Kashmir Through the Eyes of an 11-year-old

`It all started with exciting holiday options from MakeMyTrip and booking our flights. The early morning flight from Delhi to Srinagar was a sight to behold. My aunts, mom and I were all enjoying some in-flight entertainment provided by me. Finally, the time that we were all waiting for, the plane landed with a slight bump. Greeted by our driver, we all squished into the vanilla white Innova and drove towards Srinagar.

Jama Masjid & Medieval Homes

On our way, we stopped at the Jama Masjid.  It was very different from most mosques I had seen. There were sloping roofs, big green gardens, a huge fountain and carpets of red chilies drying in the sun. The architecture of the city was very unique; there were houses with smaller bases and larger tops. Mom loved the wood and stonework combination. It gave the city a medieval look.

 

Fruit Vendor

As we progressed, seeing heaps of fruit laden on carts made my mouth water and we stopped to make our first purchase. The fruit vendor was selling apples and pears costing Rs. 10 a kilo each. If mom chose the apples, then she had to pay twice as much (Rs. 20). Guess what! That's precisely what she did.

 

Nageen Lake & Shikaras

A short while later, we reached Nageen Lake. A row of beautifully furnished shikaras in bright colors parked by a pristine lake; I had never seen anything like it.  A vision to behold! Weeds floating on the surface as the reflections of the mighty mountains were disturbed by playful ducks chasing each other. The lake is said to be 44 feet deep. The ride in the shikara was exhilarating and I didn’t want to get off.

 

The Houseboat

At the houseboat, we were greeted by Chacha and Rayees, our hosts for the stay. When we arrived at the houseboat, the sight we saw was breathtaking. Embroidered curtains and bedcovers intertwined wood work, carved furniture and colonial style crockery and tea sets in the dining room. A table laid out differently every day, the a letter from Hillary Clinton in the living room, outdoor seating in the balcony,  cups and cups of kahwa, my favorite being saffron kahwa and sitting in the balcony watching shikaras go by.

 

Vendors selling papier mâché, bags, flowers, jewellery, snacks and photo ops with people wearing traditional Kashmiri clothes. We entertained every seller and bought something from almost every one. My favorite being the green paper mâché miniature shikara that will always bring memories of Kashmir flooding back each time I look at it.

We also shopped at Moses and a Kashmiri store that had tons of embroidered fabrics and shawls. It is said that no visit to Kashmir can be complete without a visit to the carpet shop. The men who worked there showed us how they have to carefully stitch every thread in a way that the person who buys it has to be very impressed. The carpet that we saw had a unique way of changing colors if you see it from different angles. The carpet maker took out a string of fiber from the carpet and lit it with his lighter the smell of burnt paper surrounded the little dim room.  I believe this was a test to decide whether the carpet was made of silk or not. If you get a burnt smell, then it’s silk. If not, then it’s polyester.

Photo Opportunities

The photo op was the funniest with mom being a super trooper and volunteering to dress as a Kashmiri village belle carrying a multi colored pot. This was the cheesiest picture ever; thankfully, she drew a line when it came to holding the fake plastic flower bouquet. My two aunts gave in too and joined her for what was the most value for money Rs. 600 personalized photo shoot.

Our shikara driver took us to a small village in the interiors. We fetched some bread from a bakery. On the way, we saw birds, black and white spotted kingfisher, moor hens, egrets, herons, men fishing and refusing to be photographed and women extracting lotus stems.

Villagers taking personal shikaras to cross over like it was their car parked on the lake-side. There was a rickety wooden bridge for a footpath. I visited a local bakery called Kandru that stocked unique breads, Bakarkhani and a roti type of bread. After spending a princely sum of Rs. 30  buying enough bread for the 4 of us, we headed back to our shikara to have a breakfast of kahwa, breads, butter and honey.

Meals on the Boat

Meals on our houseboat were served piping hot in insulated casseroles. Mom thought it was a great idea for our hill house too, wishing they had more elegant versions fit for her table. Lotus stem chips, koftas, eggplant which is called badejan like the Persians do, kadam, broad-leafed spinach with a smoky flavor, rishtey, gustaba, roganjosh, yakhni, yellow mutton, chicken curry, rajma, yogurt and many other mouth watering dishes were served to us cooked in  pots on wood-fired stoves. Mom loved the pots in which the dhabas cooked their food.

The Temple

Next we drove down to a temple called Kheer Bhavani, which if look up from one angle you can see the outline of the India map amongst the treetops. There was a puja going on so we decided to join in. We had to light some diyas and make an offering by throwing a set of food items in to a pond. As much as it was a new traditional experience, I felt that they were wasting good food. The luchi and vegetable at the temple and the kadam pickle were absolute ambrosia.Nothing was left for the crow; mom and my aunts polished it all off. We also got piping hot halwa and kheer. We gave our prashad to the CRPF guards who were zealously guarding the shrine.

The Gardens and Dal Lake

Walking in Shalimar and Nishat gardens were very different experiences during the Kashmir trip. Mom had gone with Sten gun totting bodyguards when she was a teenager and today we walked around with no fear in these beautiful gardens. I took a lot of beautiful pictures of flowers. Chashme Shahi was where water went daily via caravan to Delhi and Agra for the Mughal royalty. I must say that the royalty in India really knew how to live well. The water in Srinagar is indeed very sweet. The sweet taste of the vegetables reflects the same.

On our way past the Dal Lake, we saw the floating post office. Sadly, it was closed. We also saw Char Chinar (four Chinar trees). I do not understand the reason for calling it four Chinar trees when there are three trees. A new one was planted recently and is still a sapling.

 

Blankets & Rose Water

Next, we went to a rose water shop that was over 200 years old. There were all sorts of bottles that I guess contained lots and lots of rose water. Not to be left behind, my aunts went to a shop to buy electric blankets. We had all been very impressed with the toasty feel of the beds in our boathouse. Ting! Another item added to our list of stuff for the hill house.

Bye House Boat, Hi Pampore and Pahalgam, Saffron Fields

After three beautiful days of laughing at Rayees' funny comments and my incredible India jokes, we reluctantly said goodbye to our hosts at the houseboat and headed towards Pahalgam.

Our first stop was Pampore (the only village where saffron can grow). The saffron growing village of Kashmir is where the flower only grows for one week. In that period of time, they have to collect the stamen of the flowers and a maximum of 8 pickings can be done in a month. The flowers only grow for that one month and the yield is a variable. Hence, the price of saffron fluctuates according to the yield of that year. If you live in Pampore village, you can only build your house if you own a saffron field. The Government of India made that law so no saffron yielding land is wasted.  I also learnt that there is a type of "fake" saffron, though I could not taste the difference.

Ashraf & His Saffron Shop

Ashraf, the shopkeeper, was a computer programmer who decided to pursue selling saffron over programing. He told us that we could eat whatever we wanted from his shop (he had some pretty good spices and nuts too). He offered us walnuts dipped in white honey, plums, pistachios, Marmara almonds, raisins, Kahwa, cardamom, figs and apricots.  Mom still orders dry fruits for our home from him and he couriers them to us.

On Our Way to Pahalgam

We went through the Poplar tree corridor, which had made its way into many Bollywood movies. The only things that I could see were painted trucks, military caravans and the tops of the mountains. Then, came the scene that my uncle had described to me, mountains with snowcaps, picturesque villages, the Lidder River flowing on our side, sheep jams, beautiful looking local folks wearing phirans, I wondered if some people were plain fat or were they nursing a kangdi under their wrap. Kangdi is a little angithi in which you burn coal to keep you warm.

Arrival at Pahalgam

On arriving at Pahalgam, mom and I decided to explore a bit. We ate smoked trout and gazed at the snowcapped mountains. After a while, we dozed off into a deep slumber. The next day, I went horse riding with my aunt. We visited a little cottage that had a big walnut tree. They served us hot kahwa and a kangdi to warm ourselves whilst I was chased by a big aggressive rooster.

 

The ride back through the village route was really fun. There was a sheep jam because of which we had to wait for twenty minutes. En route, we stopped at an apple orchard and plucked big juicy apples from the trees. They were the biggest, sweetest and juiciest apples ever and a sweet end to an amazing trip

If there is heaven on earth, it is here in Kashmir.

All of 11 years, Noyna Roy is our youngest blogger. She's a talented and well-travelled 5th grader based out of Singapore.