Trip to the Heaven on Earth!

Being born and brought up in the "Kashmir of Rajasthan", I always had the desire to see the real Kashmir!  I was fortunate to have a colleague at work who belongs to Srinagar and got an invitation for her wedding! I have been waiting for this for years and finally it happened.  They say that a solo journey is a soul journey and I couldn't find a better opportunity than this extending this trip in the valleys of Kashmir. 

I waved goodbyes to my friends who were going back to Delhi  from the trip after the wedding . I returned back to the houseboat and felt a sudden emptiness. I realized that I was on my own in this state which was almost foreign to me. Now onwards, in this journey  I was supposed to make all the decisions and take care of all the travel , stay and food arrangements which by far was done by my friends. I was in Srinagar at that moment and it was morning 4.47 am . I was all alone in the entire Houseboat and  a wave of sudden fear crossed my mind. I hadn't spoken to my parents for the past 4 days now and they had no clue about my extended solo trip. But then there was the excitement of doing the abandoned . This is what I have been longing to do for very long. Specially after the year long stressful period at work, I badly needed this time all by myself. I have done it earlier and that too in a different land altogether , so that brought back the confidence and I went back to sleep for a few more hours before I left for my journey. 

I packed my bag and  went to the Tourist Reception Centre at  to find a Bus for Sonamarg.  I was told that a bus was fully occupied and was going to Leh. I was offered to be accommodated in the front cabin next to the driver. What best could I have asked for? The perfect seat in the entire bus! The bus had a young and a old couple from abroad and a group of young men and women from Delhi going for a Ladakh trip. The journey began. The driver and the conductor spoke to me about my stay so far and the plans ahead. They also kept informing me about the various landmarks on the way like the NIT, Srinagar and other institutes and the landmarks while we crossed the city. 

 The strategic seat made the journey all the more beautiful . I could change postures so many times and relaxingly enjoyed watching the natural scenic beauty;the springs and the rivers and the mountains and the greenery!

 The driver stopped at a mid way restaurant for tea and breakfast. The restaurant was facing the river and I could hear the sound of flowing water and wind gushing. I enjoyed a Kahwa and Aloo paratha, made on special recommendation of the driver.  The driver was over-friendly. He asked me at least three times to join for Leh, then said that I can stay there for free and wouldn't have to incur any cost on travelling too! Its just strange, that when someone is being nice to you, you actually doubt their intentions . They might actually be nice or being hospitable, but then human mind is hard wired for mistrusting. 

 He then played some old hindi songs in the bus. He also stopped to get me fresh walnuts from the tree. Hadn't I tasted them,  I would have never realized the difference between the dried and fresh walnuts. I then found some more later in Srinagar and bought a few more to relish. 

Fresh Walnuts and peeled walnuts.

When I reached Sonamrg, the driver and the conductor gave me their numbers and asked me to contact them for any requirements. The Conductor's son had an export Business near the Dal Lake. He suggested me to visit his shop too. 

They then arranged a hotel room for me too. I didn't like that room so much so told them to hold for half an hour till I come back. I then proceeded to Yatri Niwas, a unit of Sonamarg Development Authority. I got a very beautiful room for Rs.700 after negotiation  as the season was lean. 

The room at Yatri Niwas from the outside 

When I checked my phone to make a call, I found out that the Vodafone post paid connection didn't work there. It was a mixed feeling. For a moment I was disheartened to know that I couldn't connect with my friends but then this was a way to connect to nature and the present moment and disconnect from the technological world. After checking in, I arranged for a pony with the help of the Hotel Manager and then proceeded for a pony ride to the Thajwas glacier. 

The journey was splendid,the snow capped mountains, the green pastures and peaceful silence. There weren't many tourists so most of the journey was only me and my ponywala. He taught me to how to use the  Lagaam as steering and break and thereafter I did it well.  

The pony stopped halfway to the glacier and I was supposed to trek to the top of it. It was a very steep trek and I took baby steps . On the way up, there were many boulders which were slippery. While I was climbing.  two men came offering me to hold their hands to reach the top. I denied them a few times and then when I was about to slip on those boulders, I held hand of one of the men. The other man held my right hand and took me to the glacier which was hardly 10 steps away. I had stepped on the snow for the first time in my life and I slipped to realize the friction between my shoes and snow was less.

I was breathless at the moment both due to the steep uphill climbing and mesmerized with the beauty and finally achieving the dream of seeing snow and glacier. I was still in the moment trying t absorb it  when the men there suggested me to sit and breathe for a while. As there was snow all over, they suggested me to sit on the wooden sledge. I had no intentions of taking a sledge ride, the moment I saw it. I thought they were genuinely asking me to sit and breathe and would ask them to take a ride after I am fine. The moment I sat on the wooden sledge., the boy sitting on the sledge, lifted my legs and wooooosh, the sledge ran downwards! I shouted that I didn't want to take this ride and they said that you come to Kashmir only once so you should have it, but then I was already in the middle of the ride!!  After reaching the end, the guy asks me to pay  1000 bucks for sledge and extra 200 for helpers ( I thought they were helping people in need and had no clue that the smile that they were giving was a service to be paid for! ).

 There was a hue and cry and a quarrel. I reminded myself that this place was very secluded and not many tourists were there. Moreover I was all by myself and as a cherry on iceberg, there was no network in ,my phone, oh and I was in Kashmir, already infamous , so no point fighting more. So I finally paid 600 Rupees after so much of  cacophony.

While on the way back,, the pony wala took a different route where  there was a small waterfall from the spring water.  I emptied the water from the mineral water bottle purchased for 40 bucks and filled it with spring water which lasted for next few days. I was dead tired by the time I reached back to Yatri Niwas and slept off.

Sonamarg

 I woke up with a knock on my door saying" Madam khana ha lo warna dukane band hi jayegi." I checked the time in my phone( The only use of phone that time) and it was 8 pm.  I went to the Jai Vaishno dhaba and had Gujarati kadi khichdi for dinner and came back. I could see two bicycles of a foreigner couple in their late 40's going to Leh. There were 3 more bikers going to Leh who were staying there. My craving for going to Leh ladkah just increased by seeing all these adventurous travellers . It was a cold night. I went back to my room. gazed at the stars for sometime( something that I really long for in Noida and all I get to see are the airplanes)  and slept off.

Woke up in the morning,packed my bag and went to check out. The hotel manager asked me for breakfast and then I told that I wanted to have Kashmiri tea. He offered me to have tea with them. I was more than happy to have it. We went to the kitchen of the Yatri Niwas restaurant. The Restaurant was closed as the Sonamarg Development Authority could not find a contractor to run the restaurant. The kitchen was therefore used by the staff for cooking their own meals. There were 5 of us, sipping hot salted Kashmiri tea with the Kashmiri Roti for breakfast.

Kashmiri salted Tea with Kashmiri Roti

 We chatted for a long while . They told me that while I was enjoying my sleep upstairs in my room, they had a sleepless night worrying about a solo female passenger in the almost lonely Yatri Niwas. We discussed about how the foreigners travel and they shared their experiences that a lot of them don't trust them and get offended on any important useful advice too.

Sonamarg is a ecologically sensitive area so in order to preserve the natural beauty, the authorities have prohibited construction of hotels. They also told me that Sonamarg is open only for 6 months  and during the winters people go downhill to stay as the entire Sonamarg is covered with snow. I was wondering, how do they cover the hotels and reopen during March.  The nature makes the same place, unfit for habitation for some time and on others you can just admire it . Nature is indeed all powerful.   I bid a farewell to them hoping to come back sometime.

 At he bus stand, I was told that he only bus which goes to Srinagar had already left. I had to take a Taxi to Kangan and then from kangan another one to Srinagar.

 I sat in one of the taxis and just after 5 minutes, the driver came and said that I was really lucky as he just found a group going to Kangan so I didn't have to wait for long.The luck just vanished when he found out that there was some other driver, who took his passengers( as per the rules of the Sumo Taxi Union, it was his turn ) in his vehicle.

There was huge fight between the two drivers and around 50-60 men surrounded the taxi in which I was sitting. They were all speaking in Kashmiri and pointing out repetitively towards me.

 There was another man who was sitting in the drivers seat ( I assumed him to be the driver at first). He started speaking very sweetly to me about my travels and stay etc. Then he asked if I was a Jain. I suddenly realized the reason behind it. The recent ban on meat by Prime Minister and the various protests going on in Kashmir about it made him curious .

 He tried to scare me off by saying that it isn't safe for me to travel alone anywhere, so its better I take some Kashmiri with him( pointing to himself). 

Then , he tried to make the best out of situation( while there were men grabbing collars of each other and shouting and pointing towards me) by telling me to go with him by booking the entire cab till the midway place kangan. He was ready to give me a discount of 100 rupees. By the shared taxi, I had to pay 70 Rupees, and with him, I had to pay 600/-!

With my refusal, vanished the sweetness in his conversations. He after a while came and sat in the taxi, played a typical  Urdu song/( somehow felt like a  religious prayer)  in full volume. I was super-annoyed and irritated. I was about to ask him to stop playing at least 4 times and realized that I was alone and didn't have any network in phone too. So I shut my mind and sat quietly.

 I waited for 1.5 hrs for fellow passengers to come before the journey begin from Sonamarg to Kangan. The road journey was again wonderful. I could see the streams originating from the glaciers merging into the river. These were the statements only read in the books so far.

I reached the small town of Kangan and went back to Srinagar. I took a auto ride to the Tourist reception Centre to proceed to Gulmarg. When I enquired for the bus to Gulmarg, I was told that I couldn't visit Gulmarg as it was closed. It was afternoon around 1 pm.

I called up the driver who was with my group for the past few days and he told me that there was some accident in Gulmarg and therefore one couldn't go there. I then visited the Pari Mahal, Chashme Shahi, had lunch and did some shopping . It was a very sunny day so I couldn't enjoy much,

I then went for a Shikara ride. The Shikara man asked for 1000 for a 3 hour long boat ride. While talking he said that he also owns a houseboat. I saw the room in the houseboat. It was very pretty and looked comfortable so I decided to stay there for the day. The shikara ride was beautiful. I sent a postcard to my home from the floating post office in the dal lake, India's only floating Post Office.

 I had an exquisitive icecream, on the shikara called "Gulbadan"  the seller says" phoolo si mahak aur kaanto si chamak wali gulabadan! " 

Gulbadan! 

 Wasim Bhai, the shikara man, made a garland of the lily flower and presented it to me!I saw the floating market, did some shopping and went to the houseboat.

The Lily Garland

The family owners daughter Safwa was a very cute and lively girl. She made me make paper boats and planes for 2 hours and we saw how far did they go. She also insisted that we wrote our names on the boats. Man's desire of embarking its presence and identity is indeed imbibed since childhood. It was just a wonderful feeling to be a kid again and make paperboats. At first I was doubting if I still remembered making them. We tore away  pages from 2 notebooks!

The early next day morning I fed the beautiful ducks which came in front of the houseboat. Some pleasures in life are in doing just these little things.

Writing names on the paper boats

Feeding the Ducks!

Watching the boats go far!

 I took a auto ride to Nishat bag, Shalimar bag and Hazratbal. There was a hartal and all these tourist destinations were also affected. No shops were opened and the interior roads were also empty. It was a spooky scary feeling while the auto ride was going through the interiors . It seemed a curfew like situation. I was wondering whether the silence was awaiting a protest or post one.

As there was no where else I wanted to go, I  spent next four peaceful lovely hours in the shikara and visited the Chaar Chinar( the four maple trees, yes the same, Shahrukh Khan wali Mohabatein movie leaves wala tree)  in Dal lake.I finally took a picture in the Kashmiri dress too. 

Chaar Chinaar

The trip was almost over and I realised that I hadn't taken any souvenirs for loved ones back at home. I went to the street market across and found out that I was duped by the Shikara wale salesmen, who managed to sell me a item for 10 time the price it was selling for outside the lake! 

Papermache Souvenirs!

Anyways, lessons learnt the hard way.  I got some papermache balls and bells as souvenirs and went back to sleep to catch an early morning flight back to Delhi. Hoping to come back to Kashmir and visiting the Land of Leh and Ladakh soon and dreaming of experiencing the snowfall this winters!