Kashmir Diaries......

Here is a small(rather big) narrative on my Kashmir travel...

Day 1: On the Road…

We(me & my parents) started early for our destination (Srinagar).. with morning showers greeting us. The drive was smooth owing to the good work done by BRO on the roads. I could see the vegetation changing as we climbed up & up the mountains with Kikar and Deodar trees dominating the landscape. We had our breakfast at Patnitop (no I’ve not made up that name) which is a great hill station about 45 km from udhampur . At an altitude of 7000ft it is the highest town in that region and quite a tourist spot. The place was engulfed in fog and I could even see "light clouds" below in the deep ravines. Rushing waters of Chenab caught with us at Batote which is also a tourist spot... although I didn’t notice much that was worth the trouble.

At Ramban we had our lunch, at 4000ft this place was unexpectedly hot..... as an oven. Incidentally Ramban was followed by Ramsoo, there is a Ramkot 50km south and a Ramnagar and "Rampur"(Cliché right!!) too nearby. Wow…talk about obsession with the Lord Ram. An hour later came the famous “Jawahar Tunnel”(3km in length) near Banihal which is the connecting link between Jammu “and” Kashmir and thus was obviously a high security zone. I’ll be honest with you till this point I wasn’t much impressed by the scenery, I mean there were mountains, gorges, rivers etc. but I have seen this in plenty.

But I had to eat my words as I had my first glimpse of the Kashmir after crossing the tunnel. The mountains gave way to a beautiful valley, with Chinar and Deodar trees everywhere and the men & women working on paddy fields. The place almost looked like a part of great Indian plains except for the high mountains which were visible a bit far away and reminded you that you stood 5000ft above the sea.

As we approached Awantipoora I could see shops littered with cricket bats, there was only one item on display in the shops “Bats” that’s it. But, then this is the place where you get the famous Kashmir willow of which bats are made. It was around 4pm that we reached Srinagar and had my first glimpse of Jhelum river which flows through the city. Dad had made arrangements for accommodation in Badmi Bagh cantt. which was like a highly fortified citadel with gates closing as early as 7.30pm. Another interesting fact that I should mention and which actually took me by surprise was that the whole stretch from Banihal to Srinagar had 2 jawans from CRPF every 100-150 meters, now that’s security!!

We went to see an ancient Shiv Temple which was in the cantt. itself, a bit later in the evening, the temple was rumored to be at least 1100 years old, it was lost for centuries buried under ground and was found recently about 20 years back. Their was a small party at the mess where we were staying after attending it, I straight away went to my bed to catch on a much deserved sleep.

Day2: Srinagar

The second day was spend exploring the city, with my dad in particular being quite excited as he was visiting the city again after a span of 25 years. Firstly we went to “Shankracharya” temple which is about 800 years and is the temple in the song “Jai jai shiv shankar” in which rajesh khanna dances all around the temple . Unfortunately the times had changed and leave alone dancing I wasn’t even allowed to take my camera inside. The temple commanded a spectacular view of the city as it was situated on the top of a hill. Being tourist season the temple was thronged by people and if you were searching for “peace and quiet” that was the last place where you would have found it. You can also see “Hari Parbat” from there which used to be the king’s retreat more than half a century ago. Now the fort just lies there unkempt as “Karan Singh” the now maharaja hardly comes here due to lack of guts.

After taking the lord’s blessing I decided to sink my teeth into some kashmiri delicacies .

I must tell all my non-veggies bro’s that “Wazwan” is a thing to try before you die. It constitutes of various dishes like “Ghostaba”, “Roganjosh”, “Yakhni”etc. and it tasty beyond description. Man as I right this my mouth has already started watering….

After fulfilling our appetite we decided to head for the “Mogul gardens” which comprise of “Nishat & Shalimar” gardens and “Chashm e Shahi”. We started off with Nishat which is just quite near the famous “Dal” lake. I have seen my fair share of gardens and this one was…. how shall I put it ….decent enough. Could see loads of “honeymooners” having some…ahem….private time.

As I descended the stairs to head for our next destination I saw that the locals had found a ingenious way to mint money…”Water Surfing” which was nothing but a “fatta”( flat board” tied to a desi motor boat. As I was in a adventurous mood and my dad in a generous mood so I embarked on this endeavor of mine. I enjoyed the ride, although sadly it lasted for a very ephemeral duration during which my mum’s heart must have skipped many beats.

Shalimar was not much different from Nishat except for the fact that the crowd was a bit scarce there. Chasm e shahi proved out to be nothing but a natural spring, from which Indira Gandhi used to drink water. Well, don’t know about her but it tasted quite normal to me.

Then came the final part the thing for which Srinagar is most famous for “Dal Lake”. The lake is huge but only a small part of it is frequented by tourists. Most of lake is unfortunately covered with weeds which is destroying it, but the govt. is taking steps to save it. The “Shikara” ride reminded me of “Shammi Kapoor” in the movie “Kashmir ki Kali”. Speaking of which let me tell my bro’s(girls can skip this sentence) Kashmiri babes are “AWESOME”. The first expression that left my lips after I saw them was…as Cartman would have said “SHWEET”!!. Honestly their pulchritude( Yo! Oxford) is unparalleled to dames of other places(no offense).

Hmmmmmm…..oh yeah I was talking about the lake, pardon me from getting carried away. There were loads of “House Boats” which had funny English names like “Neil Armstron”, but I must say the wood work on them was worth admiring. The best part is that many locals use shikaras for selling stuff to the tourists boating in the lake like some jewelery etc and trading with each other in the lake itself. 15 min after and 500 rupees lighter we decided to call it a day. On the way back our driver showed us various parts of the city. Srinagar is a decent city with good roads(Better than Pune) and infrastructure, thanks to the constant grants from the central govt. You did feel as you were in Pakistan though as all the signs on the shops had either English or urdu as their language. The language “Kashmiri” that they spoke was a funny one with no resemblance whatsoever with Dogri that was spoken just 50 miles away.

Example: Tumhara naam kya hai? (Hindi)

Kush bush pushu? (Kashmiri)

Ok! Ok! Maybe that’s a bit exaggerated but still just wanted to convey my point.

The city as such looked quite peaceful, except the omnipresent security personals and a couple of bullet ridden buildings being the only reminder of the extent of militancy which had plagued the city.

Day 3: Sonamarg

We began our forward journey somewhere around afternoon after a heavy breakfast. The vehicle that was provided to us was actually an army vehicle which was painted to look like any ordinary Sumo and carried dual number plates(Talk about being under cover!!). This was a normal precaution as we were traveling through militancy infested area. Just 25km outside Srinagar, "Sind" river appeared and kept us company till Sonamarg.

Sonamarg!!, what can I say….. if I say that it is beautiful, than I would not be doing justice to its beauty. I’ve seen pictures of Switzerland and thats the thing with which I can compare Sonamarg. There is so much greenery there… the trees, the valley, glacier, river, flowers, sheep’s grazing on the slopes…..you can only sit in amazement and admire the magnificent work of nature. It was pure, almost divine and I could even say virgin to some extent. Although the wind was cold and almost piercing, but it was fine. The place was picture perfect, a perfect place to camp. This set me wondering if Sonamarg was so beautiful than how would Gulmarg and Pehalgam be which were considered even better than Sonamarg when it came to beauty. I agree its not wrong to say that “Kashmir is heaven on earth”.

Due to shortage of time we couldn’t stay for long there and had to move on towards Baltal which was like a base camp for "amaranth yatra". Baltal was swarming with people some what like a locust invasion, you could only see tents, vehicles and long lines for checking(which we somehow manage to evade) for miles together. Its true religion and faith is a thing that can mobilize Indians instantly. Here was a place far away from civilization and at 9000ft it was quite inhospitable for many, but the sheer multitude of people present there amazed me.

Our accommodation here was a tent as that’s the only abode in this part. But there were all basic amenities in it bed, sleeping bag, light bulbs, portable toilet,water etc etc. After some rest we decided to explore the place, their were many "bhandaras" nearby. These were basically temporary joints opened by volunteers coming from various parts of India providing free food, free medicines and rest to all the pilgrims. The work done by these volunteers was seriously commendable as it wasn’t simple to establish bhandaras from logistic point of view and required considerable effort and money.People involved had taken a sabbatical from there work and business for 2 whole months.

We retired to bed early as had to get up by 4.30am, but god had some other plans for me and I hardly slept the whole night and kept tossing and turning on my bed.

Day 4 : Amarnath Cave

The morning was a bit chilly, thankfully we had ample woolen clothing. I was some what pleased to know that we would be going on “Horses”(Courtesy ASC AT coy) and not the usual Mules or Ponies as were rented by most of the people. But my happiness soon vanished when I realized that unlike their brothers.... horses were not calm or docile..... in fact these words were alien to them. It had been many years since I had sat on a horse and to re experience it a mountainous trek was last thing on my mind. But putting these thoughts aside we began our long journey with the lord’s name on our lips. Let me put this thing clearly across your minds, if comfort is what you seek than this is the last place you should be. The path is treacherous, steep, narrow, uneven, and to top it all crowded. Their were multitude of people both ahead of me and behind me.I later on came to know that about 30,000 went for darshan that day.

As to our pace you can imagine for yourself, it took us 3.5 hrs to cover 13 km stretch and that is when we cut corners wherever it was possible and overtook many owing chiefly to skills of jawans guiding our horses. I am not at all shy to admit I was scared, yes I was.... and even you would have been had you been in my position with a deep gorge on one side and no space on the other and to top it all most of the first 5km was actually a land slide prone zone. Wow! Whenever I looked down or when horse climbed downhill(which is more scary) I could almost see the “Reaper” calling on to me with open arms, inviting me to see his dominions.

Somehow we reached the “Sangam” which is a conflux of 2 rivers one coming from the cave and other from Zozilla pass. I was glad to see that Indians had yet again proved that they were the dirtiest people on the planet. Just seeing the amount of garbage and filth appalled even me and I am one... who had braved tons of litter in my life. C’mon this was supposed to be a pious place.

After the sangam started a very steep climb which was more terrifying than before as the path was just 1-1.5m wide and it was as usual piled with people and animals. Just 5 min through and I heard a noise “Crack”, for those amongst you who are naïve, it was the sound of my butt cracking wide open. For the next 1 hr I was constantly mumbling lord’s name and asking forgiveness for all the sins(which incidentally were many) that I had committed. It was here that I decided if I live to see another day I would certainly pen down my experience. As I write these lines it appears to me that my fear was unnecessarily profound. But what I write is the state in which I was there and then. So after an agonizing hour of pain we finally came in the view of the “Holy Cave”, and the mountainous path had also given place to a frozen glacier, trot on which was “cool” owing totally to the cold wind that was blowing.

Finally we came to another camp where we let go of our horses and carried on the journey on foot. The sight of an endless line which was more than a mile long disheartened me. But by pulling a few strings read “Jugad” we managed an express VIP darshan.

Now let me tell you about the holy cave, firstly howsoever atheist you might be you gotta give credit to the work of nature, I mean at an altitude of 13500 ft in a cave you see a “Shiv Ling” shaped block of ice this is something that brings on the faith in you, there is no ice what soever elsewhere in the cave. Secondly there a story/legend about 2 white pigeons who reside in the cave and I saw them with my own naked eyes, co incidence …..certainly but you should also understand during my entire journey and even here when I gazed at my vast surroundings I could find no trace of any other life form particularly birds. You did feel in peace with yourself here, although the constant pushing by the crowd and the shrilling noise of the choppers(a mode of darshan for the privileged) did remind you that you were still on this god forsaken planet.

After the darshan we immediately decided to descend as the weather can be very treacherous at these heights and we certainly didn’t want to get caught in the rain. It was with great reluctance and trepidation that I mounted on my horse again. If the uphill climb was bad than the downhill was worse. I died from inside every single time the horse used to go “down the lane”, and the worst part was I could not relay my fears to my parents lest I would be called a coward. Anyways with no untoward incident our return progressed with me looking at my watch every 5 min and praying to god to pass the time quickly. You might think I am overstating the facts here, let me than inform you just a day prior to our trek 2 persons died and by the day 5 of the yatra reportedly 17 people had died, most of them due to cardiac arrest. So believe me this was a deadly stretch. We finally reached the base and I heaved a sign of relief. You would think after 8 hrs of traveling on horse back I would have loved to sit and relax, but with my blistered bums and aching hip bone I found that a daunting task.

We headed to a “Bhandara” as pangs of hunger had ignited our tummy's . After having my fill my eyes fell on a foot massager lying nearby and saw that many of the pilgrims were using it, so I thought why not me. With a bit of apprehension I sat on the chair and put my feet on the massager, their was a bhandara volunteer just sitting next to it and without a word he started pressing my feet. This took me by surprise, such unselfish behavior on the part of a human being was in itself inhuman. After that with aching bones we headed towards our tent to rest. This day would go down in my life as a day when died a thousand deaths.

Day 5 : Return of the King

Well most of the last day was spent in the journey back 12 hrs to be precise and Blah! Blah! Blah!

Chalo bhai Khatam kahani……