Kashmir Chronicles

[This has been overdue, and I think the world can wait and I should write before my memory fades]

Part I: Airborne 

So, I got this opportunity to travel to Kashmir, an official visit, and once my return-flight was taking off, I knew that if I have to resume blogging, it has to be with this post. The journey was not extra-ordinary, but it needed to be told. I wish this could have taken a literary form earlier, but better now than never. So, here is my first travelogue! 

Although it was an official visit, I will keep the official details to minimum. I boarded an Indigo flight (which I don't prefer) from IGI Delhi on March 30th around noon. It was a two-hour flight, and as it took of, the plane slowly rose up in the sky, and I saw Delhi becoming a maze of geometric shapes, lines, and columns. 

Delhi Going Geometric!  

I have flown a few times before, but it was mostly on clear skies or during evenings, and never towards mountains.After the flight stabilized mid-air, I dozed off a little (I am always sleepy!). Little did I knew that when I would open my eyes, I would witness something ethereal!

I could see a shimmering while line stretched across the sky almost as a verge of heaven! 

I had never seen earlier such congregated mass of white clouds earlier. It appeared dense and consolidated, and yet erupting and porous, as if you could swim in it! 

And then the clouds! 

The Clouds, Mountains, and Snow! 

Well, as I do not have words to describe, I would like to put pictures in to motion for you all to see what I saw! 

Soon it was time to land, but with seatbelts on, I was still wanting to capture all that I could, any view that I would find interesting. So, I captured the outside view from my flight landing in to Srinagar Airport. Once the plane hit the ground, the flight attendant announced that Sringar Airport is an army-base and therefore video recording or photography is prohibited. And I was like – this announcement should have been made before landing...duh! As a result, I am not sharing those videos because it captures one side of the runway. 

Not much of literary skills in this one; I basically relied on what I could capture mid-air. 

Part 2 will be up soon!  

Adios 

Subhankar De