Firdous-e- Kashmir
I have grown up watching
movies in which most of their hit romantic songs were filmed in lush green Kashmir
valley. During my school days, I had read the famous lines by Jahangir about
the paradise on earth, Kashmir. I had a very strong desire to visit Kashmir
since my childhood and to see the paradise while I am alive. But whenever I
expressed my desire to visit it, my family was terrified. They thought it could
not be a strong desire; it should be only the ‘last desire’.
In last ten years, I got
chance to travel to 14 Indian states and 6 US states. I went closer to Kashmir
twice but could not hug it as I returned back from Jammu after paying obeisance
at the Vaishno Devi shrine. I had wished to go to Kashmir for my honeymoon. But
that wish could not materialize as my wedding dates got postponed and I had to
cancel my flights to Srinagar. But if you have a desire and that too a strong
one, then the whole world tries to help you to achieve it. Sep, 2014 proved to
be the worst month for Kashmiris in their recent history after the exodus of
Kashmiri Pundits from Kashmir. Around 80% of Kashmir was submerged due to flood
waters of Jhelum. At the same period, I came to know of ‘Spicejet’ cheap domestic
air tickets offer. My strong old desire started jumping again. The low fares
from Delhi to Srinagar helped me to book the advanced tickets, seven months
before the actual date of departure. An alert signal was dissipated to my
family. News of terror, floods and flurry of family concerns started to rock
me. But I stood firm and so was my wife.
Finally the month of
excitement and expectations came. I started searching hotels and places to
visit near Srinagar. But with just ten days to travel, news of flash floods and
terror again started making news in various national channels. The release of
separatist leader Masrat Alam had made Kashmir’s ambience vitriolic.
Family members not only on my
side but my wife side too, were worried about our upcoming almost ‘suicidal’
journey. But I was optimistic as well as strongly committed for the journey.
The ‘D’ day came and we boarded our flight to travel to the paradise. We landed
at Srinagar airport which was not a big one but a chilled one. The water was
cold and air was chilling. The feeling of insecurity and uneasiness gripped us
once we came out of airport. The roads were deserted amid heavy deployment of
security forces. The separatist leaders had called for ‘bandh’ to protest the
arrest of Masrat Alam. Gun totting
security personnel were at every hundred meters. A sense of fear gripped us as
if something was wrong in the place. We were getting a kind of negative vibes. Talking to the middle aged driver of our cab,
we got some glimpses of internal politics of Kashmir.
Finally we reached our hotel situated
near Dal Lake. We could see only few faces on the road as well as in the hotel.
My wife was scared and uneasy. Twice I went out of hotel to the main road but did
not get confidence to move out. We had delicious lunch at the hotel. The lunch
gave enough impetus to me to go to the main market and to arrange an auto for
sightseeing at areas nearby Dal Lake. At the main market near Dal Lake, I was
the only person outside of J&K state. Everyone had eyes on me but it did
not deter me to show my bargain skills with auto drivers. After fifteen minutes
of vigorous discussion, finally we reached a settlement.
First on travel list was Shalimar garden. We
saw lots of faces there, not only from J&K but from other states too. We
were relaxed and happy to see this. Flowers, tall chinar trees dated 300 – 400
years old, fountains and old monuments were the few features of Shalimar
garden. But I noticed an interesting thing there. I saw mothers with their
daughters having picnic without their husbands or sons. There were many such
examples. We were delighted to see them enjoying and hanging out. Nishat garden
was not much different although it was an elevated garden and in front of Dal
lake. We moved to Tulip garden which is Asia’s biggest Tulip garden. There were
tulips of all colors: black, yellow, orange etc. It was much crowded as Tulip
festival was going on that time. Then in the evening we landed at Dal Lake. The
temptation of taking the Shikara ride was irresistible. As the tourist season
had not reached its peak, we got the ride at reasonable cost. It was a plush and
cozy double bed floating on the waters of Dal Lake. Soon we realized, there was
a kind of township floating above the lake. Sellers pitched in with their goods
on boats. They were selling jewelry, spices, fruits, vegetables, Saffron (jafraan
in Kashmiri), Kashmiri tea ( Kahwa) etc. Kashmiri grows vegetables on the ‘soil
bed’; they had skillfully made over the dal lake. Houseboats are proper hotels.
Shops on the dal lakes sell carpets, woolen clothes, shawls, rations, dry
fruits etc. After two hours ride on Shikara, we finally came to shore and then
to our hotel. We finished the exciting day with the delicious dinner at our
hotel.
The weather was pleasant next
morning. It was a big relief from the sultry heat of Delhi. The rear windows of
our hotel room opened to the beautiful sight of clouds covered mountains and
sun coming out behind them. I took the opportunity to see how Kashmiris start
their morning. I came out of hotel and started strolling on the road. I found
mid aged women taking their morning walk but with their heads covered with
scarf always. The influence of Islamic culture is palpable at every place. Students
from different aged groups mainly girls were waiting for their school buses
outside their houses. It was a good omen for the future of Kashmir as girls have
started going to school. I moved few meters ahead and reached the market. Few
shops had opened. Vegetable shops were also selling a special kind of bread. I
saw people taking breads from them. I asked the shopkeeper, the reason behind the
popularity of the bread. He said that the local people used to eat bread with
their morning tea. I also took two pieces of bread which look similar to crispy
salty tandoori roti and tasted it with tea. It had a different but good taste.
Suddenly the weather took the
turn and it started to rain. We had to curtail our planned visit of the day. We
visited ‘Shankaracharya Temple’ where Adi Shankaracharya got ‘darshan’ of lord
Shiva. There was a small cave like structure where Shankaracharya meditated
around five hundred years back. Photography is strictly prohibited near the temple.
It was one of the very few prominent temples at the valley. One could get
bird’s eye view of Srinagar from the top of the Shanakaracharya hill. Next we
reached chasme shahi, a garden on similar lines as Shalimar and Nishat garden.
There was a natural fountain. During summer, it gives cold water and hot water
in winter. The water of fountain is considered to have medicinal properties and
it is good for digestive system of human body. Pundit Nehru is believed to
consume the water from Chasme Shahi. The incessant rain forced us to settle
down in hotel room for rest of the day and to enjoy ‘pyaz pakoda’ with tea.
I had already spent two days
in Kashmir but had not got the nature’s heavy dose so far. The gardens were ok
but they had not the potential to quench my thirst for nature’s beauty. I had
not Kashmir just to see few gardens. After having discussion with the hotel
manager, we decided to go to Pahalgam next morning. Our driver Nisar was well
versed with the areas of valley. We started on our most hopeful journey. Our
vehicle crossed the most controversial chowk of India, the lal chowk of
Srinagar. We had heard a lot about the place, the masked youth pelting stones
at security forces, protests etc. But thankfully there was nothing such thing
except heavy traffic jam due to poor road and infrastructure partially
destroyed by floods and partially by huge corruption prevailing in the valley.
Moving few kilometers ahead, we saw ruins of Awantipura, once a kingdom built
by an Oriya king, Awantipur Barman. The kingdom is believed to be remained
buried under the debris after a devastating earthquake destroyed the kingdom
around six hundred years back. The British are believed to have discovered it
in 1920s. The ruins were still able to depict the old marvel of architecture
and sculpture. Keeping the ruins under our memory layers, we moved ahead. We
got opportunity to see battery of willow factories on our way to Pahalgam.
Kashmir is the biggest supplier of willow bats to other parts of the country. I
hope great batsman might also come from Kashmir. Few kilometers ahead were
fields of saffron ( Zaffran ) at Pampore. Kashmir is believed to grow world’s
best saffron in the world. Shopkeepers adjacent to fields gave us demo how to
find out the difference between original and fake saffron. We were delighted to
find that precious knowledge.
Finally we reached the Pahalgam
district. The district is bestowed with god’s special blessings. The stream of
cold water was coming from hills after the melting of snow. The stream was
flowing over white and smooth stone boulders. The fields of yellow mustard
adjacent to stream and lining of pine trees at the back of fields gave a
picture perfect shot. It was almost what I could have dreamt of natural beauty.
No tranquilizer can be more effective than nature’s beauty dose. It was
difficult for me to say anything or even to move away from such a great sight.
Few kilometers ahead were Baisaran foothills. Cars did not go up after that. We
had to take pony to go to hill tops. It was a very costly deal despite it was
just the start of tourist season. One person was handling two ponies. We were
little scared the way pony was taking us through the edges of hills. But soon
we realized they were trained and well aware of the hilly terrains. Talking to
pony handler was a good fun. They work really hard but the pony owners don’t
pay them properly. Exploitation of such people was rampant in Kashmir. There
were five spots to be covered under the deal. There were crystal clear streams,
top view of Pahalgam, snow covered hills etc. Finally we reached the star
attraction of Baisaran hills, the mini Switzerland. It was really a grand
sight. Lush green curvy landscapes circled within the pine trees and behind the
pine trees were snow covered mountains. The place deserved the name. We sat
there for half an hour and enjoyed the nature’s blessings. With no interest to
go back, we started our journey down the hills. The ponies had become friendly
to us and we were able to tread them without any resistance from them. With all
the memories of pine, stream, snow covered hills, beautiful people, pony rides,
plight of pony handlers and many more we came back to our hotel. Tomorrow
morning we had to catch our flight back to Delhi. We had to reach Srinagar
airport two hours before the actual departure time as there were many layers of
security checks. My family was relieved once we reached Delhi but my mind was
still wondering in Kashmir and I was thinking about the richness of blood stained
Kashmir. Are Kashmir’s most powerful assets making it more vulnerable??
