Kaleidoscopic Kashmir

Agar firdaus bar roo-e zameen ast,

Hameen ast-o hameen ast-o hameen ast!!

Who better than Amir Khusro, a poet and Sufi singer from the Maluk Dynasty could describe the beauty of the valley of Kashmir through this small and lovely couplet in comparing it to be a Paradise on Earth.

Snow Capped Mountains over looking verdant green meadows, Crystal clear blue gurgling streams, vast lakes, lush green valleys dotted by dense coniferous trees and so much more rolls into this picturesque destination that it literally leaves one entranced and seeking for more.

Easily one of the most beautiful places in the world that I would rather die with memories of than only dream of it.

Somebody wrote that poetry need not be always judged by pages and words as one could still connect to living poetry through heartbeats and emotions even when the ink starts fading and pages start getting torn.

And this is precisely how the aura of Kashmir gets defined. Irrespective of whichever month or season you decide to visit, there is always something in it for everyone to soak in.

While the impending plans of a visit to Kashmir always tended to get procrastinated thanks to the political situation and the What if ? problem ingrained into our heads, we mustered enough courage to take the plunge this year in April/May 2021 when plans for a vacation were being made out. We decided to to do a 4 night 5 days trip to this beautiful valley in the month of October 2021 and the reasons for doing it during this season was aplenty :

The bearable Cold to start with

Snow Capped Himalayas and the Karakoram range of Mountains and the thought of setting foot on vast stretches of snow enroute

The sight of lush green meadows against the backdrop of snow

Crystal clear blue streams in full flow and

View of Apple Orchards in full bloom

How does one reach Kashmir

There are 2 Airports at Srinagar and Jammu connecting Kashmir to most major cities through either a direct flight or a 1 hop flight. Options of overnight /day trains from Delhi to the city of Jammu are also something one could explore which would typically take anywhere between 6 to 9 hours. We had included Amritsar as a last minute addition to our itinerary and an hour’s flight on a Sunday afternoon from the city of Amritsar brought us to the picturesque city of Srinagar. Having seen so much of this beautiful and scenic place in Movies and having lived out a few decades of our lives with the fear of visiting Kashmir, here we were rubbing our eyes in disbelief that we had finally set feet on Srinagar soil. We were taken through the motions of a RAT test for Covid which was a mandatory check for anyone entering Srinagar but it got done in a jiffy and we soon had our driver Yaseen, the big fella with an effervescent smile and who was to be our driver over the next few days, reaching out to us at the entrance.

The bookings had been done through Bona Fide Holidays (https://www.bonafideholidays.net/) who were pretty adept at understanding what we wanted to do and not do and accordingly chalked out a flexi customized itinerary.

A little bit about Kashmir

While Kashmir happens to the Northernmost Geographical Region of the Indian Subcontinent, until the 19^th century, it denoted only the valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir Pinjal range of mountains. Currently, it however encompasses a much more larger area including the territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh administered by India, Azad Kashmir and Gilgit Baltistan under Pakistan’s control and the Aksai Chin and Trans-Karakoram tract handled by the Chinese.

The initial name for this place was Kashyapamar and later Kashmir. While one school of thought associates it to be a derivative from Sanskrit, the more popular and local etymology ascribes it to mean land desiccated from water.

Buddhism came into being here as early as the 3^rd Century BCE when the Mauryan Emperor Ashoka introduced it. Between the 9^th and 12 centuries, Kashmir achieved considerable prominence as a Centre for Hindu Culture. While in 1820, the Sikh King Ranjit Singh annexed Kashmir, he lost the war to the Britishers in 1846 and which is when the princely state of Kashmir was formed.

The Maharajah of Kashmir signed a treaty of accession with India after being attacked by a Pakistani Tribal Army. It was during the 2^nd half of the 19^th century that the state of Kashmir took its present shape and form and Kashmir then got partitioned between India and Pakistan in 1949.

Day 1 - Getting into the city of Srinagar

Planning one's stay

It would be better for one to keep Srinagar as the base for stay and keep doing these day trips to other places of Interest like Gulmarg, Sonmarg etc, as the hotels out here are far more better and accessibility to food, emergencies if any are far better. During the course of one’s stay at Srinagar one could also look at spending a night on a houseboat for the experience of it. We took the help of our travel agents since it was our first visit and we were a bit unsure on which to pick and choose. In Srinagar, one could also look at Clark’s Inn, Crown Plaza Residency, The Ivory, Walisons, Sarovar Portico etc apart from Royal Heritage where we stayed. In Pahalgam, while we stayed at Wildflower Villa Resorts, one could look at Lidder View Resorts, Cliff Cottage, Volga etc.

Delectable food at The Stream Restaurant

We stopped by at Stream, a lovely multi-cuisine restaurant enroute towards the city for a piping hot lunch of Rotis, Dum Aloo (which owes its origins to Kashmir), Dal Makhani and Paneer and some yummilicious Walnut Tart.

Lunch done, we then headed for Nishat Bagh, the 1^st of the Mughal Gardens, overlooking the Dal Lake on one side and the Zabarwan mountains serving as a backdrop.

The Nishat Bagh, the first of the Mughal Gardens

There was a small fee of Rs.20/- per head levied for entering the Gardens. Starting from the lake side, the gardens roll up to an artificial façade closer to the hill end through a broad cascade of terraces. Built in 1633 by Emperor Jahangir’s brother-in-law, this garden has 12 terraces representative of the Zodiac Signs, rolling up to the mountain end and adorned with Cypress and Chinar trees throughout. We spent around an hour and a half walking around the beautiful lush green gardens admiring the amazing collection of Dahlias in so many vibrant colors, the lovely roses and so many other varieties of daintily coloured flowers.

Overnight in a Houseboat

The weather was just beginning to get a bit cold with a mild drizzle in parts and we headed to the pier from where a Shikara (a brightly coloured boat) would ferry us across the Dal Lake to a Houseboat which was to be our abode for the night. Having only conjured up images of how a Houseboat would be in our mind and having stayed once long back in a houseboat over the Kumarakom Lake in Kerala, we were all pretty excited to see how a house could literally be retrofitted into a boat with all the works.

A 15 minute ride across the lake done, we were warmly welcomed to the Aziz Palace Houseboats and ushered into our rooms. The entire place was well done up with carpets with a nice sit out where people were around to display their wares like Pashmina Shawls, works of embroidery, artefacts etc.

The rains began to increase in intensity and so did the cold and post some steaming hot cups of the local Kahwa chai (a green tea variant served with chopped almonds and walnuts), we finished our dinner and headed back to our rooms for the night.

Day 2 -Breakfast and a visit to the Shalimar Bagh

We were up and ready by around 8.30 in the morning for a little bit more of sightseeing at Srinagar. Breakfast was served in a well laid out area attached to the Houseboat. We had some very well made Upma (thick porridge made out of semolina and water and garnished with onion and occasionally veggies and seasoned with mustard), Pooris with Chole along with Sandwiches, Parathas and Scrambled eggs for breakfast.

We checked out of the houseboat to board a Shikara once again to reach the pier where our driver was waiting to take us around. by around 9 AM, we headed for Shalimar Bagh. This was the second of the Mughal Gardens which we had missed seeing on Day 1 for paucity of time. Built over 400 years back by Emperor Jahangir for his wife Nur Jehan, this lush garden is spread across 31 acres of land, lined with Chinar trees and has a wide variety of flowers, all in different hues and sizes.

The onset of Autumn has these Chinar leaves strewn across the ground and makes for a orange coloured pathway. The Garden has 3 terraces leading into a public audience hall (Diwani-e-Aam) and then onto Diwani-e-Khas which was a private audience hall used during the Mughal Regime.Built over 400 years back by Emperor Jahangir for his wife Nur Jehan, this lush garden is spread across 31 acres of land, lined with Chinar trees and has a wide variety of flowers, all in different hues and sizes. The onset of Autumn has these Chinar leaves strewn across the ground and makes for a orange coloured pathway. The Garden has 3 terraces leading into a public audience hall (Diwani-e-Aam) and then onto Diwani-e-Khas which was a private audience hall used during the Mughal Regime.

A large marble pavilion overlooks a fountain pool and makes for a very pretty sight, given the variety of flowering plants and trees all around. The entry tickets to this beautiful garden is priced at Rs.20/- per head.

The Shikhara (Boat Ride) down Dal Lake

Having completed our photo shoots in the local costumes of Kashmir, we headed for a Shikhara ride on Dal Lake. These brightly colored boats with a wooden cover on top in case of rains take you around for an hour through passages of markets where you can get out of the boat and shop. You also get to encounter travelling salesmen on boats, trying to peddle their wares of artefacts, shawls, saffron etc and are advised to stay clear of them for reasons of being over priced and them dishing out poor quality stuff.

Headed for Stream once again for our lunch and stopped by at Mughal Dry Fruits (https://mughaldryfruits.com/) near Nishat Bagh for a little bit of shopping for some dry fruits, saffron and Kahwa Tea containers. By around 3 in the afternoon, we headed for Pahalgam, around 90 Kms away.

The Drive onto Pahalgam

We crossed the town of Sangam in Anantnag, famous for manufacture of cricketing bats and where could see willow trees cut to a rectangular shape from a pre process stand point, being dried in the sun on most roof tops of shops.

We pulled into a wayside restaurant Evergreen for some tea and a little bit of shopping from the nearby Kashmir Arts Emporium adjoining it and post a 30 to 45 minute stretch break, drove onto our last pit stop for the day, the Wildflower Villa Resorts Pahalgam, situated close to the rafting point on Lidder River and around 13 kms before the city.

We reached the outskirts of Pahalgam by around 6.30 in the evening and headed straight for our Hotel The Wildflower Villa. The check-in formalities got done in a breeze and we were shown into our rooms.

The property was just amazing with a lovely backdrop of the mountains and lot of greenery. The staff were very hospitable and went that extra yard to make our stay comfortable and the food served during dinner and the next day’s breaakfast was pretty good. A common trait which I could see across the state of Kashmir in different cities was that the people were very friendly and warm.

Day 3 - Mini Switzerland aka Baisaran

By 8.30 in the morning, we were done with the breakfast and checkout and headed for Pahalgam town.

We had planned a visit to Baisaran, also known as Mini Switzerland and to also go around the town a bit. This place again is accessible only by ponies and the ladies excused themselves .

We negotiated with the help of Yaseen for Rs.1,000/- per pony and started the climb through some very picturesque areas.

The first rays of the sun shining through the tall Conifer trees made for some beautiful clicks and after around 30 minutes we reached the drop point near the gate.

The entry tickets were Rs.10/- per person and once we entered through the gate, our views unfolded into a lush green vast expanse of land surrounded by snow capped mountains in the background.

So very captivating indeed and while we walked around, a couple of small kids came with rabbits on their shoulders and pestered us to take photos with the pets for a small fee which we did.

After spending around half an hour walking in the meadows, we headed back downhill where Yaseen had dropped us.

By around 11.30 AM we started our drive back to Srinagar. We stopped by at Evergreen Resorts for a quick lunch and then at an Apple Orchard enroute and were surprised to see that apples were in full bloom.

While Yaseen got his car washed and cleaned we went around the orchards, taking in the beautiful sights and treated ourselves to some freshly made apple juice and juicy apples.

The Awantipura Ruins

We then started our drive towards the Awantipura Ruins and reached the temple around 2.30 PM. This temple is dedicated to Lord Vishnu and was built by King Avantivarman who served between 855 to 883 AD. Though in ruins, one still gets to view some exquisite carvings on stone built over a spacious rectangular courtyard with a flight of stairs leading to where probably the shrines would have stood.

We spent around an hour here and drove towards Srinagar. We passed by the town of Pulwama where the dreaded attack had happened on a convoy of soldiers and reached Srinagar City by around 4.30 PM. We were booked to stay at Hotel Royal Heritage for the next 2 days as our base station for the daily sorties to Gulmarg and Sonmarg over the next 2 days.

We reached the Royal Heritage hotel in Srinagar by around 5 PM and completed the check-in formalities. We had negotiated with the hotel for a rate inclusive of Breakfast and Dinner. Around 8 in the night and after some freshening up we headed for the buffet spread.

Day 4 - Would we be lucky to see snow at Gulmarg

Breakfast done, we started off on our drive from Srinagar through some very good roads to Gulmarg, located around 50 kms away.Touted to be Asia’s 7^th best Ski destination, this place also happens to be the heartland of winter sports in India. What is unique about this Gondola ride is that it is the second longest and second highest in the world.

Yaseen bhai, our driver had made arrangements with a local Tourism Department recognized guide who was to help us with our ticketing for the Gondola ride which takes tourists through a ropeway to the snow clad Apharhwat Peak, located at a height of around 14,000 feet.

From the place we got dropped by our cabbie to the start point of the Gondola ride is hardly a distance of a km but the locals coerce you, force you to get onto ponies to get to the point which gets on the nerves but the idea was as advised to just keep ignoring them and walking on.

We picked up some additional layer of clothing and some gum boots before the Gondola station to help protect our original winter wear from not getting soiled when we finally hit the snow.

We went on to join the queues for hopping onto the Gondola which was to take us to Phase 1, while the local guide who was to accompany us got the tickets arranged.

While the tickets were printed as Rs.740/- apiece, we were charged 800 for each citing reasons of paying money to get one’s way through.

This appeared to be the de facto way of working in this system between the guides and the Tourism officials.

We realized this in a little while that there was a much larger nexus with these guides conniving with the locals for either arranging the additional clothing or getting us the ponies or even when we were to have a meal at one of the wayside shops when returning back after our horse ride.

A 9 minute ride brought us to Kongdoori station, the end of Phase I and the base point for the ascent to Phase 2. The ride was a bit scary for the control room in their effort to balance the flow of gondola cars on both sides of the circular ropeway stopped it for a few minutes and with the breeze being strong, the gondola cars were swinging around.

The video below was shot in peak winter in Phase 1 itself and shared by our guide.

We stepped out at Kongdoori only to be informed that we were a good 30 minutes late in missing the tickets for the ride to Phase 2 which would take us to the top of the peak.

The Phase 2 ride would have costed us Rs.1,000/- apiece where as we were given to understand that after stepping out of the Gondola, one could indulge in riding around on snow sledges, do some skiing and also playing around with snow and of course in much colder climes.

While we were coming to terms ruminating on our botched up plans of seeing snow, our guide suggested that we hire ponies and climb upto the snow point and also see a waterfall and some lush green meadows on the way back. We ended up settling for 4 ponies to take us at Rs.2,500/- each after presuming that we had struck a hard bargain from the initial quote of Rs.4,000/- and only to learn that people get horses for even Rs.1,500/-.

We saw the waterfall enroute but were too tired and hungry to go close to it and reached our base camp at around 4 in the evening. A quick lunch of some Khichdi (a slightly watery combo of Lentils and Rice), Maggi and Onion fritters (what we lovingly call pakodas) restored parity to our hunger and tiredness and we hopped onto the long queues to start our descent back to the base station.

Yaseen drove in to the Gondola station to pick us up since it was already late and by around 5.30 PM we started our drive back to Srinagar.

Lot of banter from Yaseen our driver who regaled us with his stories and experiences of ferrying so many families across India and in so many different seasons and his humorous challenges of communicating with families from South, his views on the ground situation in Kashmir and a little bit of politicking and by the time we realized we had reached the porch of our Hotel.

Day 5 - A visit to Sonmarg was planned

The last day in Kashmir and a visit to the Land of Gold – Sonamarg was on the cards. Breakfast was done by around 7.00 in the morning and we checked out of our hotel.

A beautiful drive through the countryside for around 80 kms took us to Sonmarg by around 9.30 AM.

Apart from being a base station for some major treks that passes through lot of Mountain Lakes like Vishansar, Kishansar, Gadsar, Satsar and Gangabal and also being a base for undertaking the holy Amarnath Yatra, the town of Sonmarg holds historical significance in being a gateway to the ancient Silk Road connecting Tibet to J & K.

Since we had planned a day’s trip, choice was to either go to Zozila Pass (meaning Blizzards and being one of the most dangerous passes in the world) or the Baltal Valley or the Thajiwas Glacier.

Considering the recent rains and change in climate, we were advised by our driver to avoid going to Zozila Pass coz roads could be slippery and hence we finally decided to hire ponies and visit the Thajiwas Glacier.

The ladies decided against the horse ride after what they had endured during the climb up in Gulmarg and wisely so.

They chose to go for a drive into the town and see some of the scenic locales around while me and my son got astride Badal and Bahadur to start the roughly 3 km ride towards the glacier. The pony rides across Kashmir are pretty expensive and one remains dependent on the car driver to strike a hard bargain against the indicative rates put up by the Tourism Board. Against the initial rates quoted for Rs.2,000/- per horse, we finally got these horses to take us at Rs.1,400/- apiece. While the ride to the base of the glacier took us around an hour and a half, the entire route was a visual treat to our eyes.

Breath taking views of snow capped mountains, lush green table tops, often the choice for most Bollywood movies and meadows, crystal clear streams flowing by greeted us enroute.

A favorite shooting locale across lots of movies made in Bollywood

The Thajiwas Glacier

From the base of the glacier where the ponies dropped us, we had to navigate an arduous climb of 15-20 minutes to reach the point where there were activities abound for sledging etc. The climb down was treacherous with lot of loose rocks which tended to slip away because of the overnight rains. Once we reached the base of the glacier, helped ourselves to some piping hot tea and noodles before hitting the saddle for our return way back.

Some breathtaking views enroute Thajiwas Glacier

It was around 2.30 in the afternoon when we reached our start point for our drive back to Srinagar Airport. An uneventful drive brought us to the Airport by around 5 in the evening for our onward flight to Delhi. Lovely memories to cherish and the great companionship and warmth of Yaseen bhai who went out of the way to make our experience memorable and worth remembering.

The flip side to what people say that Kashmir is not a safe place to travel is absolutely wrong. It’s just that one needs to exercise restraint in terms of not venturing out during late hours but that again is a precaution. With so much of security personnel lined up in all parts of Kashmir, one does tend to feel pretty safe.

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