A journery to paradise during Ramzan

Unforgettable memories

Kashmir is for honeymoon couples and not for bachelors! This is what we, four guys, had said in unison while planning our vacation. Ironically, it was one place that we found ourselves agreeing upon a week later.

However, you do realise what a true beauty Kashmir is as soon as you land at the Srinagar airport. Right from the picturesque mountains to our houseboat at Dal Lake and the shikara ride, everything looked straight out of the Hindi movies of 70s and 80s that were shot here. 

That trip, in the holy month of Ramzan, made the entire experience more delightful. Everyday we woke up to sounds of the azaan calling the faithful to worship, sipped kehwa and marvelled at the beautiful ‘Shankaracharya’ temple in Srinagar.

One of the most popular temples in the nation, Shankaracharya offers a spectacular, uninterrupted 360 degree view of the entire city. The view is such that you don’t mind taking the 150-200 steps to the top.  

Srinagar is also known as the city of gardens. There are as many as 11 gardens that you can go to if you want to spend time looking at beautiful, green patches marked by equally colourful and rare-breed flowers. My pick would be the fabulous ‘Chashm-e-Shahi’ garden and the ‘Chaar Chinar’. The former, resting in the lap of mountains, is famous for the fresh water spring that is believed to have medicinal value that can cure ailments.

Chaar Chinar, an island in Dal Lake offers you a deeper and different perspective as you watch the sunset. Of course, the calm waters and the four Chinar trees always help.
But our tryst with spectacular views didn’t end in Sringar. Sinthan Top, a hill station in Anantnag was our next destination. Ironically, this is one tourist spot that doesn’t attract too many tourists. That’s perhaps because most of us prefer the gondola ride of
Gulmarg than scaling isolated snow-capped peaks of Sinthan Top.

Some 120 odd kms from Srinagar, the journey to the Sinthan Top is a snaky and uphill drive. Air thins out here. And with freezing winds slapping every part of your face, trekking gets a tad difficult. Yet, I advise all to go for a trek because from the top, one can enjoy an unparalleled view of the valley. But any trip to Kashmir is incomplete, if you have not been to Gulmarg. And like everyone else, we too, couldn’t resist the temptation of a gondola ride.

As you move up through the canopy of white clouds in the gondola, you start getting goosebumps thinking about what lies ahead. And what you discover at the end, usually does not disappoint.

Gulmarg, though, most of the times, stays slightly crowded owing to its extreme popularity yet you don’t complain. Why? Because there’s a lot of snow to play with here.  So we ended up making a Snowman. Yes! Four of us made a Snowman in Gulmarg!

Unfortunately, the Kashmir, we saw no longer exists. Last year, two months after our trip, this beautiful heaven suffered nature’s wrath in the form of devastating floods. It is slowly recovering, trying hard to get back to normalcy, but I wonder if it would still be as beautiful as it was before. However, I do thank the Almighty and my parents for letting me take this wonderful trip. Not sure if this was one of the best trips we had but definitely it was the most fulfilling ones we had so far.

Ankit Saxena
The writer is an advertising executive and travel enthusiast.