"agar ruhe jamin asto, ami asto ami asto..."
The place we cherish in movies of late 1960-70s with the beautiful meadows, snow peaks, gardens, lakeside views and floating ‘shikara’. Serenity turned into the battleground of contradiction and strategies but valley is still fresh wrapping up the fragrance of chinar.
It was much awaited and full of curiosity trip to
I heard a lot from my dad about his golden time spend at
From
Driver (or the pilot at that time) said after crossing 2.5 km Jawahar tunnel the other will be vibrant full of colors and scenery will be greener, slow and steady full of security we crossed the admiring tunnel with the interesting ‘once upon a time’ stories of our pilot.
Through the vista of pir panjal en route Udhampur, Kud, Patnitop, Ramban, Kazigund, Anantnag it was busy road. During winter sometime road blockage created chaos to army and public the passing summers is the time to storage the important product.
Secluded about for hours in taxi on voyage of mountains, great tunnel, golden plains, horrified rifts and saffron field takes me finally at the high heel evening of
Charm of watching
Day 1
The popular place of local sightseeing are Shankracharya Temple, Nehru park, Pari mahal, Chasma shahi, Shalimar Bagh, Nishaat Bagh, Botanical garden and Hazratbal mosque and Dal lake. These bagh are world known that have rare species of flowers grown in different season. Shankrachaya temple is situated on the heights also known for DD telecast centre. Hazratbal mosque or Dargah sharif is made by white marble on the banks of lake and shrine after preserved sacred hair of Prophet Mohammad. The local sightseeing can be done in a day while good shopping I should refer is kashmiri handicraft, shawls and caned products. Later in day walk along the bank side of lake praised sparkling house boats and came back to hotel after meal.
For food I only know traditional wazwan, yakhnee, rogan josh and dum aloo and different seek kebabs but I loved the fresh bakery products with kashmiri chai kahwa.
Day 2
Next day I leave early morning and pooled a taxi to Pahalgam which is about 90 kms from
Day -3
‘Switzerland of India’- Gulmarg originated from ‘Gaurimarg’ is favorite place for ski resort and winter games. I enjoyed widespread meadows, horse riding and
Day -4
Martand temple (Hindu mythology sun temple) and Matton sahib gurudwara are situated religious place near Anantnag. Matton sahib is the centre of faith for Sikhs for snan in natural springs of Gurudwara of Guru Nanak ji. My parents often told me about their visit to pilgrimage kheer bhawani
Well the best part of my journey is taking look of the apple trees without any cost and fresh plucking apples with my hand. Mornings are dedicated to azans praying peace and prosperity. At last I am really thankful to the armymen (salute) who every time I found helping, smiling and doing best of their security job; ‘salaam’ to the kashmiriyat for keeping fragrance of Chinar.