I recently had the good fortune to visit Kashmir, in particular Srinagar with day trips to Pahalgam and Gulmarg infused in between. It was a short trip - mere 4 and half days - but I bring back with myself memories to last a lifetime.
Initially, we were scared to go to Kashmir. Well, my mother was worries because a lot has been heard about the political tensions in Kashmir and we were a bunch of female travellers only: just me, my mom and my 7 year old daughter, Kashvi. But, that was not my worry at all. I had heard a lot about tourists visiting Srinagar and coming back to tell awesome stories. My cause of worry was the weather. I had seen snowstorms earlier when I had lived in Europe and had absolutely no interest of seeing another. I hate the snow after it stops snowing and becomes all messy and sludgy. But, my mom and daughter had never experienced snow ever in their lives. So, I thought, as long as flights are operating, we would go. Besides Kashvi was just so excited about it and had informed all her teachers and friends, I didn't feel like breaking her heart .
So, we landed amidst snow and headed straight for our houseboat which we had pre-booked for our stay in Srinagar. Reaching the houseboat was an experience in itself because the one chosen by us was not on the bank but rather on the other side of the lake. So, we had to take a Shikara every time we had to reach or leave the houseboat. The houseboat was beautiful. It had intricate carvings on the wooden frames, doors, windows, etc. The interiors were done in traditional Kashmiri style with beautiful carved Walnut furniture, Kashmiri carpets, and Kashmiri chain stitch curtains. We received a very warm welcome from the owner, who welcomed us with the traditional Kashmiri Kehwah (a famous green tea with cardamom, cinnamon, honey / sugar and saffron) and explained to us that shoes are to be taken off outside as this maintains hygiene inside. We were then shown into our room, which had a double and a single bed, a dressing table, a couch and coffee table, all in the same style as the rest of the furniture on the boat. We were mesmerized.
After refreshing and a light breakfast, we left the houseboat for a Shikara ride. We chose to take the Shikara all the way from Nigeen Lake, where our houseboat was, to the Jetty at Nehru Park area in Dal lake instead of fixing hourly rates and touring at random. It took us close to 2 hours and it was by far the most picturesque experience of our trip. The lake was not only serene and calm; it gave us awesome sights of the interiors of Kashmir. The snow-capped mountains made breathtakingly beautiful mirror images in the lake. The Shikara owner explained that it was only in this season that it is possible to row on this route because as soon as the flower season starts, the lake would be covered by the water lilies and lotuses and it would not be possible to row in the interiors of the lake. The Shikara rides would then be restricted to the main Dal lake area known as Dal gate which is frequented by the tourists.
The next day, we decided to leave the houseboat and shift to a hotel. Despite its grandeur and beauty, houseboats are not very comfortable especially when you are travelling with kids. The interiors are extremely cold in the colder season as you are directly over water and the houseboat is made of only wood which does not have 100% insulation. Besides the electricity is deficient and even if it's there, the voltage is meagre and the appliances don't work (in our case, there was a heater in the room but it was not working despite a generator). After spending about half a day in searching a good hotel in the Dal gate area with the lake view plus centralized heating facility and decent comforts, we spent the other half in exploring the Mughal Gardens of Shalimar and the Nishat Gardens. Personally I feel that they, although beautiful were in need of severe maintenance. The plants were well tended to I assume considering that the flower beds were all toiled and the grass was cut. But the infrastructure like the fountains, pillars, etc. were close to shambles. It was not the flower season so we missed the beauty the valley is famous for, but there were areas of fresh untouched snow and my daughter loved playing in the same. We had come to know of a three day curfew in Srinagar owing to some unfortunate clash between locals and security forces resulting in the death of a local boy. But, we were surprised to see that the same was so efficiently managed by the security forces to result in the least discomfort possible to tourists. As a tourist, we did not once feel the impact of the curfew except the minor obstruction of not being able to undertake any shopping in the main city and instead being restricted to the markets around dal gate and other tourist areas in the outskirts.
The third day of our visit was devoted to Pahalgam. We saw the Saffron, Almonds and Walnut fields and the willow orchids en-route our way to Pahalgam. There were numerous shops selling saffron and dry fruits as well as cricket bats made of willow wood (considered to the best cricket bats in the world). There were also many units manufacturing these cricket bats. We stopped at one of the shops selling saffron and dry fruits and drank one of the best Kehwah (garnished with almonds) we had during the entire trip. We also purchased some to bring back home. We reached Pahalgam in about three-hours, an enjoyable journey to say the least. It was a bright sunny day and although we were told that Pahalgam at that hour was reeling under zero degrees, we didn't really feel the chill thanks to our warm coats and jackets. Besides we had been prudent enough to rent rubber boots so as to be able to walk on the cottony snow. From Pahalgam, one needs to hire a pony to go further in the interiors, more so because there was about four feet of unseasonal snow in Pahalgam that day. It was quite an experience. We saw the Lidder Valley, Kashmir Valley, Baisaran, and Kanimarg (also known as the Betaab Valley since the Sunny Deol - Amrita Singh starrer movie Betaab was shot there). We got off our ponies at Baisaran and Kashvi got a chance to play in real snow for the first time ever. She bombarded me with snowballs and we made a snowman together. Right from slipping down on the snow to narrowly avoid being hurt by a speeding sledge to helping her pony drink water from a small stream of melting snow, Kashvi had a whale of a time. On our journey back, me and my mom were audience to hours of imaginative stories by my darling daughter about herself and her white pony whom she had christened 'Snowy'. She had talked to 'Snowy' sweetly during the whole ride and had stroked her neck and was absolutely convinced that 'Snowy' loved her and would remember her forever.
Again, next day, we ventured outside Srinagar and visited Gulmarg. The weather was gloomy and raining but we thought we would go ahead with the hope that it would improve during the day. They say in Kashmir that "Kashmir's weather is like Mumbai's fashion... changing by the minute". In fact, we did ourselves saw the sudden changes when it was raining one minute and suddenly within seconds the rain had stopped and it was suddenly sunny but unfortunately it lasted only about five minutes after which it started to rain again. So, we again drove to picturesque farms for an hour to reach Tangmarg. Until Tangmarg, there was hardly any snow on our way. Instead we saw beautiful houses with tilted hut shaped roofs and green lawns. We passed villages inhabited by fair faced people with beautiful features and glowing pink cheeks. The terrain was flat and not hilly considering that Gulmarg houses the world's highest Cable Car, the Gondola. In Tangmarg, we were bombarded with people offering to take the services of a guide or helper, which we politely refused. Some of these people told us that owing to sudden snow, Gulmarg's Gondola, is open only till stage 1 and will not go further to stage 2 (from where you can actually look down at the LOC and the mountains falling in Pakistan occupied Kashmir). We were also told that there is approximately 6-8 feet snow and the temperature is sub-zero so much so that our snug coats and jackets will be of little help there. So, we again rented rubber boots and warm oversized jackets with extra fur coating inside to wear over our existing jackets and coats. We then hired another taxi to take us over to Gulmarg. The way further was steep and had to waded through snow-scraped narrow roads, so the taxis that could go up were the ones which had heavy iron chains tied over the tyres of their rear wheels. Once we reached Gulmarg, there was a further quarter to two kms stretch to be covered either on foot or on a snow sledge to reach the starting point of Gondola. We chose to take the sledge considering we were not adept at walking over deep snow. There was shining white snow all around us, almost all of it was untouched as rows and rows of tourists just waded through the snow in one line and actually looked like little coloured ants on the huge white glimmering background. We stopped on the way to give a little breather to the sledge pullers and Kashvi took an opportunity to try her hands at skiing. Later, we when we boarded the Gondola, it was absolutely mesmerizing. The 10 minutes ride gave us a view to last a lifetime. We could see fir trees, hundreds of meters tall; and small huts submerged in heavy snow so much so that we could only see just a few inches of the rim of their roofs. Occasionally, we could see a row of footprints or a row of ski-prints (is that actually a word?) and we would wonder who actually could manage to come up till this altitude. It was drizzling slightly when we boarded the Gondola but as we went higher and eventually got off the Gondola, the rain turned to snow. It was soft and pure and beautiful. Even the view around us was mesmerizing - pure, white and serene. The mount Apharbat could not be seen but we could see clouds floating around us. If there is a heaven, it was there and we witnessed it in person.
The return journey was eventful and consisting of heavy rains, flat tyres and scouting for replacement cabs. Eventually when we reached Tangmarg and later Srinagar, we were just too tired. The warmth of the hotel room was very much welcome and we busied ourselves by planning the next day. Early next day, we checked out of our hotel and went to Chashm-e-shahi. It is a beautiful garden housing a natural spring said to be having the ability to grant good health. But, honestly, by looking at the water, more so the way people were using it, we could not bring ourselves to disregard the dirty feet of the people inside the spring and the unhygienic plastic bottles and canisters immersed to collect and carry water; and drink it. So, we just explored the beauty around, got my daughter's picture clicked in the traditional Kashmiri outfit for a memoir, did a bit of shopping of jackets with traditional chain stitch embroidery and moved on. Then, we went on to see the Temple of Jayeshthadevi. We would have loved to go and pay respects at the Shankracharya Temple, but considering that one has to climb close to 300 stairs to reach there, we changed our mind (My mother is 58 years old; my daughter is 7 years old; and to be honest, I am not much of a climber / trekker myself). So, instead we went to the other not so popular temple. Now it turned out that this one too had about 100 stairs overall but then it was kind of a series of small temples with almost 25-30 stairs each. So, we got to rest while we paid our respects in each temple. And the surroundings were clean and beautiful and very well maintained. Also, since it's not a popular tourist spot, there were hardly any people around and we got the opportunity to explore it at leisure. It was almost appropriate that this had to be the last stop of our journey after which we headed straight to the airport for the evening flight.
