontaneous as it could get for a family vacation!
Disclaimer: This was a family trip, so don’t expect any great adventure like my previous trip :)

11th April:
My first flight by Kingfisher, and Mallya didn’t disappoint me. Everything went on well. Left Bangalore at 6:45am. Changed flights at Delhi, reached Srinagar by 12:30pm.
With not much time left in the day today, we decided to visit a temple called Kheer Bhavani, where obviously, from my point of view, the most important thing was the Prasad – kheer :)
This was followed by a visit to the Hazrat Bal mosque. This mosque sits on the edge of the Dal lake. I’ve always been curious about mosques, and had never been inside any. So finally, that dream too was accomplished. I saw this wonderfully constructed edifice in marble where people came in throngs to offer their prayers to the lord. Seeing me clicking photographs by the dozen, two kids ran up to us and said “Hello uncle”. When we replied with a hello, they said “How are you?” with all the shyness of village kids. They wanted me to take a photograph of them. Mission accomplished, they ran back into their streets without even wanting to see their pic on my cam! A few more shots of the kids around there, and off we went to rest for the evening.
Most of the shops in Srinagar down their shutters by 7:30pm, so you don’t really have much to do after that.
The Dal Lake is about 16 sq. km. in size and only about 7ft deep at the deepest point. There’s a road which goes all around the Dal lake, and the drive is truly amazing. You have the lake on one side, the forests and houses on the other, the snow capped mountains in the distance.. A sight to behold indeed. The lake is filled with about 3000 houseboats, most of which are probably illegal. They have big names like “Helen of Troy”, “Young Alzira”, “Rubani Palace”, etc. the last one being the boat in which the song “Bumbro” from Mission Kashmir was shot. And mind you, some of the houseboats don’t move. They just stay in their same place throughout their lifetime.

12th April:
Today was a Sunday, and my friend agreed to accompany us to Gulmarg. About 100km from Srinagar, this place is filled with snow throughout the year. The drive to this place takes you along acres of mustard fields and then some snow. Gulmarg’s where the “Jai Jai Shiv Shankar” song was shot.
There’s a cable car which takes us up to 3950 meters where we’re literally on top of the clouds. A day’s trek across a mountain from here in the snow will land you in Pakistan. Built with collaboration with the French, this is the highest point in the world to which you can get to in a cable car, I am told. As you go on the gondola (as the cable cars are called), you can see ski marks of some daredevil skier on the steep slopes below.
The gondola has two stages. The first level takes you upto a 1000m? I’m not very sure. This is where the “Maa Tujhe Salam” video was shot. The next level is pure white blinding snow. It takes you a couple of minutes on your way back to adjust to the normal lighting. Oxygen is rarefied at this altitude, so oxygen cylinders are available in case someone needs one. Oh, by the way, did you know that skiing is part of the extra-curricular activities in school?
Today, we also visited a traditional Kashmiri house, had Qahwah – a type of tea made with tea leaves, saffron, honey and almonds. Did you know that in Kashmir, it’s a social stigma if a man doesn’t have his own two storied house? So, everyone is forced to buy land and construct big houses even if there are only 4-5 members living in them. That explained all the big beautiful houses all around the city. And land prices in Srinagar are slightly lower than Bangalore owning to this reason! Also, only natives of Kashmir can buy land in Kashmir which has resulted in a peaceful and not-so-commercialized state.

13th April:
Next day was a trip to Sonamarg. This place was filled with snow just 3 days before we visited. The snow had just been cleared, meaning that most of the shops were closed and the footpaths were in 3-4 feet snow. We went for a sledge ride here due to the constant pestering of the poor chaps around. On the way, there were some brilliant mustard fields to be seen. One thing that you notice is that just as in every other place, the rich-poor divide is quite remarkable. On the one hand, you have the rich ones living in big houses zipping around in cars, while on the other, you have the sledge pullers, the horse riders, etc. who eke out a living just by doing menial jobs. The snow here was really pure and pristine. We followed it up with lunch at a shady “Sardar’s Dhaba” as it’s known around these places. That done, back to our room it was.

14th April:
Today was a sunny day and we decided to go local and finish the spots around the city.
We started off with the gardens – Shalimar, Harwan, Nishat Bahg and Tulip garden. After lunch, we did Cheshma Shahi – a place where pure Himalayan mountain water comes out of a natural fountain. This water is considered to be pure and healthy, and people come from all over to drink this holy water. Next was the Shankaracharya temple. This is on top of a hill and needs a bit of climbing. Photography is strictly banned, and the army has taken over almost complete control of this place – as with many others in this troubled city. We rounded off today with a ride in the Shikhara on Dal Lake. A Shikhara is an open boat with a small roof on top, It is generally yellow in colour and can seat upto 4 people comfortably on its low-slung sofas.
It had just rained before the boat ride, and a beautiful rainbow popped out in the background while we went boating. As soon as you get onto the lake on a boat, you notice something surprising – another boat comes along with yours. This boat generally has two people- one to steer and ride the boat, and another to sell his wares to you. So, a floating shop! They sell all kinds of wares – from walnut wood and brass cigarette holders to jade earrings to necklaces to saffron. The boat takes you around the lake showing the floating gardens, the bazaars inside the lake, the various houseboats, etc. An hour or so later, you’re back to the shore. These shikharas are also used as a means of transport to get from one place to another in the city.

15th April:
Another must-visit place in Kashmir is Pahalgam in the Ananthnag district of Jammu. Many Bollywood movies have been shot in this region, and some of the spots are quite inaccessible by foot – so you either need a 4 wheel drive or need to travel on horseback. Kashmir valley was one such place – beautiful to see, but hard to reach.

16th April:
Time to head back home! Srinagar airport has close to 7 layers of security and frisking before you can board the flight. It starts right at the gate even before the car can enter the airport, and ends just before you enter the aircraft.
Whatever it was, there was absolutely no reason to fear for your life while in Srinagar. There are enough armed guards and security personnel deployed all around.
If you do want to see the diversity of this great country of ours, the natural beauty that abounds this region do visit this region. I’m sure that it’ll not only help boost tourism to the troubled state, but also send out the right signal to the bad ones trying to spoil this great land of ours.

Kashmir, I’m surely going to come visiting sometime soon!

Cheerios.