Kashmir: Chinar, cheese and horses

I wasn't trying to be cute with the title - those are, wierd as they may sound , the first images that come to my mind when I think of our trip to Kashmir.

It was waay waaay back in 1988 (wow that's 18 years ago! I remember kashmir so well that didn't realise how much time has passed since I last went there). Kashmir was still untouched by terrorism and militants, Punjab ( i don't remember what the political context was) was the state we were told to avoid. But our family of determined travellers chose to pay no heed to all warnings and took a train through Punjab to Jammu.

All I remember of Jammu is thousands of flies, a filthy station and a woman breast -feeding her kid in the midst of all that. Not a very lovely image... I remember thinking "UGH, and people say Kashmir is heaven on earth?" Or maybe all I thought at that age was "Hauji ka Pauji why is she nangu pangu in public (shame shame, why is she showing her boobs in public!)

Our first stop was Srinagar. We were staying at a really pretty hotel, I still remember its dining room with big curtains where I would hide and talk to my "bhoot" (imaginary) friends. Ofcourse, it was only later that Ma baba realised that the place was more expy than they had imagined (that's a funny story by itself - when baba realised that we were near being broke so instead of paying the hotel bill he went and shmoozed the manager and presented him a nice tie!)

I made a best friend in record time there - this sardarni called Jasmine. I think that's what she was called - a nice punju kid with big thick plaits. I wonder where she is now- probably married to Mr Balvindar Singh with 3 chhota chhota joori waala boys soemwhere! Oh but I am digressing....

Srinagar was hotter than you expect Kashmir to be. The parts I enjoyed most were the Shikara rides on Dal lake, where the occassisonal pretty lil flower girls/boys would pass you by in little boats full of flowers. The grand meal at Adus - mmmm I can almost taste the Gustaba still! The minister's son's reception with the dancers and the huge feast (LOL I am as usual focussing more on the food experience!)

The next stop were the rose garden and spring in Kokernag. I tried looking for pics on google but almost got traumatised. Most pics are about fire, shootings and terrorism and not too many on tourism. Hmmm, what a waste. Anyhow trust me even without pics, Kojernag was really beautiful. The much talked about "mughal garden" with its sweet spring water and remarkable landscape architecture was quite soemthing. I am not sure whether it was here or Shalimar gardens where we saw the light and sound show late one night. It was almost mystical to be hearing stories of Mughal times sitting amongst the roses and pillars. Quite magical.

Oh, I suddenly realised our first stop was not Srinagar but this less known place whose name started with a P. EEKKS I can't remeber the name of the place and it's driving me crazy (let me call Ma!). We stayed there for Ma baba's anniversary. This remote hill town with lovely Chinar trees and beautifully green walks through forests. I had a set of 3 detective book series to read - Ma baba had gifted us gifts for THEIR anniversary!? I remember lying around in the cushy big beds and watching the trees outside with my book in my lap. (Strangely I remeber the stories in that book but not the name of the place!) Memory selects such strange things as worth preserving. PATNITOP!! Yah that's what it was called! WHEW.


The next two short stops in our one -month long vacation were Gulmarg and Pehelgam. The journey to Gulmarg is as enchnating as the destination - with views of snow-covered mountain tops, rice fields, poplar and fir forests. We made a day trip to this place and had a cute lil picnic lunch with the most spectacular views. But inspite of its "Swiss" like charms I think I was more impressed by the green green meadows, rolly polly hills and quaint bridges of Pahalgam - probably because we stayed there for a longer time.


Pahalgam is known as the Valley of Shepherds, it was once a shepard's village.Apart from the usual magical meadows, flowers, deodar, chinar and poplar forests, Pehalgam has the added charm of having a river run through it. The mountain town lies along the bank of river Lidder and is known for its trout fish! Don't worry, I am not going to rattle out fish recipes once again! I don't quite remember where we stayed in Pahalgam, but I do remember the huge golf course (altho' Gulmarg has the most famous one I believe "Highest golf course" or something like that), the greeeeeeeeeen greeeeen well maintained grassy slopes which seemed like such a waste to me. Especially since they did not let me roll down on them. Sorry, but that's about all I could squeeze out from the mind of the then 8 year old me!

Sonmarg, our last stop was the icing on the cake for sure. The title's "cheese and horses" - in case you were wondering - is from our stay at this little guest house in the middle of a valley, surrounded by short green hills and really tall snow covered mountains. I have to mention this little food detail though- it's essential! We reached Sonmarg in the middle of an unexpected downpour. All of us (our bus people) rushed into the only restaurant (dhaba) visible. The dhaba didn;t really stop the rain - the roof had big leaky holes but served the best piping hot chicken rice anyone can dream of! For the bus full of starving passnegers it was a dream come true. (This brings back memories from a different trip - on a similar starving situtation in Kasauli one year, the khhichurhi and pakorhas god sent for us in the form of proshad at the temple on monkey top was something I'll never forget!)

Well fed and happy, we trudged on to our guest house. Late that evening we sat around a bonfire and (I am sure) totally spoint the romantic evening the honeymoon couple had in mind by playing antakshari nonstop! Nights were really chilly and the "kind" guest house manager kept giving us one extra blanket after the other, apart form a seperate iangeethhi for each bed. Only later did we realise he planned to charge "extra" for all the kindness!

Early morning I got up to see the valley full of horses and sheep - it was the most amazing site possible. Believe me if you saw a pic of that you would think I played around with th eimage - it was so pretty! I went and fed all the horses our entire supply of snax biscuit and cheese! OOOOHHH IT WAS UNBELIEVABLE:)

The rest of the days were spent running up and crawling down the hills with one of the family members ging hystericla with fright mid way, the walk (in our bathroom slippers!) to the glacier nearby. Well, no we are not the crazy trekket type but this was totally unplanned. It started off as just an evening walk but, egged on my an english father and son, we made it to the glacier. Ofcourse with no shoes or gloves we were half frozen. I remember the fantastic sled ride P and I took from a snowy mountain side and the terrifying horse ride back. Yikes, I swear I felt like the horse will walk if the edge any second the entire way back. That was NOT fun!