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.
