Kashmir Chronicles Part II
The Landing and More
I landed at Srinagar Airport, and took my luggage. It was evident that the place was highly guarded. I saw an isolated pre-paid taxi counter within the main airport area. On enquiring, the guards guided me to the taxi counter outside in the open area. I had to go to a hotel (Crown Plaza Residency By Pi Hotels) at Munawrabaad, which is a downtown location in Srinagar. The pre-paid taxi costed around Rs 600/- which seemed pretty high to me, initially, for a 13-km travel. As the rates seemed fixed, I agreed. The public transport vehicles, autos or cabs, all are petrol based. So for Delhites, where CNG is used, the public transport might seem costlier. The area outside the airport was heavily guarded as well, with CRPF, J&K Police, and Indian Army personnel covering around every 50 meters of the area. You know the way they say: Chappe chappe par humare aadmi tainaat hai. The weather was pretty sunny and I was wondering how these guards and soldiers tolerate all that gear and stay put whole day! The other thing I noticed on my way to the hotel was the houses and construction. They were beautifully constructed, with sloping roofs, and each house had some kind of intricate design on woodworks, the doors, windows, etc. I have gone to few other hilly locations, but never have the local houses had caught my attention before. The taxi ride was about 40 minutes. I reached my hotel and checked in. The room was good and slightly colder than the warm sunny weather outside. However, it was a good room to stay. My stay was to be from March 30 to April 3. I had taken a help from my friend and while we were busy booking a room from Delhi, we realized that rates shot up by a big margin for the dates April 1 and 2. The beginning of the summer tourist season, the change in financial year, etc., might have played a role in the rates shooting up. However, the efficient guy my friend is, he had managed to strike a good deal with ways and means only he knows.
Anyways after some rest and having some food, I decided to venture out and explore the neighboring area during the evening. So I went out and strolled for an hour or two. There were quite a few small carpentry shops, automobile repairing and service stations, few street food stands with grills, few restaurants, bakeries, emporium and other shops. I found the below emporium sign board of great interest!
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| Indo-Kashmir? :-| |
I had two and a half days after conference, so I had planned to go to Gulmarg the next day, Pahalgam the day after, and explore Srinagar before boarding flight in the evening on the last day. Traveling alone with a tight budget, I always tend to choose public transport for traveling. So hiring a cab from Srinagar to either of the places would have costed Rs 1500 to Rs 2000 each, but the public transport option was much cheaper and almost took the same time (a few hours). From my hotel, it took some 50 bucks via auto to reach Batmaloo taxi stand. A sharing cab carry people from Batmaloo to Tangmarg for 70 bucks, and from there another cab will take you to Gulmarg for Rs. 30. So, in total Rs 300 for a round trip seemed a better option. If you are with family, babies or older people, or are a group of 5 or more people, hiring a cab would of course be a better option.
The view from Gulmarg is breathtaking! I will let the photographs do the talking. It is filled with snow for major part of the year, except for May to July/August for what I was told. In Gulmarg, you can rent boots and coat for around Rs 100 to 200. You can get yourself a sledge and a person drawing it to take you around for about 1,000 bucks depending on your negotiation skills. I can hardly negotiate, so you really can do much better from what I am quoting in my blog. You can do a lot of activities, heli-skiing, skiing, snow cycling, etc. You can use the Gondola to move up to Base 1 and Base 2 for various activities.
While returning to Srinagar, I enquired about the way to Pahalgam to the co-passengers in the cab. They told me that I needed to get a cab from Dalgate to Islamabad, and then to Pahalgam. Hearing the name Islamabad, I was like, "Why the hell they want to send me to Pakistan?" (And yes, I had not seen Haider). Finally, the next day when I took a cab from Dalgate, it finally stopped at a place. I checked all the boards and banners, etc., and nowhere it was written Islamabad (it read Anantnag), and I was like, "Now, where did he drop me?" Only after I took my next cab to Pahalgam, that I realized that Islamabad was Anantnag! Anyways, it was raining the day I went to Pahalgam, so I could not do much except taking a trip on the horseback. I had once earlier taken a trip on horseback, but that was in Nainital. This was nothing like Nainital. The terrain was rocky and rough, and steep at places. The rain did not help. Trust me, riding horseback on that terrain will surely give you sore bottoms which you will most realize the next morning! Here are few photographs and videos of my travel to Pahalgam!
The next I woke up early, packed my bags and checked out in the morning to explore few places in Srinagar. The first place I went was the Shankaracharya Temple. No cameras are allowed there; in fact you need to leave everything with your driver before entering the premises. The feeling of being at 1,000 feet high (approximately 250 steps to climb), and to be able to see the city from there, is both overwhelming and empowering. It really felt great to be at that height!
Next stop was to Chasma Sahi, then Pari Mahal, followed by Tulip Garden (luckily the Tulip Festival was on, which happens only in May), and then the botanical garden (which you can seriously miss). There a lot of Gardens in Kashmir to explore, except the lake. I did what I could in limited time.
Well, that's all for me now! I wish I had written everything within few days of landing in Delhi. But I guess, I was recovering from Thermal Shock (20 to 40 degrees in few hours: heaven to hell)!
This is me signing off
Adios
Subhankar De
