Off beat places are dead. Long live offbeat. There is no place where someone has not already travelled to, written about and in this Insta driven world, posted pics of and gushed about. But what can still be exceptional are the experiences to be had amidst the crowd. Remember, kahwa is not everyone’s cup of tea!
On a recent trip to Kashmir Valley, the clichés were clinching. It is the proverbial garden of Eden complete with its own orchards (literally), not just a tree, of enticing apples! A land blessedly bountiful…from snow fed waters, to magnificent mountains, fruiting trees growing wild, handsome houses and their beautiful inhabitants. But the valley was drowning under a deluge of humanity (I was a drop too) trying to beat the heat and the only things melting faster than the people, was the snow on the mountains. So how does one immerse oneself in paradise when it is overrun by people? You have to own your own experience, to make memorable moments. Do a ‘In Kashmir do what the Kashmiris do’… and then some!
Go the Distance in Gulmarg
I did not want to go to Gulmarg. Been there, done something (it was decades back, so not like I remember any of it.) But mostly because everyone has the same idea. Sure, the rivers of amethyst-shaded lupins in full bloom, running down the folds of the gently undulating meadows with the picture-perfect little St Mary’s church on a mound in the centre, are a visual delight. Not to mention the wild carpet of daisies that grow under the towering conifers everywhere.
Read about other churches in- 3 Churches in Mhow: Discovering Obscure History and Outstanding Carols
But leave the hordes and drive beyond Gulmarg on the Bota Pathri Road and in between the thickly forested patches, shading shallow streams running around moss covered rocks, are the settlements of the Bakarwals. The flat roofed ‘kothas’ are gaily painted in stripes of bright colours and look as cheerful as their inhabitants.
These are the summer homes of this dying breed of nomads, who migrate to lower pastures lock, stock and barrel when these regions get buried under snow. As soon as we halt, we are surrounded by a group of chatty teenage boys while couple of younger girls hang back, more reticent. The boys are now enrolled in school somewhere. A woman snoozes on a bench and an old man watches us curiously from afar. Someone has opened a chai shop at his place and put up a fence. Soon the roots will grow more permanent and this nomadic lifestyle will be a lost story.
Walk through this life in- Tarsar Marsar : Memoirs of an Escapade
Ditch Dal Lake, Waltz ahead to Wular or to Manasbal Lake
The saving grace of the shikara ride at Dal Lake were the shikarawalas. Witty and charming, they kept us entertained but took us only that far into Dal whose waters seem to extend across most the valley floor. But what we traversed was just a tiny inlet lined with houseboats and swarming with shikaras. I tried dipping my fingers in the cool waters and was hesitatingly told it was best avoided. (No sewage filtration!)
Discover a lake like no other in- Pangong Tso – The Gems in the Crown
For a more peaceful experience head to Manasbal lake, cradled by bare mountains, with it’s lotus lined waterfront and get a glimpse of vintage village life from a boat. Here narrow alleys lead from the waterfront to houses huddled around mosques with multi-tiered roofs. In the park adjoining the lake, families spend an evening out in the lawns, eating giant baturas from the stalls lining the road outside. An ancient temple lies submerged in a lined pond close to the lake with only the top of its shikhar above the water. Head further to Wular lake, more expansive than the Dal and a Ramsar site. Watch, from the Vantage garden, geese line themselves up perfectly in a row in the water or see shikaras laden with mounds of lotus stems for that yummy nadru being rowed back from the waters fed by the Jhelum river.
Read also- Loktak, Keibul Lamjao and Ima Market- The 3 Must Dos in Manipur
The Best Kept Secret are the Bakeries
Heaven must smell like a bakery! One of my most abiding memory from an earlier trip to Srinagar was the smell emanating from a line of bakeries. Warm, rich and utterly enticing…The coconut macaroons (haha yes!) were the best I’ve ever eaten! Coconutty crisp sweetness!! The countryside in Kashmir might be luminescent with fields of paddy but on the plate, there are local breads and savouries of all sorts from the local bakeries or Kandurs as they are locally called.
From a crumbly sheermal, with that sweetened chai to a soft doughy katlam that would go down well with coffee (in my mind), ditch the packaged produce and walk into a local bakery and ask the baker what he’d recommend. You’ll probably be offered some to try out, if you butter him up well!
Savour- Satiating Nostalgia Under the Winter Rain at Junia
Place for a Picnic
In Kashmir, you don’t need to look for a place to picnic. A picture perfect patch lies at every curve and corner. Be it on a slope beneath dark deodars, in an orchard of ripening apples (better ask for permission here), under a shady walnut tree growing wild or beside a river running riot or high up on a grassy wind kissed mountain pass, take a mat or like the Kashmiris do-a carpet (they have enough to spare!) We crossed families doing a cookout or with a giant samovar for rounds of tea, enjoying their day in the sun. Outdoor is the place to be in the Valley but remember to leave no plastic behind.
Read- A Tale of Two Veiled Valleys: Part I- Shangarh’s Meadows are meant for Musing
Kashmir is a place to commune with nature. It is a sensory feast, a visual wazwan… and That is the exceptional experience to be had in whichever manner in the Valley. Even in the midst of the maddening crowd there are spaces for silence and solitude to be savoured with that cup of Kahwa. Discover yours!