Kashmir, India … A dream which actually came true when my wife asked me to plan a trip to Kashmir, and I was like … really. Kashmir was a dream which actually I was having since my childhood, In my 4th or 5th standard books, there was a lesson named ” Shalimar & Nishant ”, two three pictures were there & I was so much fascinated that I kept on reading same chapters again & again …
I am talking about 92-93 when terrorism just started & it was in almost every news that Kashmir has become a battlefield for no reason … , I was fond of reading newspapers & India Today, which was actually the major source of News & information.
Always wanted, that God takes me to Kashmir once before I leave this world … & here it comes after almost 20 years later …
I was recently married & Kashmir was the best location to start a new bonding … although this was my 4th trip in only eight months of our wedding … Manali, Shimla, Mumbai-Aurangabad & then Kashmir.
Emperor Jahangir once said about Kashmir: “Agar Firdaws ba Roy-i zamin ast, hamin ast-u hamin ast-u hamin ast,” meaning, “If there is Paradise on earth, it is this, it is this, it is this ” aka ” K gar agar iss Jamin par kahin Swarg hai , toh Yahin Hai … Yahin Hai … Yahin Hain ”
Started our Journey …
Reached Dal lake, and could not yet believe that I am in Kashmir. This feeling of being in shikhara with your partner made me feel like Shammi Kapoor of Kashmir Ki Kali … what an experience it was.
Next day we started for Sonmarg on Leh-Ladakh highway. I have enough images to explain my journey by themselves .. this was the valley which was the dream of every superstar before 1990 … Sonmarg & Gulmarg were the two beautiful valleys, Sonmarg means … Pathway leading towards Gold, which means towards mesmerising Sunrise …
This was the turning point of our trip … I heard something ., which one local was saying to his tourist group that let's go .. this weather is going to be changed drastically let's reach our base … which Hotel Sonmarg Glacier … we started leaving the location wherever I was with my wife & fellow travellers … but one family with two more kids went deep inside the Himalayas for Snowfall … no one could inform them … and we all waited for almost half an hour and weather as stated went real bad…
Now the mother of one kid started crying as there was no sign of the group, I went ahead & informed this with one local … & this was the time when I saw the real efforts … don’t from where but 5-6 more Kashmiri local came in and started discussing the same …within minutes two teams left from there & within 10-15 minutes, I got a call that there ‘s nothing to worry & they have seen the group coming with all the kids. Finally, the group came in, and we all started breathing again.
But we were already late for almost 2 hours, and it was too dark to drive, Srinagar was approximately 90KM from Sonmarg & we started … right after 10-15 minutes we experienced a sudden break & our vehicle was stopped because of the sheep around… could not understand for next 50-60 seconds as we all thought this must be a con from terrorist .. couldn’t even click pics of same but somehow I managed to click few …
after two three minutes two more buses from opposite side came, and we got to know that these are real people and they got that managed in next 8-10 minutes & we started driving back.
The third day, this was the day for Gulmarg … nothing to explain much same, as my images are going to speak themselves …
This trip was originally published on KARDAMJITEN