Ya Allah! Kashmir!

We know Kashmir is wholesomely beautiful. But, is Kashmir safe for tourism? :)

You can see policemen everywhere with AK47 and rifles, BSF (Border Security Force) and CRPF (Central Reserve Police Force) armed personals and their army camps all over Kashmir, but it is definitely not a sign of any kind of unrest. There will be multiple rounds of security checks when you visit temples, mosques, and the place where the Chief Minister’s office is (near Hazratbal) and when you move in and out of Kashmir. There were a couple of incidents – killings and protests in remote parts of the state while we were there, but most of the instances of terror we know of Kashmir are blown out of proportion by the media. Travelers clog the place from all over the world; tourism is their main source of income. One tip is that the topic of terrorism or India-Pakistan relationship is definitely more sensitive here, it is better that we don’t discuss this with locals or among ourselves while we are there. We are there for tourism and let us do just that, rightly said my dad. Kashmir and its people are warm and friendly; Ah yes we are definitely in India :)

‘Ya Allah!’ the sound of hope resonates in our ears the moment we step into Kashmir. The words are written at the back/front of most of the public and private transports and every other person you see (the taxiwala or the hotel manager) will utter the two words; it is a part of their lives. I am finding it hard to describe my thoughts on Kashmir. I have travelled to many northern and north-eastern hill sides, each has its own beauty but Kashmir is something. It is like you put all of nature’s beauty in one place. Flowers, parks, lakes, rivers, hills, snow, desert!! And all that you ever want to see. Kashmir is white! From people to roads to silver-roofed/coated buildings to snow-covered mountains to foamy rivers, there is some ‘brightness’ about the place.

Let us start from Srinagar – the capital city bustling with activity and this is from where you will take trips to the rest of Kashmir. The first thing you will do here is, visit Dal Lake. One of the largest fresh water lakes of the world, it has shrunk from the original 75 sq km to around 12 sq km and the depth has reduced from 45 feet to 4 feet. The inflow is from Jhelum River. The water area has been lost due to lotus and nedumboo cultivation. Fishing, water plant harvesting are also major commercial operations here.

When you wade through the waters in your grand Shikara, you will find shops on the lake, people selling fruits, vegetables, imitation jewelry, pearls on boats. You can wear the place’s traditional suits and pose for the camera with a charge of 20 bucks. The boatmen have tie-ups with the shops – shawl, tea shops that are in the lake market, they will in evidently take you to one of those shops and convince you to buy souvenirs. But wait till you see the other places. One/two nights halt in house boats can be a refreshing experience, choice of good house boat is important.

Shalimar Bagh, Nishath Bagh and Chashme shahi are well groomed gardens in Srinagar. The Chashme Shahi being the smallest is believed to carry waters that have medicinal properties and the water reflects like a mirror and is pure to that extent. The tulip gardens were closed for us, the best time to visit would be July, and we were there during the second week of May. The temperature loomed low to 12 degrees Celsius during the nights and during day it was a moderate 18-20 degrees Celsius.

The other must see places in and around Srinagar include Hazratbal shrine (was closed for renovation due to local disputes and attacks), Kheer Bhavani temple (heavy security and is a little far off from Srinagar), Jamia Masjid (old and very calm with fountains and manicured gardens. Women will be asked to cover their heads while entering) and Hari Parbat. Lal chowk - old and new are markets for fruits, vegetables and daily necessities.

Shankaracharya Temple which dates back 200 BC was a big surprise. The temple is dedicated to Lord Shiva. The temple rests on a hill 1000ft high facing the city of Srinagar. It was visited by Adi Sankara periyava and the name got associated with the temple, ever since. The divinity that the place holds, the height and the breeze and the view and.. Wow!! :D

On our way to Pahalgam were the Awanthipur ruins. Awantipura temple (a UNESCO world heritage site) built during the 9th Century A.D. has two deities – Lord Shiva and Lord Vishnu. The temple has undergone an era of changes but the architectural marvel of the place is intact. There was a Sikh tourist guide, who voluntarily summarized the history of the temple, collected 50 bucks forcibly from my hands. The location is a photographer’s delight; Kashmir itself is one, as such. The travel was pleasant with dry fruit shops and saffron farms lined up on both the sides. The picturesque snow-capped mountains will be there for you on every twist and turn.

Pahalgam is visited by tourists as just-a-few-hours spot. But I would strongly recommend a night’s stay in the hills of Pahalgam. It houses some of the fantabulous valleys such as the Chandanwari, Betaab Valley (the Hindi film Betaab was shot here) and Aru valley. Baisaran or 'Mini Switzerland' – if you have ever wanted to experience ‘being in heaven’, be here! Local taxies can be hired to reach these places but they can take you only to the point where the roads end. The mountainous path has to be taken to reach and feel the glory of the peaks, ponies will take you. Keep bargaining, they will start at 1500 per person, if you are good you can bring that down to 500.

The pony ride – an experience for a life time. It scared the.., whatever, out of me and now I am quite not worried about heights or mountain climbing. It was scary; no doubt, the ponies will take you through corners of the deepest valleys and treacherous rivers. Hold on to them and sing songs, pretend like you are okay and they will be good to you :D My brother’s pony was too good to him, preferred to take him away privately from the entire pony crowd. He stopped screaming after he got used to its behavior. These ponies are trained in such a way; you give a ‘hai’ sound and they will run on the hills! :O Be careful not to push them off the slides when you feel scary. Just ‘keep calm and love ponies’!

'Mini Switzerland' has a tea shop, vast lush green meadows, and snow-pecked hills, ponies, a market and the Jhelum River flowing through quietly. There were multicolored pebbles that glittered in the purest water, I have brought home some of the weird ones. We spoke to a few locals on their way of living and took pictures with their heirs and sheep. We would have stayed there forever, if only we had a choice! We went for sledge ride on the Betaab valley. We got the necessary accessories in a shop nearby (the shoes, coats); there was ankle-deep snow. Oooo it was too much, you will be made to sit on the sledge, and the guy who will be in-charge of the sledge would pull you through the snow with a rope, shouting ‘Ya Allah!’. He stops at a good altitude, good enough for you to fall deep down :D we will have to sit behind him and hold on to the sledge, he skids the sledge, and it starts skating down the ice!! The moment I thought ‘I should not fall off’, I flew and hit the soft-ice, hard!! :D:D I got on the sledge again and continued down screaming on the top of my voice till I reached the tea shop where my dad and brother waited after their rides! It was awe-so-matic :D we had some hot tea, chips and travelled down. Traveling down on the ponies was even more terrific! :p

Gulmarg, now, was full of snow again. There were two sets of mountains. The first set was green, grassy and lots of trees. The second set, higher in altitude and behind the green set, stood the white ones, too much snow in mid-May that the oxygen levels went so low; they did not let us up till there. You can reach both these ranges through Gondola rides, you will need to do advance booking for Gondola rides in advance in Srinagar or online, otherwise you will be subject to longest queues (times longer than our ration queues) in the strongest weather! To book for Gondola rides online - click here.

The new experience here was the ice-katti-mazhai :D (Solid ice rain). From nowhere small pebble-shaped solid ice started hitting our heads and we were searching hard for a shelter (too crowded) even before we realized it was just a common type of rain, there. All the solid-ice-pebbles were mysteriously of the same size! Ya Allah!

The tourists choose Gulmarg for stay, but the place we stayed was Tangmarg, in 5-10Kms radius from Gulmarg. The fog and mist covered green mountains that I missed with seeing only white-mountains all through; Tangmarg treated me with these scenic feasts. Only later, after we came back to Chennai, my dad told me a story of terrorist invasion in Tangmarg a year before we were there, and that more than 10 terrorist and civilians were killed in the shoot! I can imagine why no one chose Tangmarg for stay :p But the place is ‘beautiful’, literally!! We stayed in J&K tourism hotels, they were of such good quality and it was like a homestay, with specially prepared food and warm service of the staff. Located 2,740 m above sea level and meaning ‘Meadow of Gold', Sonamarg is a place for trekkers, we had ponies there again, and we did a bit of shopping.

Oh I am tired just to have done the write-up on Kashmir, imagine, you would have so many things to do there. Souvenirs from the Kashmir can be dry fruits and saffron, hand-woven carpets and Pashmina shawls & Wood-crafted items. We had stayed there for 9days and it was not enough at all! We still have Kargil, Leh, Ladakh and Jammu left to be seen in the state. Plan for a leisure travel; it requires one complete month to explore the ‘kaśyapamēruḥ’- a dreamland, a dream that unites you with the ‘One’.