My Kashmir Sojourn

Long weekends are convenient times to travel on vacations for professionals as it is easier to take off from work schedules and other commitments. However, for the last couple of years I have been taking my vacations on my laptop. I used to research about places to go, best times to go and what to see in those places and never ended up going. Either the timing was not right or something else always came in the way. This year also a few long weekends went by and as usual there were hurdles. However, it just so happened that Diwali happened to be on a long weekend. On the day before Diwali break, as I was taking stock of all my movies and TV series collection which I could binge watch over the long weekend (which is what I did last Diwali), it suddenly dawned on me that I didn’t want to spend another Diwali binge watching medieval dramas. So I checked on all the places that I had not travelled to in India, and all the places where I could get last minute deals on flights…and bingo!.. I narrowed down to Kashmir.

Since I was going to travel solo, I checked with someone who had travelled to Kashmir on general instructions to follow and so on. Since I had heard so much about the houseboats in Kashmir, I read some online reviews of good ones, made a few calls and did a reservation for couple of nights. My thought was if I didn’t like the stay I could always move to a hotel. The night before I left, I had part of my plans ready as I was not sure what all I should do and where all to go. I figured I would just go there and wing it. This would be one of those impromptu, just-pack-your-bags-and-go-will–figure-details-later sort of trips. It turned out to be one of the most memorable experiences of my life.

Houseboats

I had taken an early morning flight to Srinagar and the houseboat that I had booked, sent a cab to pick me up from the airport. The views while landing were quite unlike many places that I had travelled to – with dry and misty mountains all around as the airport itself is at an altitude of approx. 5400 ft AMSL. The houseboat that I had booked into was on Nigeen lake and it was around 20 km from the airport. The drive was for about an hour and so I took in my first sights of Kashmir. Coming from a metro city where your lungs are constantly yearning for fresh air, here in Kashmir I decided to leave the window of the car open and breathe in some cool fresh air. Some roads were narrow, some were wide, bustling with activity, shopkeepers going about their routine, street vendors, students going to college, people going to work..life was passing by..When I reached the houseboat, the owner received me with a warm welcome and a cup of Kashmiri Kahwa (a green tea infusion with cinnamon, saffron and honey) - a comforting and refreshing drink to have on chilly yet sunny day. I had my Kahwa on the veranda of the houseboat overlooking the serene Nigeen lake and the mountains beyond. In the quiet and calm, I could hear water lapping at the boat, flock of ducks quacking as they passed by. In the city, I don’t remember the last time I heard the sound of a bird (crows excluded). From then, I knew I was going to love it there. Since the houseboat owner knew I was a first time visitor to Kashmir, he helped me figure out my itinerary for the next few days. I had a quick lunch, hired a cab for the next few days and set out to see the important sights of Srinagar. That day I visited the Jamia Masjid, Sankaracharya temple, Pari Mahal, Chashme Shahi and the Shalimar Gardens. Sankaracharya temple is situated on Sankaracharya hill which is around 100 ft above the plane, takes approx. 250 steps to climb to the top, and offer breathtaking views of Srinagar city. Pari Mahal, Chashme Shahi and Shalimar Gardens are Muhgal gardens built in the mid 1600s by Mughal Emperior Shah Jahan for his son Dara Shikoh .They are all built taking into consideration the local topography, natural water sources and with heavy influence of Mughal architecture. The gardens which are built on the Zabarwan mountain range overlooks Srinagar city and Dal Lake, and are best to see during Spring/Summer when the plants are in full bloom.

Mughal gardens

Shikara on Lake Nigeen

After my first day’s visit, I came back to the houseboat to enjoy a warm home made meal of Rista (mutton meat balls in spicy curry), roti, rice, veggies and dal. Nights are cold on Nigeen lake (7 to 8 degree C), with no air conditioning inside the houseboat. However with hot water bags tucked inside blankets, I had a cosy sleep. The next day morning I had planned an early morning visit to the floating vegetable market which opens at 6.30 am. And it was an hour boat ride from my houseboat. The houseboat caretaker woke me up at 5 am and the boat was ready at 5.30 am for our ride. It was pitch-dark and eerily quiet on the lake at that time. The type of boat that I was on called a Shikara – indigenous to Srinagar, is small in size and shallow, the edges almost touching the water surface. With just the light of a few stars, the Shikara driver rowed me into the dark deep unknown. After an hour of rowing we reached the floating market where vegetable, bread, fruit and flower sellers assemble at day break. The silence of the lake was only broken by the activity of this market – with interesting things on display such as lotus roots, seeds of blue & black rose and so on. I bought some flowers and home made chocolates. We also had locally made bread and kahwa and proceeded with our ride back. This time since the sun was almost up, I could see beautiful stretches of lotus plants, water birds feeding, underwater vegetation and misty mountains beyond. I borrowed the oar from my driver because I couldn’t allow myself to not immerse deeper into the whole experience. At the distance I could see rows of houseboats at the edge of the lake gently swaying in the water, other shikara drivers quietly passing by and greeting each other while the bright orange sun came up over the mountains spreading soft yellow light all around us.

Sonmarg

When I came back to my houseboat, breakfast and tea was ready. I quickly had that as I was hungry after the morning rowing exercise and pushed off for that day’s visit to Sonamarg. Sonmarg – meaning Meadow of Gold is a popular destination for people visiting Kashmir. It’s around 90 kms from Srinagar and has in its vicinity the great Himalayan Glaciers of the Kashmir valley. The drive to Sonmarg is through a spectacular landscape of meandering Nallah Sindh, the largest tributary of the Jehlum river in the valley of Kashmir (where the water was bone chilling cold), snow-capped mountains, grasslands, and rocky gorges. 35 km from Sonmarg is Zero point where, at this time of the year one could play in the snow. The drive to Zero point is via the Zojila pass located on the highway that connects Srinagar to Leh. It’s a 9 km stretch at an altitude of 11575 ft AMSL on the Western Himalayas and has a reputation of being one of the most dangerous roads in the world. After driving over asphalted winding mountainous road for a few kilometres, we reached the infamous Zojila pass. It really lived up to its intimidating reputation as a narrow dusty road with no barriers on one side with visuals of steep valleys on one side and serrated rocks on the other side. The drive was nerve wracking especially on occasions where another vehicle passing by would raise up dust reducing visibility to nil. At some points, I saw my vehicle’s wheels barely few inches away from the edge of the road! Only authorised drivers are allowed to drive on this road and it made sense why!..In some areas, the road was so bumpy and steep that I wondered whether my vehicle would give way leaving me stranded there. 

Zero point

When I reached Zero point, I could see other SUVs parked away from the road like a little army of ants on the side of the mountains. The whole landscape and ambience was despotic.. every human intervention there seemed so dwarfish amongst the menacing and gigantic mountains, rocks, valleys and slopes. There was ice and snow mixed with dirt and I spent some time balancing on ice and sliding off the icy slopes. This was a landscape that I had never seen before and I felt like I was on a different planet – shades of brown of the gravelly ground with patches of white snow, light reflecting on the ice giving away a yellowish white glow, black rocky mountains and their snowy peaks kissing the white clouds interspersed in the blue skies. On my drive back, we had to stop for about 30 minutes as fallen rocks and debris had blocked the road. My driver explained that this was a common occurrence on Zoji la and we waited patiently for the road to be cleared. When I reached back to my houseboat, I was greeted with more home made Kashmiri food of bread, meat and root vegetables. Since I liked the hospitality of the houseboat, I decided to spend the rest of the days there and not move into a hotel.

Debris being cleared at Zojila

My next visit was to the beautiful and serene Gulmarg. I was told the previous night that there would be a curfew during the day, hence I was told to leave Srinagar early before curfew was enforced and to return after the curfew was lifted. I did see some stone pelting on the way, but my driver knew the routes to avoid in the city. This visit to Kashmir was my first experience as a solo woman traveller and the interesting part that I observed was that I came across several solo women travellers too. I also happened to find out that the number of solo women travellers over the age of 35 has been constantly on the rise in India – financial independence, better access to information, ease of travel and women’s liberation in general have given impetus to this phenomenon. Gulmarg is a popular ski location but since I visited during autumn the ski operations had not yet started. Gulmarg also has the reputation of once hosting the highest Gondola ride in the world, which is now replaced by China, Gulmarg being the 2^nd highest now. The Gondola ride is in 2 stages are Gulmarg.

Gondola ride

Apharwat peak

The first stage of the Gondola is at 8,500 ft and the second stage takes skiers and travellers to a height of 13000ft on the shoulder of Apharwat mountain. ^nd stage ride. The gondola ride offers spectacular views of snow-capped mountains and sparse vegetation -mostly coniferous trees. There was a stop at the first stage and I got off to enjoy a cup of Kahwa before proceeding with the 2. Once I got off the Gondola, I hiked about 2 hours to the top of Mount Apharwat from where you can see in the distance, borders of neighbouring countries. The gravelly otherworldly appearance of mountains here added to my experience of hiking. Even at noon the sun was mild and just standing at the peak of Apharwat enjoying the chilly winds is an amazing experience for hikers.  After my hike back, I stopped at stage 1 for lunch. There are not many full fledged restaurants up there, just a few small scale snack shops but I still was able to enjoy an absolutely delicious mutton curry and rice. I slept off during my drive back to the houseboat that day. Good exercise, cool breeze and a full stomach made me enjoy a good sleep that night also.

Mutton and rice

Hiking Mount Apharwat

Pahalgam

Sheep herds 

The next day I set off for Pahalgam, which is a popular tourist destination. The drive to Pahalgam is beautiful with sights of soaring mountains, glaciers, silvery streams, rocky edges, and cedar trees. Every view was postcard perfect! At Pahalgam, the lush green meadows and pristine waters were soothing to the mind, body and soul. This place is also known as mini Switzerland mainly because of the rolling meadows with mountains in the backdrop. I took a pony ride along with a guide from the base to explore the mountains and valleys. This is the best way to explore Pahalgam as it takes you as close to nature as you can. I stopped at various points to take in the breath-taking views. Ponies are quite steady footed and I was quite worried at a few steep climbs and narrow pathways whether my pony would be able to balance itself. However, it did navigate and take me through safely. Pahalgam is also known for herds of sheep which you can stop by and pet if their shepherds allow. I did get to spend some time with the shepherds and their sheep discussing their day to day life. In that cold weather, being amongst the woolly sheep was more cozy and comfortable than any blanket! Pahalgam was the only place where I saw a lot of greenery even though it was fall/autumn season. It’s not the season that tourists usually visit, hence many of the places that I stopped by were not overcrowded. However, I did get haggled by local pony owners and other vendors forcing to buy stuff.

on the way to Pahalgam

Pony ride

Views of Kashmir

Since that was my last day in Kashmir, I decided to go shopping on the way back to pick up a few collectibles. Kashmir is famous for gemstones, carpets, Pashmina shawls, Kashmiri silk sarees, saffron, dry fruits, Pathan suits, leather and ofcourse apples! You may need to bargain a bit to get good deals. A few pointers to remember if you plan to travel to Kashmir is to pick offseason so as to avoid crowd, and to visit during Dec – March if you want to experience snow and all the related adventure sports. Every day you will spend about Rs 3000 for cabs to get anywhere from Srinagar. And once you reach a particular destination, you will need to hire local cabs again which would range from Rs 2000 – Rs 4000. This is where you as a visitor would end up spending a lot of money as there are no other options. My suggestion would be to have someone local accompany you so that you don’t get overcharged by the taxi drivers, vendors, pony owners etc. My trip to Kashmir was short and sweet as it was a last minute plan. So, I squeezed in visits to many places in a few days. I would suggest that you spend atleast a week in Kashmir, so you can truly enjoy the place. And probably just spend one relaxing day just on the house boat enjoying the scenery. Since my trip was impromptu, with many of my plans being made on the go, I truly enjoyed the experience as it was like unravelling a mystery package. The next day I left Kashmir already making plans to go back again the following year!

Western Himalayas

A man ahead of time...

Sherlock: The Abominable Bride

Finally, Steven Moffat’s and Mark Gatiss’s much awaited non canonical episode of their Sherlock series – The Abominable Bride aired in India over the weekend. I was eagerly looking forward to seeing the Moffat and Gatiss’s new age Sherlock transplanted back to Conan Doyle’s original backdrop in 1895..and it didn’t disappoint.

Without giving away key plot elements to fans who haven’t watched the episode yet – Sherlock, Watson and other secondary characters are investigating the death of Emelia Ricoletti – the “Bride” and a series of murders in Victorian London that may or may not be related to present day’s possible come back of Prof Moriarty.

The Victorian backdrop, the period set pieces, cinematography, camera angles, lighting, and the costumes are flawless and contribute to the overall feel and suspense. The screenplay and dialogues are intelligently written and haven’t been dumbed down to audience. Finely executed parallels between 2 operating universes, intermingling of metaphysical and established sciences and subtle references to The Strand will truly engage a fan of the series.

Benedict Cumberbatch was as always brilliant – great dialogue delivery, body language, voice modulation and he wonderfully portrayed the marginal sociopathic personality of the character. Deerstalker and pipe certainly suit Cumberbatch who reminded me a tad bit of Jeremy Brett. Chemistry between key characters seems natural. On the other hand, I would’ve preferred Prof Moriarty to be a bit more diabolical and sans all the character ticks.

It’s incredible to see a character that was created over 120 years ago being reprised so many times over decades, never losing sheen…but then again Sherlock was ..in all possibility…a man ahead of his time..

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3845232/

"Four Wheel Seduction" - TOI

An article from The Times of India Crest edition on SUVs and women SUV drivers in India, in which I am featured.
http://www.timescrest.com/life/fourwheel-seduction-9819

Growing up with Onam

The sweet aroma of puttu and freshly harvested hay, the comforting and all too familiar noises – cows mooing, birds chirping, womenfolk chattering, children playing and the beautiful peaceful sights of paddy fields and mountains beyond…these were a few of my favourite things that I used to wake up to during Onam seasons at my ancestral home in Kerala.

Schools in Kerala give customary 10 days holidays during Onam season. As a child growing up there, every year I looked forward to these 10 days because my parents used to pack me off to our ancestral home to spend with my grandmother. Some of my uncles and aunts also did the same with their kids and so every year this period was Children’s camp for us. No strict adult supervision, no restrictive timelines, sumptuous food and completely left to ourselves…there was nothing more we could ask for! My loving and beneficent grandmother always used to have gifts and homemade snacks in store for all of us and she used to keep them in packages with our name tags on them. None of us could ask for more because that would mean laying hands on somebody else’s share.

Onam being a 10 day festival, various festivities are planned for each day culminating with the Grand Onam feast on Thiruvonam – the 10^th day. Every day after a long drawn out traditional Kerala breakfast, we used to gather flowers for the pookalam to make the circular flower arrangement larger every day.  My ancestral home was in a village then (now a township), so gathering flowers meant roaming around mountains, valleys and river banks for wild flowers. We applied lot creativity in choosing the colours of the flowers to make our floral arrangement attractive each day. Mornings were spent this way and even if we didn’t have to pluck flowers we still enjoyed our strolls, and occasionally we played local games like kuttiyum kolum too.  Some of our time was spent at cashew, mango and other fruit orchards of our family, devouring on freshly picked fruits. Lunch at grandma’s used to be elaborate with at least 4 or 5 traditional dishes. Afternoons were spent by our village brook playing in the cool water, catching fish using thinly woven towels or just sitting by paddy fields enjoying the breeze. Paddy fields those days were separated by narrow clay dividers on which people could walk on. One of our favourite past time was to push each other into the fields while walking down these dividers. Since paddy fields had loose clay soil and water, falling into the fields was like falling into quicksand…the more you try to get out the more you find yourself sink deeper.

Monsoons

Evenings we used to go back home for tea and snacks, after which we would lazy around on the veranda, listening to grandma’s stories of her childhood, history of our family, traditions, and general folklore. Post this grandma would send us all to take showers by the well. The older kids were responsible for drawing water from the well for themselves and for the younger ones. Since the well was situated on a mound we could see the idyllic vistas of the village, the sunset and with the chilly wind blowing on our naked bodies, the experience was luxurious.  Grandma was particular that all the kids sat down together for evening prayers after our public baths and before dinner. Dinners used to be noisy affairs; many times we used to have family visitors joining us. Since we did not have TV and due to frequent power cuts, post dinner time was spent reading story books under subdued lights from kerosene lanterns.

Hanging swings from trees is also a quintessential part of Onam. Swings usually were made of coir rope and stems of coconut leaves. Grandma used to make sure that the Onam swing would be up on the mango tree in front of our house even before we reached there. We kept bets on who could swing highest and touch the leaves of the trees or do stunts on the swings. Ours is also a typical Kerala family with a few uncles holding jobs in the Middle East.  Their wives were in Kerala and festivals seasons were exciting for them also because their husbands would come home for Onam. The radio would be perpetually on so we could listen to Onam festivities happening in cities. Someone from the village would dress up as Mahabali and would visit our house with his entourage playing the traditional Kerala drums. Some days we would have Pulikali artists who actually used to scare most of us kids. Grandma used to give them token money and her special Onam snacks. On the 3^rd day before Thiruvonam our parents would arrive and then they would also get busy around the house with activities such as getting the nellu dried in the sun (Onam harvest of rice grain), stacking them in the para (granary), milking the cows, grazing them, feeding the chicken, taking stock of mangos, jackfruit, cashews, vegetables cultivated in our fields and so on. On the day of Thiruvonam, all of us would wear the traditional Kerala attire, cook the Onam feast from everything that we cultivated and harvested. We would listen to Onam songs being played on radio while the feast was laid out on the floor on banana leaves. The feast would have dishes such as rice, thoran, aviyal, pappadam, erissery, pulissery, vazhattiyathu, parippu, sambhar, olan, moru, rasam, upperi, pappadam, achar and pradhaman. We would eat so much that we would not be even able to get up from the floor. Inevitably during the rest of the afternoon, all of us children and adults alike would go off to sleep…this I have realized over the years is the sleep I have enjoyed the most. Energy levels come down drastically the day after Thiruvonam. We would start sulking thinking about going back to the cities, schools reopening, getting grades of the 1^st term examination and the routine life. But we always had one more such occasion every year to look forward to..X’mas.

It has been 12 years since I have visited Kerala for Onam…so this year I took the resolution to be there at this time. Our modest wood and tile ancestral home has now been replaced by a 2 storey ‘modern’ house, the mango tree in front of the house has been replaced by bougainvillea, swings have been replaced by hammocks, cows have been replaced by foreign bred dogs, clay dividers of paddy fields have been replaced by tarred pathways, our village brook is almost dry and it’s banks are now concrete, wild flowers are replaced by orchids and anthuriums, mountains and valleys are now sullied by houses with characterless architecture, Onam feast can now be bought at department stores and grandma is no more…but Kerala will always be my home and I hope this Onam will also give me more but definitely different set of memories to cherish.

Article that appeared in The Times of India Onam feature - Delhi