kashmir weather and .....to gulmarg

We heard kashmiri people saying that two things can never be relied upon-“ Bombay’s fashion and Kashmir’s weather”. We found this absolutely true during our visit to Kashmir.

on hill-top lights of the famous shankaracharya temple...

It was our last day on houseboat, when I sat on the deck overlooking the lake and the hills. It had been drizzling since one day and last night it had rained heavily. When I had come out of the room in early morning black clouds were spread like heaps of cotton on the hills. One could see lush green hills ,bathed in the fresh showers  looking all shiny and  gracious. The road in front as seen from the deck was lined on both the sides by pine trees which grew tall and straight as if all the branches just aiming for the sky. In spite of the continuous  drizzle there were shikaras all over the lake with the tourists enjoying the lovely weather of Kashmir. From our houseboat we had a direct view of the famous shankaracharya temple perched on top of the hill. At night the temple lights shined bright on the dark hill and appeared to be  proudly decorating the forehead of hill. It seemed as if a scenery from a portrait coming alive

…

That  was the day we had to leave for gulmarg. We had booked a taxi and we started early to avoid the traffic of Srinagar, which we were told could lead to traffic jams .Our driver was a very nice guy named bilal. He told us to be very careful of the guides and the horsemen, who often charged tourists heavily and were notorious for fighting even with the locals. The beautiful  weather added a strange mysticism to the beauty of the land. Finally we reached tangmarg where we hired snow -boots and long overcoats. The small kashmiri houses in the fields made me really wonder as to how the people would be surviving in the extreme colds of December-january when we were almost freezing in april. The snow, which was picturesque to the tourists was life-threatening for the locals. It was here that I understood the concept of long woolen kashmiri coats called “firan” and  ‘kangris’-small baskets filled with burning coals, which kashmiri people keep inside firans and walked along to keep themselves warm.

a kashmiri wearing firan and carrying -'kangri'

On our journey from tangmarg  to gulmarg everything was engulfed in layers of fog. I opened the window and soon my nose and cheeks turned red with cold. The green carpet on hills was interrupted by chinar, pine and fir trees. Small streams from the hill top curved their ways through the mountain slopes. Everything seemed so pristine and so untouched. The drive on the wavy hills of road is always an experience in itself if one enjoys the stark beauty of the mountains.

 cottages and hotels at gulmarg...

I had been told by the driver that our hotel-kingsleay was in the marketplace. But finally when bilal asked us to get down I could see nothing except thick fog around and heaps of snow scattered all around the place. It was as if the nature has decorated the place with one of its most beautiful ornaments-the white snow….

We were told by the hotel manager that in winters the whole place was submerged under ten to twelve feet of snow and at that time only few foreigners could be seen who were interested in skiing and mountaineering. I was really very happy to have got the opportunity to be at one of the loveliest places in the world.

hotel kingsleay at the right hand corner of the picture, and shiva temple at left hand corner.

few beautiful moments captured with captivating background....

 

the gondola ride

The first thing I was really interested in after landing in gulmarg was -the gondola ride. When we reached the place it was raining off and on and the place was enveloped in thick fog and clouds. Our hotel manager informed us to head straight for the ride, as sometimes the officials closed it if the weather turned really bad.  We hurried into our room, dressed up in layers of woolens, jackets, snow-boots and woolen overcoats and headed straight for the ride.

The distance of gondola-car from our hotel was almost one kilometer. But the pony-owners didn’t allow private cars to go beyond for their own business. But I thoroughly enjoyed the walk in that drizzle and foggy weather. We had only one small umbrella with us. So Ashu and I clung together and walked among many other enthusiastic people who were also heading for the ride. On our way I couldn’t control my eagerness to click photographs of the small cottages and hotels, all enveloped with snow.  On our way I could only see small hotels and few shops and eating places which constituted the total market of gulmarg. Ashu was a bit disturbed as the cold was a bit more to what we had been used to. But I was little too excited to feel the cold.

On our way many guides were discouraging the tourists that they would have to wait for long for the tickets to the ride. But when we finally reached the ticket counter it was empty because of the rains. So we managed to get the tickets fast and after a small queue , entered into our small cable car which took us straight to the snow clad Himalayas.

The cabin of gondola had seating capacity of six people but we were only three people inside. I was continuously flashing my camera. It was raining outside so the visibility from the cabin had reduced greatly. But luckily the glass at one corner was broken. So I managed to get some photos , sticking my camera eye at that place. Nothing could be seen below, except the white spread of snow and few cottages( considered to be the Sheppard ‘s houses). Interspersed among snow were tall green trees imparting magical beauty to the hills.

And than what happened made me cry with joy. All of a sudden I noticed the drizzles of water turned into flakes of snow. I had never expected to find snowfall at this time of april. It was as if someone had sweeped a magical wand over the place. Finally we got out of the cable-car and landed on white carpets of snow. We had one hour to our ride back. It was amazing to see so many people running , shouting and playing in snow. Girls were giggling, throwing snow at each other and one person was standing with his mouth open and taking snow flakes inside his mouth. Really wonderful ways of man to enjoy nature.

After some time we noticed many people going inside a door. And to our amazement there was a small restaurant there where we also enjoyed hot coffee with “pakoras’ later. Outside people were enjoying skating, sledge-ride and even snow skooters. It seemed like a small fair. I too enjoyed a small sledge ride. Two ladies were sitting on a bench, whom a local told to get up and start moving else blood would freeze in the legs. One local was behind us to get some photos from him. We did get some photos but the funny part is when he came to know about our profession we ended writing prescription for his stomach ailments.

 Finally when we thoroughly enjoyed our time clicking photos, looking at one of the magical phenomena’s of nature and came back having one of the most memorable trips of our lives.

kashmir trip first day.

It all incepted with my passion of travelling as a woman traveler with a group called “WOW-women on wanderlust”. It was 14^th february 2012 when I booked my tickets to Srinagar. When  my dear hubby came to know about this, he seemed little disappointed at the the thought of being alone alone for those five to six days. My analytical mind told me to plan this trip with my beloved  and postpone my wanderlust with women for later. So it so happened that I booked my husband,s  tickets on another flight. Afterall Kashmir seemed to be a place to be explord with the one you love.

It  was the bright beautiful morning of 7^th april ,with slight chills in the morning air when my beloved and I boarded from two adjacent terminals glancing at each other , enjoying the distance yet cherishing our togetherness. I was not very happy with my middle seat in the flight, when I had so longed for the window seat. There were two ladies besides me, from Calcutta. The one near the window seat was an old lady , mrs ghosh.

My longingness for the window seat dissolved when I came to know that mrs ghosh was in her seventies and this was her first flight . her excitement was contagious. Molly ghosh, her daughter in law and I got pretty chirpy soon. Our entire flight  from jammu to Srinagar ,all three of us were literally clung to the window. The view of the snow capped Himalayas with clouds floating over them was mesmering. But my real charm was watching mrs ghosh who was getting excited like the baby, who dances on  geting his favourite toy. She was a beauty to watch, her constant smile  revealed her inability to overcome her excitement. I found myself staring at her more often now than  the view itself. Sometimes when I try to reason out my  affinity with the old people I feel one of the reasons is my closenmess with my two grandmothers . the time spend with them in childhood has had really great impact on me.

            the aerial view of snow-clad range of himalayas...

 the yellow mustard fields seen before landing at srinagar airport.

Finally we landed on the Srinagar airport. I was happy to unite with my beloved at the airport, who seemed to be eagerly waiting for me. Neither of pur phones were working. Later on we came to know that all the prepaid connections  from outside the state don not work in j&k, only postpaids do. When I asked one security personal about the call booth he generously offered me his phoneset to make the call. Thought one is really unsure of the peace conditions in Kashmir, but for tourists the kashmiris and the army personal are very  cooperative and generous. The main source of revenue being only tourism here.

But the actual surprise was yet to come. We had a glimpse of the kashmiri architecture with sloping roofs of all the houses ,on our way to houseboat, on the dal lake. I noticed several small houseboats even in Jhelum river  in the city. The dal lake started with narrow extension  carrying many beautiful houseboats. I was anxiously waiting to see our houseboat –lotus retreat, for which we had a prior booking. Finally the driver stopped on the roadside and led us to a beautiful shikara for crossiing over to our houseboat. The shikara ride was an experience in itself. 

 on our way to the houseboat -----shikara stand.

                                                                            our rememberable shikara ride..

The location of our houseboat was extremely lovely with the Hboat resting on one corner and huge spreading dal lake in front. Finally we ate something and came on the so called deck of the hb enjoying the view of the people having shikara rides on the lake. We burst into laughter seeing one fellow sleeping on shikara while his wife and the child were busy clicking photos. After some time some floating shops passed by which offered drinks and eatables to people enjoying their shikara rides.it was a spectacular view in itself. We decided to dedicate the day to the view of the dal lake itself.

                                  shikaras in dal lake..

                                 our grand houseboat...

                                 the beautiful interior of houseboat..

                                 the glistening beauty of the lake..

the flowerman

My first morning in Srinagar started with an breathholding view of the full moon staring in the clear waters of the dal lake. It seemed as if it is reflecting its beauty in the mirror of the waters of dal lake. The reflection danced on the waters  as if quivering in the moderate cold of early morning of Kashmir.

I got up early morning at 5.30 and by 6 am came on the deck of houseboat . the birds were chirping melodiously along with the small ducks( called “jalmurgi”), washing themselves in the clear water and getting on with their  normal chores. The surrounding range of Himalayas ,stood majestically as the early morning sun glittered its snow covered peaks with the glory of its morning red rays.

Life starts early morning for kashmiris on the lake itself. Many shikaras and small boats emerged from the back of houseboats  and started moving across the lake. One small  boat passed by with two children smartly dressed in school uniforms and having school bags on their backs. . One was rowing the boat and the other one was having his breakfast with some special bread in one hand and a drink in another. Few boats were seen with people carrying shovels and collecting vegetation from the base of the lake in their boats the lake. First I thought these people must be appointed by the government for cleaning the lake .but later I came to know they were just taking vegetation from the base of lake for using as fertilizer in their field. At these places ,I felt people would still be praying for pleasant weather and sunny days as bad weather would mean no tourists and no food for the families.

 I was sitting ,writing my blog when a small boat with flowers on it came near me. The pleasant man sitting on it greeted with “saalam waale kum”.He was an elderly man  interested in selling his flowers. But I was interested to talk to him. He asked me whether I was a hindu or a muslim, to which I answered as hindu.I had my head covered with a black scarf ( for morning cold) which probably raised his curiosity. But I could only marvel  at the significance of the question amidst the beauty of nature and the morning.

The flower man had seeds also for selling. I said no for flowers but I was interested for the seeds. I asked him whether the flower seeds would survive in the scorching sun of north india. He assured me that he would call me up personally to know how the plants were doing. I laughed at his answer. But the flower man’ seemed like a simple kashmiri who believed in “allah” and said he would even pray for my seeds to grow into beautiful flowering plans. I liked the simplicity of the man, and bought some seeds. When I came back with the money, he presented a beautiful yellow tulip to me, for being his first customer of the day. I clicked few pictures of the’ flower man’ and we parted with beautiful smiles and loving greetings.

the photography

We were enjoying the view from our houseboat (hb) when a person approached with an  album in his hand. He wanted us to have some photos clicked dressed as kashmiris. It looked funny, but the thought of sharmila tagore , dressed as kashmiri in the movie’ Kashmir ki kali’, flashed across my mind. And I got interested. Ashu was bit reluctant at the idea of being dressed as ‘pathaan’ and  I was a bit apprehensive as to how  he would manage to dress us up in public. But the fellow was really trained well for his job.

We waited for the sun to go down little, so that the photos would look better. Luckily it became cloudy after half an hour  and  cold breez started blowing over the lake. The photographer , called Bilal emerged suddenly seeing the pleasant weather and opened his Pandora box. First he took me to his boat and dressed me up as a kashmiri girl. He gave me a red coat called ‘firan’ in kashmiri. Next came a big necklace and then some hanging ornaments  above my ears. Lastly he covered my head with a yellow scarf. And I was all set for the shoot. Ashu was standing on the hb smiling ,and clicking with his own camera. And Bilal started his job. He asked me to pose with flowers and while rowing the boat, while he kept on clicking. The tourists passing by in their own shikaras were grinning seeing this photo session, which embarrassed me a little. But I suppose when we are on vacations a whole different psychy works for us.

Now Bilal called ashu, who was enjoying the sight all this while. Now it was my turn. He dressed Ashu with an embroided firan and a jacket. Lastly came a ‘pagdi’ to complete the attire of a pathan. I couldn’t help laughing  seeing all this. But more hilarious were the poses which the model had to give. Even  the managers of our hb were having a good time. We had some photos clicked at shikara and some even at houseboat. It is a memorable experience till today and the photographs have become something to cherish forever in our lives.

Posing with flowers…….

A kashmiri girl at the dal lake.

Rowing the boat, while the strong winds were creating wonderful waves across the lake.

Clicking, while being clicked…..

Ashu, clicking from the houseboat…….

some moments of togetherness to be cherished forever……..

the pathan with his special poses…

Finally Some clicks at the houseboat,,,