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| View from top |
My stomach was in knots as I
boarded the Air India flight to Srinagar. There was a large group of old
pilgrims dressed in white, ignoring the ground staff’s instructions and jumping
the queue; in turn making me jumpy. I managed to get a window seat by requesting
my fellow passenger; I took this to be a good omen for our impending holiday.
My nervousness dissipated into
thin air as soon as we entered Kashmir’s airspace. I was greeted by swathes of
high mountain ranges draped in white, with a sliver of an emerald green river
passing through. The stark contrast is hard to forget. As we were about to land,
the mighty, snow clad Greater Himalayan range encircled us. As we flew above
the clouds, it felt like I was in heaven.
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| Am I in heaven? |
Srinagar airport was freezing. We
had to wait for some time for the luggage to be loaded onto one of the only two
conveyor belts. A charter flight carrying BSF officers had just landed, giving
us a sense of the fragile situation there. Our houseboat owner had sent a taxi
to pick us up. As we were getting into the car, I breathed in the fresh, crisp
air layered with a sweet floral scent.
Our driver gave us some tips on
what to eat and where to go in a 45 minute ride to Dal Gate. We were taken to
our houseboat on a shikara which was quite a novel experience. Ibrahim, our
host greeted us with Kashmiri Kahwa. It felt good to hold something warm in my
hands. After relishing Rista and mutton biryani for lunch, we set out on a
shikara tour to the nearby floating market, Meena Bazaar as well as many other
attractions. We kept ourselves warm under the blanket provided on the shikara.
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| Our wooden houseboat - best views! |
We had mixed vegetable pakodas
and hot kahwa at one of the floating shops in sub zero temperature. For me,
this was the highlight of the tour. We bought Phirans from Meena Bazaar which
made the cold bearable. There was a
woodworks store about three generations old, full of interesting furniture,
cutlery and home décor. There was a collapsible study table made out of walnut
wood that would double up as a centre table. We picked up some lovely stuff and
the owner gave me a free piggy bank that I had been eying.
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| Maharaja's house on Dal lake |
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| Floating market |
As it was getting dark and
colder, the shikara owner urged us to make our way back to the houseboat. We
had spent more money than we had intended to, on our first day there. Eager to
explore the area more, we headed out for dinner later to a well known
restaurant - Shamyana. We gorged on their special Kashmiri pulao along with
Mughlai chicken in a conservative setting.
Happy with dinner, I quickly
changed into my night clothes, slipped under three blankets and huddled with a
hot water bottle as the mercury dipped further into the night.
