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....