April 2014
One wish most often haunted me was to feel, see,
touch snow and visit Kashmir atleast once in lifetime as I always heard that
this place is called ‘Heaven on Earth’ and also unfortunately in the news
for wrong reasons. It was a roller-coaster while landing in Srinagar, due to the
bad weather this was the first sight from the window of the flight which was
unbelievable and that gave a big a smile on my face. I saw massive mountainous
regions with black lines drawn and the pine trees which gave a beautiful carving
on the mountains.
As April is the last month of their winter and snow starts melting, just gave a try and ‘Ooo my lucky stars!’ that we were able to experience the snowfall as well during the off-season. These places are must visit atleast 2 times to witness 2 different faces ‘black and white’ the snow filled Kashmir and the other ‘green & varied colorful flowers’ during June-Sept of the year.
Srinagar: The Capital of Kashmir, was a place
with a very large Dal Lake. As we entered this place, men of Kashmir
were in their ‘Pheran’ the woollen gown almost of same colour(brown/dark brown)
fair and handsome looking who stood in groups every few meters involved in
their discussions. I noticed that they were shy people, however quite
helpful and never initiated talking. Dal Lake was a unique place; we
saw many crossing over the lake to stay in the boathouses. The Mughal gardens
were bit dry as they are supposed to be most beautiful with flowers during
spring after May. We were lucky to visit Tulip garden which was full of tulpis
in varied colors was very unique and is grown during April month only and
further it is exported.
We stayed in a home stay in Srinagar and Shabbir helped us commuting in his innova to different places. It was raining and the temperature dipped further, it was extremely cold and first time ever I heard of an electric blanket which helped keep us warm in the bed but it was a slow process. Meanwhile, the experience of shivering for some time was the first experience itself.
Next morning, we left to Pahalgam and there we went
on a pony ride to visit Pahalgam valley and Kashmir valley. I felt bad for the
ponies when I knew they had to carry my weight of burden on them, but we had no
options, as the weather was bad with rains as well. It was quite a steep valley
and ponies had a tough time, surprising it was that knew the route too even if
they are not followed by their master.
We finally reached ‘Baiseran Valley’ which is also called as ‘Mini Switzerland of Kashmir’ had one of the most beautiful views from the top surrounded by snow-filled mountains and pine trees.
Next exciting place was Gulmarg the ‘land of flowers’ but this time of the month it was full of snow, our guide Zahur said on the way, if we are lucky we might witness snowfall and phew lucky us we were extremely excited to feel the snow falling all over us. The snow fall filled the tables and chairs in moments. Was happy to experience the sledge on the snow and also the knee deep snow! Our friend warned not to go further, as the snow melts below and we never know. It also started thundering after sometime and it was raining snow instead of water! Uff.. what an experience! Every time my hand was off the gloves went numb within seconds, while I wanted to click pics.
We finally reached ‘Baiseran Valley’ which is also called as ‘Mini Switzerland of Kashmir’ had one of the most beautiful views from the top surrounded by snow-filled mountains and pine trees.
Next exciting place was Gulmarg the ‘land of flowers’ but this time of the month it was full of snow, our guide Zahur said on the way, if we are lucky we might witness snowfall and phew lucky us we were extremely excited to feel the snow falling all over us. The snow fall filled the tables and chairs in moments. Was happy to experience the sledge on the snow and also the knee deep snow! Our friend warned not to go further, as the snow melts below and we never know. It also started thundering after sometime and it was raining snow instead of water! Uff.. what an experience! Every time my hand was off the gloves went numb within seconds, while I wanted to click pics.
The final day was Sonmarg, which means the golden
route and no wonder why it was name so. One of the beautiful roads with
beautiful houses next to the Sindh River and valleys made beautiful views .I
was told this is also a path for people who visit Amarnath, a religious place.
This place impressed me the most, though all the places were uniquely beautiful.
Some of our friends Shabbir, Zahur, Tajjamol,
Abrar, Faried and our ponies Moti and Bahaddur J were very sweet and humble. We were taken
care of our safety and were given advices which helped us a lot and ensured we
enjoyed the stay.
