It’s always said – ‘One needs to go the extra mile to get
the most spectacular view as its never crowded at the top’. This holds good in
many phases of life; may it be career progression or education or even travel
destination.
One such destination is the Kashmir Valley. We all know how
beautiful it is but we are at the same time hesitant to select it as our next travel
destination for the news we hear every other day. If we can make our hearts
believe to shove of all the negativity and insecurities, one will be more
than marveled to visit this Himalayan state.
We will never ever miss an experience until we have
experienced it, Isn’t it so true. I guess we gain such wisdom as we grow older.
Here is an personal account of the beautiful experiences we
had in this heavenly state of Kashmir and which will always be a part of us for
the rest of our lives. By the way, we can never rule out the possibility of
visiting it again to get more such lovely experiences.
We visited Gulmarg, Sonmarg, Pahalgam and Srinagar on our
travel and had many first times and one of its kind experiences. Below is an
account of our memories to this beautiful valley
- The
Himalayan mountain ranges view from the airplane before landing - The snow
clad mountain tops feels like a sea of white waves. It stretches for a
sufficient time to have a memorable view giving us a feeling of how vast the
world is and we are like a tiny grain of sand in front of all this.
|
Arial view of the Snow clad mountains |
- Life on
the Dal Lake – It is a world in itself on the Dal Lake. It’s amazing to
know it is not only a well known tourist destination in Srinagar but there
actually exists a small village/town on the Dal lake. People stay on the Dal
lake and do their daily chores here. You see women/children rowing through the
lake for market visits and schools. There are small farm gardens cultivating
veggies on the lake. The lake also has a garden (The Nehru Garden), a shopping
lane (Meena Bazar) and many beautifully craved houseboats thus making it a town
in itself. While one enjoys the Shikara (boat) rides on the Dal, you will
always get a street shopping feel with florists, fruits sellers, kabab sellers,
photographers, jewelers rowing to you and also making a living themselves. We
were marveled at the human capacity to dwell anywhere and everywhere.
|
Florist at the Dal Lake |
- The
garden city - Srinagar City is mostly about the various garden visits.
Tulip Garden (Known as Asia’s largest), Pari Mahal, Chashme Shahi, Nishant
Baug, Shalimar Baug are some we visited. Apart from these spectacular and well
maintained gardens the whole city of Srinagar seems to be a large garden in
itself. Almost all the roads are well shaded with the beautiful Chinar trees
keeping the city always cool. The locals will tell you how the chinar leaves
change their colours every season thus painting the whole city it their
colours. If we look a little beyond, the outskirts of Srinagar are filled with
cherry trees, almond trees, mustard fields and are very colourful when their
fruits/flowers are in full bloom. The city looks so fresh and green as though
the trees have freshly grown leaves and flowers.
|
Pari Mahal, Srinagar
|
Nishant Baug Overlooking Dal Lake |
|
- Step back
in time here – The city has a charm in itself which one needs to
experience. It gives a feeling of stepping back into the medieval times with
the long stretches of old town houses and buildings (said to be 100s of years
old), castle like homes spread in large areas, markets displaying artifacts
with Mughal like art and royalty. I would not be mistaken to describe it as the
Afgani towns from the novels of Khaled Hosseini. You don’t even remember the
fancy shopping complexes/multiplexes/clubs that are very well missing in this
age. Also one may not miss the horse carts on the streets among the motor
vehicles.
|
Dargah in Srinagar |
- Snow clad
valleys – Most of India being a tropical country, we were overwhelmed to
have our first snow experience. Gulmarg which literally translates to ‘the
valley of flowers’ had blown us with excitement as we drove out of Srinagar and
found the snowclad mountains coming closer. Gulmarg’s biggest attraction is the
Gandola ride (highest Cable car ride) to reach the top of the snow clad
mountains and have a complete view of the Gulmarg valley. The further you look
the only view is that of bright white reflecting snowy mountains. While we
enjoyed all the fun activities and adventures, it did scare us at times overlooking
the LOC imagining how it must be for the soldiers staying at such climatic
conditions with only mode of transport being by air or the cable car rides.
This place will definitely give a different experience based on which time of
the year one visits. We could as well experience the green scape all through
out at the lower levels which was equally lovely. You keep feeling it’s a
manmade landscaping with lawns of grasses and pretty tiny flowers everywhere
with a backdrop of snowclad mountain tops. But it’s a proof of the universal
powers of how naturally such a beautiful place has molded itself.
|
Gulmarg view from mountain top |
- Travelling
to the fairyland – Drive to Sonmarg (the meadow of gold) is spectacular and
seems like a dream come true. As we got closer to Sonmarg the crystal clear
stream water from the Sindh River decorated with lovely pebbles in the riverbed
alongside the road soaked us in the serenity of this view. Surrounded by
greenery, small villages, grazing herds of sheep and horses and beyond all this
overlooking the giant Himalayan ranges are enough to agree to the term ‘Jannat’
rightly used for this dreamland. It is an overwhelming feeling of contentment.
The pony ride to the glacier amidst such breathtaking scenery was really
spectacular.
|
Sonmarg. pony rides to glacier |
- Paradise, it is – The way from Srinagar
to Pahalgam started with a part of the route crossing AFSPA impacted areas
giving us chills as to some tension around the place. After this stretch had
passed it was a treat to our eyes and soul to watch the fields stretched on
both sides of the roads especially that of saffron (though it was not ready
when we saw and we were told there are nightly guards in these fields when they
are about to harvest). Following this were wholesale shops of dryfruits and
saffron, wooden cricket bats (J&K is the major producer of these). Then as
we were approaching Pahalgam or Aru Valley there were only long stretches of
Apple gardens making us dream of the view when apples would be hanging in
bunches. On one side of the road was the stream of river Lidder flowing and the
soothing sound of it creating a Zen like atmosphere. All that I wished was to
pause the time so that we could soak in this atmosphere. As Pahalgam approached
the river Lidder widened, meadows of green stretches of grasses with colourful
tiny flowers surrounded the place and herds of sheeps, horses surrounded the
place enjoying their happy meals. We also spotted some mountain monkeys feeding
on the wild flowers. Beyond this we had the pony rides to the mountain top,
known as Baisaran. It seemed we were getting closer to an angelic place,
blowing our minds with the cool breeze, few chilling drizzles, hide and seek view
of the flowing stream and finally into the woods galloping on our ponies. And
beyond this no description would do justice to what we experienced. Yes, if
there is paradise on earth, it is nowhere else but here. Rightly quoted - “Gar firdaus bar-rue zamin ast, hami
asto, hamin asto, hamin ast. “
|
Baisaran, Pahalgam |
- Shop till
you go broke – It is never an overstatement if said you can spend all your
money here and still wonder if you missed something. Kashmir is rich in their
natural resources and one of the major producers of Almonds, different types of
berries, apricot, Apples, Saffron, Himalayan garlic which one would definitely
take back home. Kashmiri art, craft and clothing is also world renowned for
Pashmina silks/shawls (silk from special kind of sheep wool found here) , Mulberry
Silk, unique hand embroidery clothes, leather coats, artistically carved jewelries, decor items
like papier mache artifacts, brass or silver vessels and many more things I
have definitely missed.
- How do
you get closer to the local culture until you have tasted the local food – Kashmiri
food has many varieties of bread which can easily be spotted in any local
bakery and no, its not the usual indian bread or roti. Kashmiri kahwa and noon
chai (salty tea) are special hot beverages and definitely can beat any tea
experience. It’s a food galore for the non-veg lovers with tikkas and grills
available everywhere. Gushtaba, Rogan Josh, Tabak Mas, Shawarama are some
non-veg cuisines to try. Vegetarians can feast of Kashmiri Pulao and Dum aloos.
The market around Dal lake area has a lot to explore with many renowned eateries
or cafes.
|
An evening at Chaijaai cafe having Kashmiri Kahwa |
- The
locals – As we took some independent strolls in Srinagar without our tour
agents, had got a chance to interact with the locals. They are very down to earth
and friendly to communicate with. They will help you with locations even if you
are lost and try to make you feel comfortable. Every other person expresses a
concern of the media’s projection on Kashmir issues and its impact on tourism. One
suggestion would be to refrain from discussing much on nationalism topics and
be generic in opinions even if you have one, reasons best known to most of us. Also
do not fall pray of every other person trying to sell something and it might be
a bit annoying at times as they are in every tourist location.
Kashmir valley will always give our soul an overwhelming experience of fairytales, angel lands and paradise (whatever you can call it) no matter which time of the year you visit it. While I wish I can come back to this place again and again (which I wish with many other places), this first experience of this beautiful valley will forever be a part of my soul beyond words can ever describe.
Quoting Rumi -
“Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing there is a field. I'll meet you there.
When the soul lies down in that grass the world is too full to talk about.”
Journeys show you how big the creation can be,how much could you imagine!!Cherishing hearts and living from the present to flying over places and your life and the lives you connect can show you,who you truly are!!I thank my loving wife for writing this lovely peice of emotion expressed in this blog."There is always a reason why we exist,there is always a life that we can encourage..for that travel as far..life is not meant to be lived and spent at only one place..."Forever Ayans..
ReplyDeleteThanks for encouraging... Hope we have many more such experiences ππ
DeleteVery Beautifully written Mamai, I must say this Travel experience has given a new direction to your writing, I knew you had this talent,only an experience was needed to surface it...
ReplyDeleteThanks Esha.... This is encouraging, glad you read it ππ
Delete