Romancing the Chinar or The Travails of X and Y in Kashmir

Posted by Reader January 02, 2016

Romancing the Chinar or The Travails of X and Y in Kashmir

I really truly believe that my office will collapse the day I do not work. In my head I think I can see the blue glass building, near the creek, come crashing down. Or maybe this is just a stupid excuse I am making up because of my hopelessness in managing my vacation plan and work. I don't know if it’s the stress that builds up, or do events actually start happening, pointing to an inevitable doomsday- a venerable catastrophe in sight when there should be peace and quiet all around. Long story short, I wanted to postpone my vacation because of some insurmountable work pressure I was feeling. Mr. X didn't agree and he flew alone to Delhi on a Thursday but came back on Sunday, leaving us gloomy and staring in the face of a gone holiday.

We still had a week of vacation left and nowhere to go and then, out of the blue, we decided on Srinagar. But soon after we booked our ticket, there was a a news of an earthquake in Srinagar and there were reports of rain and snowfall- things just could not get any worse and we began to wonder if we should shelve this Kashmir plan - however, the adventurous me saw a thrill in it and hence, we just decided to go with the flow. Mr. X spent a day researching and came up with a hotel cum taxi arrangement and I looked at the houseboat options - equipped with just enough information, we were all set for the trip.

As the flight approached Srinagar, we were glued to the window (with Mr. X, as usual, putting his camera to work). While landing, I remember seeing winter hues, sea green colored grass, silver sloping roofs, dull pink and blue houses and trees. I believe the characteristic of Srinagar is the multitude of colors and its trees. Since we went to the city in autumn, the trees themselves were shades of varying colors - red, yellow, and green. We saw wild cherry trees in Sonmarg (Mr. X didnt taste), walnut trees, apple trees in Pahalgam, pine, deodar trees in Gulmarg, and huge Chinar trees in Srinagar - dull red, somewhat hallowed (there is a ban on cutting Chinar). There is an eternal wishful thinking that can be associated with the Chinar - the fiery red color of the leaves symbolize passion but the associated nostalgia, when you witness a gently falling chinar leaf, can only be compared to a lost love, a bright red flame burning bright in the heart, embers glowing bright, unknown to the world, counting its days with falling leaves, for love (spring) to return. I believe I could have spent days looking at them, and maybe when I finally looked away, I would have a love poem to write, a romantic ballad to sing.

There are four gardens in Srinagar and we headed to them immediately after landing. All the gardens (which are maintained by the government) are beautiful and unique, and hundreds of colorful flowers abound in each. Shalimar Bagh has symmetry, fountains, small waterfalls and bursts of color. Nishat Bagh (commissioned by Dara Sekhon, son of Shah Jahan) is a terrace style garden overlooking the Dal Lake - as you keep going up the tarraces, you see the layers of garden cascading down. And there is Chashme-Shahi which has fresh spring water (which Mr. X didn't taste despite persuasions) - we kept hearing in Kashmir that its holy water was blessed by saints - many of the boatmen, driver, guides, who we came across, expressed outrage at the 5 stars hotels charging 200 bucks for water - un-quoting Marie Antoinette: what would buy the poor man a cake, bought the rich man water. The fourth garden is the Nehru Botanical garden - I will come to this later. Further up from Chashme Shahi was the Pari Mahal which offers a great view of the city. Unlike most Indian cities, Sringar is not rectangular blocks of grey all around. There is the Dal Lake in distance, a green expanse of golf course, roads dotted with trees and so it looks very pretty from the top.

After our garden tour, our driver was insistent that we go for a boat tour of Dal Lake in the night. It was "chaandni raat mein nauka vihaar" for us as it was Sharad Poornima (autumn full-moon) on the night we took the shikara. It was a nice and peaceful trip, and they charged us 2K for an hour and a half - we later learnt that this was a total rip-off. Anyway, the boatman was quite knowledgeable and talkative and shared many tid-bits about Dal lake. The houseboats of Dal lake are made of walnut from the inside as they are easy to carve, and deodar which is durable and costly is used at the bottom. He also told us a story about Butterfly houseboat. There was a German guy who made a houseboat and this boat was quite unique and beautiful since it was shaped as a butterfly. As foreigners could not own any property in Sringar, he offered to give it away to a local on a strange condition - he would give it to the person on whose hand a butterfly sat. So one unscrupulous/clever fellow rubbed some honey on his hand, and thus won the boat. Photographs of the boat at http://butterflyhouseboat.com/

While we were boating on the Dal Lake, suddenly some Kashmiri folk music started playing. The boat man was a little taken aback for a while - it was a song by Abdul Rashid Hafiz who was a recent recipient of Sangeet Natak Akademi and the music was coming from Mr. X’s mobile phone. As much as I am exasperated by Mr. X sometimes I have to hand it to him, for research and planning- Kashmir main hum sunenge Kashmiri music, a nice change for my Pakistani.

The boatman also gave us a nice overview of the life in the Dal village. The lake is a village in itself. There are islands reserved for willow trees, some river beds are made using roots of an aquatic plant and then used for vegetable farming. There are houses on the islands and there is a mosque as well. A number of competitions are organized on the Dal lake every year - he boasted that none of the states could beat Kashmiris in boating, although Kerala does come close. He also showed us the Indian Post houseboat. When there was no internet and when foreigners abounded on the lake, the houseboat used to travel from one boat to another, delivering letters. As per him, crores of business is done for water chestnuts from Dal lake. I wanted to see the flower and vegetable market, which is famous and gathers every morning but since it's quite cold and foggy in the morning at this time of the year, I was advised against it. We had our dinner at the hotel and rested for the night.

The next day we started for Sonmarg. We should have visited Kheer Bhawani, a temple for the goddess of the Kashmiri Pandits but Mr. X is an atheist and I hadn't researched on the itinerary and the route. Sonmarg is on the way to Ladakh - it is a huge glacier, which is surrounded by conspiring drivers and looting horsemen. They are happy as long as you pay them. But what I have realized is that even though they ask for outrageous amounts, if you bargain they only give you what they deem is your money's worth. It was a 3 km walk to the glacier but I gave into the pressure and Mr. X got the horse. With a little help from a small boy guiding the horse, I learnt bits of horse-riding - hit him with your leg lightly when you want to trot, harder to gallop, never let go off the leash, balance your weight on a slope, sit straight on a climb. Mr. X was irritated with me for the horses, so he walked off and took photos of the glacier. I spent some time walking around. Taking in the beautiful glacier, and amazing landscape of the trip we came back. This day was also the start of Mr X's obsession with Kashmiri aaloo paratha and the day he gave up on chhole poori in Kashmir. My Kashmiri Kehwa (chai) obsession had already started the day before in a restaurant opposite Shalimar Bagh.

The touchdown to Srinagar - snow clad peaks among the clouds

The winter greens of Srinagar and dotted houses

The color fascination started from here, which city has a green, pink, orange dashboard announcing arrivals and departures

Surprise! Surprise!! Kashmiri Masala Dosa, no dry fruits just very chat pata

The love at first sip - Kashmiri Kehwa a drink made of green tea, saffron, spices, and top with grated almonds

Shalimar Gardens-1

Shalimar Gardens -2

Shalimar Gardens-3 Mughal architecture on the ceiling

Nishat Bagh - you can see the blue expanse of Dal lake

Pristine calm at Dal Lake

The smoky mountains, and shadows of trees on way to Sonmarg

Staple Kashmiri houses on way to Sonmarg

Mr X on the horse

The glacier - hazaaron saal ki barf as the locals describe it

The wild cherry tree at Sonmarg

We headed to Pahalgam the next day - the scenic route presented apple orchards, rolling rivers and clear skies amid snowy peaks. Think Betaab, there is a Betaab valley named after the location where the film was shot. Pahalgam is an idyllic location, we took overpriced horses (again me) and Mr X was annoyed. We made our way to a place known as mini-Switzerland. Its a big green meadow that we reached, after a heart stopping horse-ride. As there had been rains earlier, the mud had given away, and there horses were climbing on the mountain, stepping between what seemed like knotted roots of the trees, their hooves burying deep in the mud, you could see the horses stumble and slip, even though there was a guy who was holding onto the reins of the horse, it was quite heart-stopping as times.While it did feel quite cool initially think Jon Snow or LOTR, I really was too afraid at time, as much as I wanted to avoid thinking about the horse, and enjoy the scenery around. Mini-Switzerland was quite enchanting, we ambled around for a while taking in the view left right and center, and then decided to walk back. The local horsemen were very impressed with Mr X, the city man had climbed down the horse and decided to walk back, they didn't think he would be able to walk all the way down. But it was better for him, as he was able to take his photographs in peace.

We had passed kesar (saffron)fields on the way, all the drivers ensure you shop on the way to Pahalgam, they get commission from the outlet, they may be genuine, but its recommended to buy at the Government shop. The Govt Emporium building itself is beautiful with a lovely garden and worth a visit. There was a Kesar plucker who handed me some Kesar flowers. We had stopped on a field on our way back from Pahalgam because I wanted to see the flowers, and he felt I couldn't see the flowers clearly in the dark. They were for me a priceless gift, there are four or six strands in each flower, so each flower counts.

The next day we headed to Gulmarg, for the famous Gondola ride, there are two phases and it is said, one can see the LOC from Phase 2 and it has a really nice view. The Phase 2 was closed for maintenance but snow abounded in Phase 1. Mr X is very particular about not playing with snow :P he thinks he can fall sick, and the one snowball I managed to hit at him, I had to help him clear from the back of his neck. I had help from heaven that he did not even sneeze the next day. We took a long walk into the clearing, and I rode a snow bike :D "madam race do, madam race do". Technically a guy accompanies you and he drives, but he was more than willing to let me drive, so it was quite fun. Mr X as usual clicked photos. We had picked up a guide when we were reaching Gulmarg, he was quite knowledgeable and good to have around. He helped us and didn't overcharge. We were now getting beyond the point of hapless tourists :-) Kashmir was finally working for us nicely.

I ended up booking Chicago Houseboats, owned by a thorough gentlemen Ajaz, and who was very hospitable. This houseboat was in Dal lake, other houseboat options are in Nagin Lake. We had our aloo paratha, walked along the setting sun, and back to the houseboat to get some sleep. Our next day was Yusmarg. It is a very quiet and quaint place, here for some reason the horsemen don't overcharge. We went in from a pine tree forest at leisure to the river Doodhganda. The lack of people made it very peaceful and tranquil, and I feel it was among the best part of the trip. On our last day, we wanted to see the Chinar trees and Mughal gardens again because they were mesmerizing and unforgettably beautiful. We also stopped on our way back at Nehru Botanical gardens, where I was hounded by four really beautiful and very friendly dogs, who followed me everywhere around the garden. Nehru garden does not have the symmetry of the Mughal Gardens.It is spread out, and has a variety of trees and flowers. Come April, it also hosts the Tulip Festival in Kashmir. Our driver had declared - ""Jo Kashmir ek baar aate hain woh baar baar aate hain" It really has much to offer, the spring, the winter the summer, the autumn. Every season has its own charm. So to have seen it once, may not mean to have seen it all.

Side Note - There was a guy from Kolkata who had come to Kashmir after 3 years of research, and our houseboat owner told us that he had the most peculiar and well-researched itinerary he had ever seen. This guy told him stuff about the state that even he didn't know. We had a word with the driver who took this guy around, and these are the places he saw- Sinthan Top, Duksom, Kokernag, Verinag, Achbal and another place Baramulla side. He even had a map, so when the driver didn't know the way, he would know and tell him. Mr X is very impressed by this guy, he wants to travel next time with this unknown gentleman.

Some more Kashmiri houses on the way to Pahalgam