Whispers from Kashmir

It was long time since I traveled by train and it was exciting to start this trip by train from Bangalore to Delhi and Delhi to Jammu.

We traveled by train from Delhi to Jammu and found out that our seats were against cancellation and had to wait for considerable time to get the seat confirmed. While waiting for the seats to confirm my dear friend Aradhya filled the time with his hilarious travel experience to North east. I am laughing even now as his narration of the stories was picturesque!

We landed in Jammu the next day and after breakfast went around Jammu. The first stop was Raghunath Mandir and I found the collection of fossils and saligrama (stone) from the Himalayas very impressive. Later we visited the cave temple and the fort. I wouldn’t really recommend these two as sight seeing places.

We reached Katra (base to go to Vaishnodevi hill) by night via the Mansar lake. It was cloudy all the way but the drive was beautiful. We were 7 of us traveling together and it appeared each of us wanted to reach the hill top in different ways. 2 of us wanted to trek the hill in the night, I wanted to trek in the morning, 2 of us wanted to take horse ride in the morning and 2 of us wanted to reach via helicopter. Unfortunately the helicopter ride was available only one way i.e to reach up the hill and while coming down one had to walk. Nevertheless each stuck to their plans after lot of discussions!

My plan was to wake up at 4.30am in the morning and start trekking by 5am. I had planned 3 hours of walk to reach the hill top (approx.14kms). At midnight rains started pouring with thunder storms and lasted till morning 7am! I could start only by 9 am in the morning. The walk up the hill was very pleasant and the energy of the kids, women carrying children, old people walking was very infectious. The maintenance of the path and the regular cleaning work that is being done was very impressive. Except for food which was not good everything else was very pleasant through out. It took just 3 hours of walk to reach the top and for some reason there were fewer crowds that day on the top. Aradhya & his wife joined me on the top (they had reached via horse back) and the Darshan to the cave took us hardly 15-20 minutes contrary to what people had told earlier of 2 hours wait time etc….

We took the battery run car back which runs half the hill and then walked back down amidst the rains. Our other travel mates, two of them who went the previous night had come back in the morning by helicopter and the other two walked down and reached by 10.30pm. I must admit that all went well amidst the thunderstorms and pouring rains. Rains were to stay with us till the end of the 10 days trip through out Kashmir!

The next day we started off to Kashmir. The road drive was excellent and one could feel the chill in the air as we were going towards Kashmir. The drive through the great tunnel connecting Jammu to Kashmir was very exciting. There were so many army men through out and there were check points before and after the tunnel. Born and brought up in the coastal belt of Karnataka and spending another 20 years in Bangalore one rarely gets to understand and see the work that army has to carry on in these border hilly areas.

We reached Kashmir in the evening and checked into Nehru Palace, a hotel opposite Dal Lake. It was a very old hotel and was hardly occupied. At least in our room where Ashwin and I stayed, we had to get the room cleaned before we could get in! Since the occupancy was abysmally low it appeared that the owner had 2 or 3 people doing almost all work i.e housekeeping, room service, kitchen etc…. So, getting anything out of them was a herculian task rather it was convenient to get into the kitchen and make your own tea. The owner appeared to have relieved with customers who can help themselves and was full of approving smile when I checked out whether I can make my own tea! That is what we did the next two days and cooked Ugma (south Indian dish) as our breakfast the next day!

Thanks to the rain god, clouds and the snowfall we couldn’t see the mountains surrounding the Dal Lake for the next 3 days. I was waiting to see that, as that is what is shown in all movies and postcards of Dal Lake!

We went to see the Mughal gardens amidst rains….The new Tulip garden was looking beautiful. That night we went to Aradhya’s friend’s house – Qasim who is from Kashmir. We had the “kawa” (tea with saffron) and a demonstration of their dress “pheran” where in they carry the pot with coal to keep them warm during the biting winters.
Next day we went to Pehelgam. Rain god had shown some mercy and the sky was clear. The routes passing the villages are depressing as the conditions are very bad. We reached Pehelgam by afternoon and after lunch we went by horse back to some sight seeing spots. Since it had rained it was very slippery and we were afraid that the horse would throw us down to the muddy earth! The porter who was with me was asking us to come back during August and trek to Amarnath. He was claiming how his horse was good and it would take us without effort to Amarnath! He was also proud that he had a voting card that too in “original” and he would definitely vote like the way he has done always. He and his wife both had voting cards. The pride in which he said one could feel the power of ‘voting’!

That night was quite cold, below zero degree. It took some time for us to ensure that the JKTDC rooms, which is quite big had heater, rugs etc… It appeared that there too the occupancy was very low.

Next day we went to Sonamarg en route passing the beautiful mustard fields. We reached Sonamarg in the afternoon to find that the JKTDC huts that we booked were buried deep under the snow! There were one or two restaurants that were open and few army people around. This is the route that connects to Kargil – Ladakh. Unfortunately it was not open due to snow. I believe last year, it was open by this time. Anyway, we enjoyed in the snow hills for some time and came back to Srinagar.

We checked into a houseboat for the next 3 days. The next day was shopping day and first time in my life did I understand the meaning of “shop till you drop”. I think we would have entered all the shops of Lal Chowk thanks to Aradhya’s sister and sister-in-law. Every purchase was bargained to almost 50% to 40% of what was quoted originally! If Kashmir people are dependent on tourism then I am surprised that they quote so high that without bargaining one doesn’t feel comfortable to buy. Some sanity has to prevail while quoting rates to tourist. One wouldn’t feel comfortable even after purchasing at the bargained price!

The next day we went to Shankaracharya peeta on the top of the hill overseeing the Dal Lake. By then, the rains had stopped and the clouds cleared. One could see the mountains that surround the Dal lake with snow clad on the top! At last I could really see what I always saw in photos!

It is said that Shankaracharya did penance in the already built temple by the Hindu king during 3rd-4th century. The security to that place is quite high with too many check points.

The next destination was Gulmarg and we reached there by afternoon. By then, rain god was back and there was hailstorm for a few minutes before we could go to the cable car. The snow clad Gulmarg was definitely out of the world except to see that people had merrily decorated few places of the snow with spit of their “paan” (chewing paan (beetle leaves)! I am not sure when will the tourists learn to keep the place they see clean and void of their saliva in whatever form. This is what makes disgusting traveling in India. One just doesn’t know who will spit from where and where that would land!

I was disappointed that we could hardly spend time in Gulmarg. We should have reached there in the morning and spent time till they closed…Anyway…will plan to visit again….! Gulmarg changes during summer as the snow melts and farmers cultivate the land till the winter.

Aradhya and family left to Bangalore the next day. I had decided to stay two more days to explore Srinagar and relax. The weather god was not that kind and there were few moments of sun and then clouds/rains. I went to Kheer Bhawani temple where the colour of the water above which the temple is built changes. When I saw the water was milky white and when my sister had visited the temple during March 2006 it was blue in colour.

I went to the gardens again to take some pictures unfortunately the rain god was not kind that evening too!

I was introduced to Hamid, who retired as J&K transport secretary from Government service. He now runs a hotel near the Dal lake. The discussion with him was interesting as he was narrating Kashmir before terrorism and after…. It is also sad to see that nobody knows whether Kashmir language has its own script or they follow Persian. Overall the culture / tradition of Kashmir are being lost over the years as the demography has changed considerably and is changing. The good thing is that lot of the current population has education to their credit which would have been very slow otherwise.

The next day I took almost 4 hours ride on Dal lake. It is interesting to see that lot of people live on Dal lake and also have farm lands growing vegetables, flowers, paddy, mustard etc… However, it was one of the dirtiest lakes that I have seen till now. The locals whom I spoke to also agree and crib that the government is doing nothing to clean it! The garbage and dirt is not because of the tourist who are most commonly blamed by locals. I believe there are approx 1500 houseboats and most of the owners stay there. I am surprised that the government has shown apathy in keeping the Dal lake clean and I wonder how they can say it is the pride of Kashmir! I was very disappointed with the lake, I hope the government and the people will wake up and keep the natural resource that they have unharmed and beautiful as it is given by the nature.

I believe once in the last 100 years the lake was frozen and the current chief minister’s (Omar Abdullah) grand father had run a car on the frozen lake!

The houseboat where I lived had two brothers managing it. It appears that most of them, the shopkeepers, houseboat owners, and taxi owners are all desperate of tourists. Though the news for the last one week was that Pakistani militants were forcing themselves towards India, people in Srinagar were desperate to tone the intensity of the news down. They change the news channel or loudly say that this is just media hype! The people are desperate for business but unfortunately sitting in southern tip of India one really can’t assess the situation except through media. Media does not say that the forest the Pakistan militants entered is 300kms from Srinagar and there is no road path to come down to Srinagar. Anyway, life looked “as usual” during the 7-8 days of my stay there in spite of sensational news of infiltration by the media. The people whom I spoke to are desperate for good governance, normalcy to be re-stored to their day to day life. They want the richness what they had earlier. They can see that people from other states are prospering thanks to development and education. They also openly spoke about how they think that Pandits should come back to Srinagar. It is sad to see that in one’s own country a group of people have to live like refugees outside their birth place. Now it is 20 years of unrest in Kashmir and I believe most of the Pandits are settled down outside Kashmir. What ever be the conflict, one should not loose the essence of one’s culture and tradition. One could see that Kashmir is losing all that and from the car driver to the shopkeepers, to the hotel owners they openly speak about this.

One thing that I never could understand is the bargaining one had to do for all kinds of purchase, including the stay. If Islam preaches not to make excess profit at the expense of others, why would it not be practiced in a place where more than 60% of the population is practicing Islam? Why will somebody sell you a carpet which was quoted at Rs15,000/- at Rs7,500? So, if one paid Rs15,000/- that means the person has been cheated? Is that allowed in Islam? We got cheated in Gulmarg too…..almost everywhere it appears that one had to bargain and be mindful of not being cheated . I thought this was too painful and I expected people to practice Islam, if that were the only reason for Kashmir to be what it is today.

The checking in the airport was quite tedious. The bags are checked 100mts before the airport. No handbags allowed, except for one small bag etc…. It is better to go 2 hours before the flight if there is lots of luggage. The lounge was full and besides me a handsome young sardar sat and smiled. After we exchanged pleasantries, we started talking! He was from Kashmir and currently was working in a BPO in Gurgaon. So, I asked him whether he knows to write “Kashmiri”. I think he was taken aback and was not sure whether Kashmiri language has its own script! Probably not……. He seemed to love Srinagar and the weather and everything that the place has to offer. He said industrialist who have invested in the past 5 years in Kashmir have really made good fortunes as people there now are looking for stability and work. So, people themselves will protect any good investments etc..etc…. At last, I couldn’t resist but ask to whom he will be voting in the coming loksabha elections. He laughed it off as though voting was the last thing that he would like to do! Young, educated, energetic youth being so indifferent to the “power” they have is something that is disturbing. I told him how the porter whom I met in Pehelgam, who did not even know how to read & write, and makes his living taking people like us to Amarnath etc… has understood the power of voting and how he will now make a difference in this young educated man’s life by exercising the voting power. So, instead of allowing somebody else to decide for you, why can’t he exercise this simple duty once in every five years? I hope I have made him at least to think in that direction if not vote!

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