KASHMIR EUPHORIA – Part Two

Since it was raining in Srinagar, we had decided to take a daytrip to Gulmarg the next day. Located at a distance of about 52 kms from the city of Srinagar, this place offers the best of ice-adventure sports in the country. To mention a few facts about the place, Gulmarg offers the world’s highest golf course and is called “Golfer’s Paradise”. It is one of the fewest places in the world to have a “Gondola” (cable car) facility that can take you to a height of 10, 200 feet and that makes it one of the highest lift served ski resorts in the world. Gulmarg is often identified with a European climate and as its name suggests, Gulmarg is a valley of meadows filled with beautiful flowers like bluebells and daisies, to name a few.

With a spectacular view of natural beauty that knows only the color of green, one can see the snow-clad mountains in its backdrop. There is a Gondola station right at the bottom (which is at a height of 2650 feet too). One can climb up by the Gondola, which has two phases, and takes you to a height of 10, 200 feet. I was prepared for the heights that I was about to witness while sitting in a Gondola. But due to some technical problem, the Gondola was closed that day and I had to opt for horses instead! As a sucker for horse riding, I was pretty excited about the journey, until I realized that the road isn’t how it looks like! These horses can climb any heights and can take you to Ellahpatra or Illahpatri (correct me if I’m wrong, which I’m more than sure I am!), which is about 14,000 feet high, beyond which is the PoK province.

I started the horse ride, right from the parking lot of Gulmarg. The road for an hour was lovely. I felt like I was blindfolded with a green velvet cloth! All I could see was green. The meadows embellished with wild flowers that looked gold, seemed like God’s own way of painting on a beautiful canvas of Kashmir. The sun played a game, and won each time, as drizzling was always followed by some sunlight, resulting in rainbows! I enjoyed my horse ride, talking to my guide Anwar, clicking a million pictures on the way as my wanderlust seemed to ask for more. The stretches of pine and oak trees that promise to touch the clouds, would compel me to enter and get lost in my land of fantasies. The road ends at a point and the real climbing starts after an hour. Riding on the horses and climbing on those terrific slopes of Gulmarg, isn’t for the weak-hearted.

I, along with my horse, whom I didn’t call any, climbed rocks over rocks, and even crossed a couple of giant waterfalls. Every second was a thin line between life and death for an altophobic person like me and out of an explainable helplessness that comes with an explosion of adrenaline; I preferred looking at the mountains above me rather than watching the breathtaking views of those green and gold meadows that were now about 10,000 feet below me! The sun gave up and I soon realized that I’m witnessing a snowfall. Since it was my first time, I behaved like a kid, and no, I’m not writing about my first reaction!

It took us about three hours to reach the top which is about 14,000 feet high. By the time I reached there, the entire land was covered with thick snow. I was really tired after those long and deadly horse riding hours. So I just sat down, spent some time with myself, thinking and writing while sipping on steamy hot kashmiri kahwa that my guide managed to fetch at that height, played with the snow and tried my hand on ice-skiing. Gulmarg is one of the finest ice-skiing resorts in the world and offers great slopes for the beginners.

Climbing down was pretty much comfortable as I managed to catch the Gondola. The weather was clear and the technical errors were resolved. Within 15 minutes I climbed down the same distance for which it took 3 hours to climb up! Hands down technology! But you see the beauty? The experience of the horse ride while climbing was much more descriptive than that of the Gondola ride! Slowness will always hypnotize you and ask you to indulge and drink up the nature. It reminded me of the same slow motion of the oar of the shikara and the sound of water in the Dal Lake, and yes, that’s where I wanted to be the next moment! I missed the Boulevard Road in Srinagar and needed a long walk there, while watching the sun set.

But here are few do’s and don’ts about Gulmarg –

• Don’t opt for a horse ride, if you are very scared of heights and if you are weak hearted.
• It is preferable to visit Gulmarg on a clear day, although the place changes its weather every five minutes!
• It is better to eat some not-so-heavy yet filling food near the taxi parking lot, at the bottom. There are a few good cafes around it. It is better to hire sheep-wool trench coats and gum boots from these small shops.
  
• Don’t forget to carry a bottle of water with you ‘cause at that height of 14,000 feet, you might not find a general store!
• Talk to the locals and ask them questions, they are pretty good-looking. Then click loads of pictures and send them to me!!

Avanika.

KASHMIR EUPHORIA - Part One

The moment I saw the first view of Kashmir valley, I had decided to write a travelogue of this journey to heaven. I tried writing it on my computer at first, but the words wouldn’t let me…and I switched to a journal and a pen. The land of Kashmir is as pure as a new born baby and it did not deserve the mechanical writing on a computer. I have no clue where to start from, the day one, the shikara on the Dal lake, the mesmerizing Kashmir-ki-Vaadiya, the playful waters of Lidder or my last night in Kashmir. All I know is that this place had moved me, struck me in a way that I could never come back to what I used to be, as I found my ends here.

The journey on way to Srinagar has its own charm, with sadhus and Shiva temples, on the roadside, hidden under the giant mountains, and the Chenab River flowing to meet her sea, giving a lively company all the way. I reached Srinagar in the evening, right at the dusk. This city shows you how the beauty and the beast can co-exist, at a time. You can see the serenity of Dal Lake reflecting the mountains that surround her on the left, and the fire in the eyes of the Indian armed forces on the right, every 100 meters, doing their best to protect the disputed province.

It was a rare rainy day in Srinagar, and I was taking a visit to all the Mughal Gardens right on the first day. The sound of water in those endless cascades, as they hurl down the aisle, the smell of red roses and the touch of bare feet on the fresh grasslands that touch infinity, did take me into a world called heaven. With 7 terraces and a stone channel for the running water in the centre, set in the backdrop of Pirpanjal and Zabarwan mountains, Nishat Bagh the Boulevard Road is the largest of all the Mughal Gardens and was built by Asif Khan, the elder brother of Noor Jehan. One can see the long stretches of land covered with carpets of greenery and the beautiful Dal lake right in front of the bountiful of flowers in the Nishat Bagh. The illimitable stretches of green grass and the watercourse down the cascades overlooking the Dal Lake make this the Garden of Pleasure. The Shalimar Bagh, an abode of love, a splendid garden that was built by Emperor Jehangir for his loving wife, Noor Jehan is undeniably romantic and undoubtedly a visual delight.

The clouds had invaded the sky high mountains and it had started drizzling again when I thought of cruising in the Dal Lake by the shikara. I really cannot think of an adjective to describe the experience of being in a shikara. Every time the oar pushes the water back, the sound of silence and its tranquility, asks you to slow down, slow down and indulge in the depths of silence. I took a 2-hour cruise in shikara and that allowed me to explore the floating gardens and small shops inside the Dal Lake. It still amazes me, to think of a whole new floating world inside the Dal Lake!

Avanika.

AV's Avilicious by Avanika Mote is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 India License.