Srinagar looks like a city in which the president is on visit, the security is so elaborate that every 50 metres you will find a CRPF policeman, every road junction has a sand bunker with armed personnel, every few blocks away you see army camps with the now familiar bunkers outside with entrance blocked by fence amidst all this it is a crowded city. It is as if people do not mind guns hovering around them.
Though it was our wish to stay in srinagar for 2 days to enjoy the beauty of Kashmir valley, shortage of time made us to stay for only 1 day. So we had time only to visit Gulmarg and Dal Lake.
We started at around 7:15 in the morning to Gulmarg. One of the most annoying things are the Corrupt Police Officials. They are fond of vehicles from which are not from J&K. For no apparent reason they ask you to pull aside and fine the drivers. We paid the customary fine and started towards Gulmarg. Again for every 100 metres there were many CRPF policemen guarding the roads and the fieldside.
Gulmarg is a hill station situated 52 kms away from Srinagar. Usually it is covered with snow, but as winter had not started, there was no snow. Though the place looked good with its tall coniferous trees on the outer ring and plain land in the middle of hill, the bill boards which showed gulmarg during winter season were more enticing. As soon as we reached Gulmarg we had breakfast. To roam around we could hire horses but as we had already experienced it in simla, there was no novelty to it. So we thought we will just go around walking. But Mayur and Akash were a bit hesitant to go walk for around 5-6 kms. So they inquired for horse and as there were lots of horses and less tourists, the horsemen were following both akash and Mayur for almost 1-2 kms and it was getting a little annoying. We stopped for a break and the horseman moved on.
There was a palace-which looked from outside more like a function hall- turned into a museum . But as the museum curator was on leave it was closed! There was also a lake on top of hill, on whose banks there is a garden. There was a small entry fee and we sat in the garden for around half hour. There were lots of school children out there to visit gulmarg. So when we entered the garden, it was quite crowded. There was nothing else in Gulmarg, though in snowy season the skiing resort as well as golf would have been available. There is also a rope car which takes to the top of a hill but considering there was no snow and 800 rupees for the ride, it was a waste of time as well as money. There was a herd of sheep. I touched one of the sheep it was so soft and puffy.
We came back near the vehicle. We were a bit tired after walking almost 3-4 hours. It was already 2 o 'clock. We had lunch at the same eatery in which we had breakfast and returned back.
While returning back we came across many army convoys. The convoy usually had a jeep with a strange device on top, maybe a jammer. As soon as the convoy came near us, our Fm music would get totally noisy. We reached Srinagar in the evening and we still had to visit Dal Lake. Naeem our driver took us to a shikhara(boat) operator and we negotiated for a shikhara for 650. We started sailing at around the time of sun set. The operator showed us a few shikharas which were used during filming of famous hindi movies of the past. There were quite a few good looking floating hotels. The sunset was beautiful with sun reflecting from surface of water. There was a garden in the middle of Dal lake we stopped there for a few minutes and went back.
One of the interesting things was that there were shikhara shops ranging from Pan shop to Photo studio. There was also wake-boarding indigenised by making the board broader and the speed slower. It was not scary at all. Initially it felt strange, but by the time i was getting the hang of it, it was over. Our shikhara operator took us to the market though most of it was closed. We did not wanted to buy anything so we just went to a garment shop and some of us had tea before returning back.
We went to a supposedly vegetarian Bengali restaurant only to find out it was non vegetarian. We had food there and it was already 9:30 by this time. We had not done any shopping in Srinagar which is famous for its dry fruits and shawls. Our Hotel Proprietor took us to a shop. Most of us bought shawls and few bought sweaters. We also came across the famous Pashmina shawl which was so thin and light, it hardly weighed 100 gms and costing 5000 rupees. There are more costlier ones which can cost even a lakh rupees.
We came back to hotel and there was a India - Pakistan Cricket match going on. So we started playing cards while we watched the match. Though India lost the match we continued to play till it was 4:30 in the morning. We had to leave to Amritsar early in the morning. Sunil was so sleepy while pllaying that at one time his cards slipped out of his hands while he was dozing off. We didnt let him sleep inspite of being very sleepy. We only had an hour of sleep before we started towards Amritsar.
No comments:
Post a Comment