July 3

Day 1:

I looked at my mobile for the umpteenth time. It showed 3.30 AM. I sighed. The anticipation building inside me was not letting me sleep. I tore my eyes away from the mobile, turned off the the screen light and closed my eyes. 30 minutes. I need to pass another 30 minutes - I told myself. I don't know whether I slept or not but my eyes opened again and I scrambled to find my mobile in the darkness. Did I oversleep, did the alarm not go off? In panic I pressed the power button and the screen lighted up. 3.50 AM the status bar read. This is it I am getting up now I thought and switched off the 4 AM alarm. Kashmir here we come I mumbled.

And hour later me and mom headed out of home. I had asked a local auto for airport drop and he was there waiting at the society gate for us. We had only one suitcase each and a handbag. This time I had thought I will keep the luggage light and have space for any purchases we made in Kashmir.  I was informed by the tour operator that we would be getting a temperature range of  10 to 25 degrees across the region we were travelling. So I had thought a couple of jeans, light summer tees and a jacket would be good to go. However fortunately a day before I thought of checking the temperature in Gurez, that was the north most point we would be going. It showed 3-4 degrees night temperature with rain. This resulted in adding extra warm clothes, especially for mom, just in case the mercury level dropped further. I remember once we went to Sikkim and I didn't check the temperature before reaching. We experienced 2-3 degrees temperature the moment we entered Sikkim and had to buy a lot of woolens from Gangtok to brace ourselves from the cold. That experience had taught me to be extra prepared especially with woolens. We also packed our umbrellas since rains were also predicted for the week. I also took an extra expandable bag, just in case we needed it. 

The dawn was breaking but it was still dark outside as we left home. I think after a long long time I saw how daybreak looks :D. The roads were pretty much empty at that time of the day and we reached airport in roughly 35 minutes. We were travelling to Srinagar on 21st May. At the entry gate they only checked the boarding pass and ID, no vaccination report was asked. 

I would usually travel by Indigo or Vistara from Pune, this was the first time I had booked an Air India flight. After a quick baggage screening and drop we completed the security and headed towards our gate. I am usually not much fond of the security checks as I carry a number of electronic stuffs and taking them out and again collecting them back is a hassle I really don't like. When it comes to mom its a different story, every time in every airport she gets stopped and bags rechecked because she either forgets to take out the house key or has a wallet with lot of change. And each time we need to stand before the lady guards explaining and showing what are those 'weapon like things' we are hiding in the bags. I think some of my mom's luck rubbed off on me , because a few weeks back when I was travelling for a business visit even I was stopped for the first time in my life for having lots of change in the wallet! And believe me it feels super embarrassing to bare all your chillers on the tray with other aunties gasping at how much change I am carrying. And I was like come on ladies these are not bombs that will go off, just harmless changes, stop giving me dirty looks! So beware ladies, while doing the security check place your wallet on the tray if you are carrying too much change. 

A delayed start

Anyway back to our story. So after the security check we headed for the gates. usually I would ask the attendant at the boarding pass counter for the gate number and we reached the gate as per what she had told me, only to find that it was jam packed with no place to sit. I was a little surprised because we were actually very early and I didn't expect to see so many passengers already waiting. Since we had still some time to go, I suggested we sit at the adjacent gate waiting area where we had empty chairs. And just by chance I happened to look at the display board and found out that the gate number displayed was different than what the attendant had told me. In fact the adjacent gate where we came was the gate for us now. So far so good, we still had almost 30 minutes to kill before boarding time - our flight was supposed to leave at 7.20 AM for Delhi and then we had a connecting flight to Srinagar with Air India again. When 30 min passed and still there were no ground staffs at the gate I rechecked the display board suspecting the gates might have changed again. But it didn't. The rest of the passengers in that area were also a little confused as me. That's when we got an SMS stating that the incoming flight is delayed due to which we are also delayed by almost 30 more minutes. I had a considerable amount of time between the next connecting flight so it didn't concern me much at that time. However soon we heard that due to bad weather at Delhi, the incoming flight got delayed and it was getting further delayed. This is when I started to panic a little. 

I did plan for such a contingency when I was booking my forward flight to Srinagar a month back. Since there were 2 flights we needed to take I had contemplated if by chance there is any delay in the first flight I might get into issue with the next one if it was a different carrier because then I would need to collect my bags and then move to the next flight, while if it is the same carrier they might do an intra transfer and save us time. So while booking I selected both flights as Air India instead of getting cheaper option if I took a combination of carriers. And this actually proved to be a wise decision when we almost got delayed by an hour at Pune airport. So guys bear this fact in mind, it is always better to have same carrier or carriers which would do luggage transfers when you have multiple legs of flight. 

I saw a couple getting very concerned at this delay because they had a different flight to catch from Delhi to Srinagar. While I confirmed with the Air India ground staffs by then what would happen to us, he said don't worry we have 35 passengers like you who are flying with Air India from Delhi to Srinagar so we have already Informed the airport, the flight wont take off without you. That eased out my mind a lot frankly. Nothing is worse than starting a trip with loads of tension buildup. Finally we boarded at around 8.10 AM and it took another 20-30 minutes to take off. I also called up our driverji who was supposed to come pick us up in Srinagar Airport that we are getting delayed.

Travelling with Air India after ages

It was actually exciting to be travelling with Air India after so long. The last time I travelled with Air India was when I was travelling to US, almost a decade back. Seeing the maharaja on the airplane tail and then on the seat covers were nostalgic. It was a special vacation since it was after the 2 years of covid that me and mom were again travelling by ourselves (Meghalaya was a group trip), travelling to Kashmir for the very first time and this was augmented by the fact that we were flying with Air India which was very memorable for me. We were asked to mask up from the time we entered the airplane. So that's a masked picture of us together . 

The flight to Srinagar

The Pune to Delhi flight was pretty much without any further hiccups. I specially enjoyed the food they served in flight. The last time I flew with them I remember the crew stuffed us with food till we were like please don't feed us more :D. This time also the food was very wholesome and fresh. I opted for the vegetarian breakfast while mom had with egg. This was the first time I was served misti doi in a flight as dessert. I never imagined misti doi would taste so amazing as a dessert in flight. I even proposed mom that should we always carry some misti doi with us next time we are flying. Also, the food was too much for us to finish so we stowed away the muffin and bun in our bags as we didn't want to waste food.

The vegetarian breakfast - upma and potato wedges, misti doi, bun and muffin

Non vegetarian breakfast - omlette and potato wedges misti doi, bun and muffin

By the time we landed in T3 of Delhi airport we were like super late. The ground staff told us to go straight and then take a left. When they said 'straight' I had not anticipated the distance we had to cover by foot. We kept walking, sprinting, running and still there was no end to this 'straight' path. Thankfully we had the moving walkways in between which took us forward quickly. But for my senior citizen mom, it was still very taxing. I think when the airport was already made aware of the delay they should have had electric cart ready at the gates to ferry the old folks. Mom was really out of breath after walking for what felt like more than 2kms in less than 6 minutes. So after the really intense walk we finally reached the left we were supposed to take. We had a very quick security check done and then departed towards our gates. The rest of the passengers had already boarded and they were waiting for the 35 passengers from Pune. Our luggage was already transferred to the flight and I was hoping that it really did make it on time.

The fun didn't stop even after boarding the flight. When we reached our seats we found there were 2 old ladies already occupying our seats - window and middle, along with an old uncle in the aisle. When asked to move since it was our seat, they looked at us as if we asked them for their liver. Seems like uncle didn't do seat selection earlier so they did not get seats together. One of the ladies moved to the aisle seat beside me and rest went to their designated seats in the next row. When we were almost reaching Srinagar, mom and me exchanged seats as I wanted to take some aerial shots form the window seat. Despite of the initial face off, later on the lady who sat beside me started talking a lot with my mom. We got to know they are from Kashmir and going back to their home after meeting their son in Dubai. I observed the lady was quite beautiful even at this age. 

As we neared Srinagar, I could see some river sort of thing which looked very wide. Not sure which river is that. If anyone of you know do let me know as well. Here are some of the aerial shots I took before reaching Srinagar.

This looked like a wide riverbed to me

Almost reaching Srinagar

60 ft Shikara on the Conveyer Belt 1 at at the Sheikh Ul Alam International Airport, Srinagar

Now coming back to the present day. While deliberating whether I should take out my jacket or not I called our driverji Khursheed bhai while standing outside the Srinagar airport. You may want to take a note here that pre paid cards from else where in the country would stop working the moment you enter Kashmir. You need a post paid card or a local sim while you are here. I am not sure though how easy it is to get a local sim in Kashmir. I have 2 post paid sims - Idea and Jio, both of which worked properly in Srinagar. My mom was having two pre paid cards, both of which stopped working. So if you are travelling in a group make sure at least one of you have a post paid sim so that your life is easier while you travel. However there was something weird going on with the idea sim at the airport. Since it is my primary number I tried calling Khursheed bhai from it and every time for 15 minutes it told me the line was engaged. I was about to ring Shabir bhai when a thought crossed my mind to try Khursheed bhai from my Jio number. And bang the call got connected. Khursheed bhai said he didn't get any call earlier nor was his phone engaged and that he was waiting for us right in the parking. So I told him to be on line while I tried to figure him out. Within a minute I saw a person waving at me and he came quickly to us and said hello and introduced himself as Khursheed bhai. Like we use bhaiya elsewhere in India to address any male, here in Kashmir you need to call everyone bhai. If you ask anyone what is their name they will add a bhai after their name and tell you. Khursheed bhai took our bags and led us to the car. We were given a Scorpio and the car condition was good as requested. We started for the city after loading our luggage into the boot. Since it was a big car and we were only two of us in the middle seat, it felt utterly comfortable. 

I tried to make some small talk with Khursheed bhai just to understand how he was as a person and what to expect from him over the next few days. Khursheed bhai appeared to be a soft spoken person, man of average height, a self-conscious smile and the customary reserve you’d find in town folk whenever they encounter city dwellers like us. For the first couple of days Khursheed bhai was not at all talkative. He only spoke when we asked him anything. I thought maybe it was because we were just ladies so he was being a little extra reserved. So I encouraged mom to speak more with him in the beginning. But later on the reserve dissolved and Khursheed bhai almost became like a family for us, will talk about that in due course.

First glimpses of Paradise

As we drove out of Srinagar airport the first thing I noticed was how pretty everything was. A friend of mine had visited a month earlier and in her feedback she had mentioned everything is very pretty right form the time you leave airport. That time I could not understand why the road from airport to city would be so worth mentioning but when we were driving out I could understand where she was coming from. It didn't look like it was in India, the roads were spotless. On both side of the road there were lots of trees. Even the dividers had trees and flowers. There was a calmness all around and lots of greenery which felt soothing. I think that's the time I started exclaiming how pretty it looked and from then onwards till the last day in Kashmir 'pretty' was a word that was very overused. Everything looked pretty to me, even the blue sky looked so beautiful. Just as I was seeping into the feel of jannat, we saw some big trucks with army men holding mounted rifles on the roof top on the road. And in the entire stretch of road from airport to the city, we lost count of how many army men we saw. We city dwellers are used to seeing the traffic police but army men in uniform and rifles patrolling every corner is something which we probably never experienced earlier. So it feels weird at first, like a scene from the movies and you kind of feel what the people of this region has faced over the years - it reminds you of the vestiges of terrorism that we keep hearing about. But soon enough you will get used to these visuals and it wont bother or draw your attention much. It is part of the life in Kashmir and you also get used to it. 

There were very few cars on the road, people were mainly walking, no high rises, no malls, but beautiful houses with red or green tiled slanting roofs. These slanting roofs are signature things you will find all over Kashmir and it makes you feel you are somewhere outside India. The mosques look different as well. These have pyramidal roofs with decorated spires on them. I never saw roofs like this on mosques anywhere else. 

First glimpses of the backwaters of Dal Lake with some of the old houseboats

Backwaters of Dal Lake

As we approached the city we saw the first glimpse of the jewel in the heart of Srinagar - the Dal Lake. We saw the backwaters of the dal lake first, which didn't look anything like what we see in the images of Dal lake. There were many large and old house boats stations on the backwaters. Some of them were in dilapidated condition while some others were broken and had partially submerged in the water. We got to know from Khursheed bhai that these were very old house boats and now no one lived there. Apart from the houseboat hotels where tourists stay, some of the houseboats in the backwaters are also homes of locals. When he revealed the cost of each houseboat it seemed shocking. The price started at around Rs 75 lakh for a single bedroom houseboat to one or 1.75 crore for a four-bedroom luxury houseboat. Buying a 75 lakh home in a city seems like a big deal for us, and here he was talking about a houseboat costing crores of rupees which would get dilapidated over a period of time. I wondered how the folks afforded it. It felt like a big mystery to me. 

We also got to see women on the roadside in their traditional dresses, pheran and headscarves. I felt excited like a kid to see them. We also noticed the roadside fruit shops. A lot of them were selling watermelons, mangos and red cherries. The cherries looked pretty tempting and we thought we will buy some next day. Seeing so many shops selling mangoes was a little surprising to me, I had anticipated apples but I didn't know that mangoes were also so common in Kashmir. 

Quick lunch - first Tujj experience

It was past noon time and we were really hungry. I didn't want to skip lunch as it would be a long wait till dinner. So I asked Khursheed bhai to stop at some restaurant which served local food. Before comign i had done some research on where to eat as well. And I had seen the recommendation of Khayam Chowk at quite a few places. So I asked him to take us to Khayam chowk. When we reached Khayam chowk, it appeared to be a super crowded place with narrow lanes and very little space for parking. It was not something I remembered from the vlogs I had seen. In the vlog we had seen open air stalls selling Kebabs and rotis nearby Dal lake.  Somehow we were too hungry by then and decided to get down at the first decent restaurant we saw. 

The menu

Mutton Tujj with an assortment of chutneys and tawa naan

Khursheed bhai stopped at a joint and we got off. It was a small restaurant but the interiors were well done. It was past 2.30 PM so there was no lunchtime rush only a few men eating on another table. Initially I felt like whether any women comes here by themselves or not and maybe they are surprised to see us. But soon another group dropped by where there was a lady so we felt a little comfortable. We wanted to have something quick as time was running out and I wanted to finish a couple of sight seeing before evening. We ordered mutton tujj and tawa naan. It took around 10 minutes for the order to arrive. Barbequed meat or Tujj is simply mutton, chicken, fish or beef pieces held together through seekh, or steel rods. Tujj is then grilled over red heated ember called Bath-e-Czini and served with 2-3 types of local chutneys like radish chutney, cucumber chutney, tomato or chili chutneys. Tujj was being prepared right outside the restaurant while the server got a stack of tawa naan from somewhere else. He was a very deft worker and quickly prepared 3-4 plates of tujj and naan for all of us. I had heard a lot about tujj earlier so had a high expectation. The tujj tasted nice because we were hungry but not exceptional. The tawa naan tasted nothing like the naan we are familiar with, instead it was thin maida rotis made on tawa. And the rotis were not hot so it kind of felt hard like papad. The chutneys were very interesting however. This was the fist time I was having radish chutney with dahi. We finished our lunch quickly and got back into the car.

Dal Lake and the Boulevard road

The plan next was to head to the hotel, freshen up, rest a bit if time permits and then head out for sightseeing. The afternoon sun appeared to be pretty strong even though there was a lot of cloud cover that day and also the temperature was cool. We drove out of the crowded Khayam chowk and headed towards the boulevard road. This road runs a circuit around Dal Lake and is one of the most famous stretch just like queen's necklace in Mumbai. We had arrived on a Saturday but the traffic on the road was very thin at that time. It was just a couple of cars here and there. When we reached the boulevard road finally we could associate with the pictures of Dal lake we had always seen. It looked serene even in the late afternoon mainly because of the cloud cover lingering over the mountains in the background. I didn't know that it was the Nanga Parbat, later we got to know the same from our Shikara driver. The boulevard road has a number of ghats and jettys from where one can go for shikara rides or take the smaller boats to travel to their houseboats. We saw tourists loading their luggage into such small boats at a few ghats. We also saw some folks sitting on the culvert around the boulevard road and fishing in the lake.

One of the many ghats on Boulevard road

Beautiful Vistas of the boulevard road

Tourits offloading their luggage and waiting for shikaras to ferry them to houseboats

Beautiful Shikaras on the Dal lake and Nanga Parbat in the backdrop

Though this was my first time in Kashmir I did not opt for houseboats because I feel a little claustrophobic in closed spaces. Plus I wanted to have the ground connection in case we planned to roam around at night. Our hotel was at the fag end of the Boulevard road and even further down. It was like 5-6 minutes drive from Nishat bagh. The drive was breathtakingly beautiful. I kept staring and staring at the landscape unraveling before me. The whole area looked like a foreign land because of the level of cleanliness around. For the first time we spotted chinar trees and willow trees. We got to know that no one can cut the chinar trees at their own will and it is considered as a punishable offense. Only forest department officials can trim the branches if they happen to hang too low on the roads. All trees were green at this time and yet looked beautiful. I was trying to imagine how marvelous they would look during the autumn in their fiery red and orange hues. 

Soon we reached our property which was a three star hotel named Nishat View. The hotel was situated in a very calm area with only another hotel adjacent to it. There was a army bunker positioned right opposite to the hotel. It felt a little eerie to see bunkers outside hotel but as I said you kind of get used to these things in a while. Since we were only going to stay overnight at this place the hotel didn't matter much. The façade of the hotel was good. But I can not say the same for the rooms. Reception was the only area which had ambient light, the rest of the passages, dining hall, rooms didn't did look a tad claustrophobic to me. The dining hall was at the basement while the rooms were at first and second floor. The first room we were given was tiny and had a weird rhombic shape as if just to utilize the space they built the walls. It also had a stench of some cheap room freshener. So I went to the reception and asked for a different room. The second room was not much better but at least it was a proper square shaped room with a good sized window. You would see pictures of this room mostly in their reviews. I would say it was pretty much okay kind of room good for just spending a night but not more. Good thing was the room had ample charging points and hot water provision.

We quickly freshened up and got changed. Since the room did not have much of a view outside so there was no point in wasting time sitting in the room. We headed out and drove towards our first sightseeing point - Nishat Bagh. 

Nishat Bagh - one of the most beautiful Mughal gardens

Before the advent of Islam, Kashmir was predominantly a Hindu region, the concept of pleasure gardens was not alien to it even during this period. Influenced by the concepts of vatikas (or wooded pleasure gardens), of ancient India, a variety of such gardens were created in the Valley mostly in the form of orchards. These gardens were endowed with a variety of flowers, herbs and aromatic plants. Islam came to Kashmir in the 14th C. Some of the leading members of the new dynasty were immigrants from Persia or areas with heavy Persian influence. Thus along with language, dress, customs many types of arts and crafts linked to Persia also flourished in the region. Among them one was also the art of gardening. From historical references it seems that these gardens followed a similar pattern of Persian Paradise gardens, with terraces arranged around a central water channel, lined with fountains and planted with a variety of flowers and trees that grew in abundance within the Valley. By the time Kashmir passed into the hands of the Mughals in the 16th C., these gardens embedded with the Persian spirit were already established in Kashmir. 

The celebrated Mughal gardens of Kashmir owe their grandeur primarily to Emperor Jahangir who had an undaunted love for Kashmir, and his son Shah Jahan. Jahangir was responsible for the careful selection of the site and maneuvering it to suit the requirements of the traditional paradise gardens. Kashmir is home to most beautiful Mughal gardens in India and Srinagar host the maximum. 

At the entrance of Nishat Bagh

Surreal scenery

Beautiful fountains and water channels

Nishat Bagh translates to  “Garden of Joy” or “Garden of delight”. The garden was designed by Asaf Khan, the brother of Noor Jahan in 1633 AD. It is the second largest Mughal garden in the Kashmir Valley nestled on the eastern bank of the Dal Lake with the Zabarwan Mountains at the back and offers a magnificent view of the Pir Panjal mountain range. The terrace gardens of Nishat Bagh offers a magnificent panoramic view mountain range and Dal lake. 

The area around the entrance of Nishat Bagh was bustling with activity. It looked like a fair ground. A number of eateries on the opposite side of the road, many souvenir shops lined around the entrance gate, huge number of tourists and locals and equally large number of vehicles on the road causing a traffic snarl. We got down a little before the jam and told Khursheed bhai to find a parking. We walked down the rest of the way to the entrance. There were quite a few souvenir shops on the way and we stopped to look at a few. I really liked a small wooden shikara they were selling  and decided to purchase it. I am really bad at bargain but I would recommend that you do not buy the wooden shikaras from Nishat bagh shops as they sell it more expensive. If you are visiting Chasma Shahi then you will get the same shikara at much lesser price. But since I did not know back then so got the shikara at Rs 200 (which by Pune standard was cheap).

The entry ticket at all Mughal garden is priced same at Rs 24. Now that is a trick figure. Most of the times people would not have change of 4 rupees so either you end up paying Rs 25 or if you are lucky you will get 1 rupee back from the counter. Now imagine the number of tourists visiting each day and paying Rs 1 extra. That whole amount is not accounted for but gets collected nonetheless. They did not charge anything extra for my DSLR. We reached the garden around 5 PM and it was very crowded already. But since the garden is massive you wont feel the crowd once you are inside. 

Nishat Bagh has a broad cascade of terraces lined with avenues of chinar and cypress trees, which starts from the lakeshore and reaches up to an artificial façade at the hill end. Rising from the edge of the Dal Lake, length-wise, the garden consists of twelve terraces, supposedly symbolizing the twelve signs of the zodiac. 

These small waterfalls were dotted across the center of the massive garden

Nishat Bagh is one of the most beautiful Mughal Gardens

Zoomed in to Dal lake and spotted this structure

This was a unique flower I saw in every Mughal garden, not sure of the name

Roses of all shapes and colors were there

The garden is massive and one can easily spend 2-3 hours just walking around the garden. Even spending a whole day is worth. The garden houses innumerable flowers, trees and water canals with small waterfalls. There are also dress rental areas where you can rent the traditional Kashmiri attire and take some signature photographs with the beautiful flowers. One should ideally have enough time at hands to sit and enjoy the views. I felt Nishat Bagh was the prettiest because of the towering Zabarwan mountains in the backdrop adding a lot of drama to the scenery. I don't think any of the other gardens have mountains encircling it. Check out my video to see how pretty everything looks (link at the end of the blog). You need a lot of stamina and definitely a bottle of water if you want to cover the whole garden. Since we were short on time we could walk only till half a way and then turn back. We thought that on our last day in Srinagar if we had some time we would again try to visit Nishat Bagh. 

The Shikara Ride fiasco

It was already 6 PM by the time we left Nishat Bagh. There was still ample sunlight and I thought we could make it to one of the nearest ghats and go on a sunset Shikara ride. But soon we realized how wrong I was. I gave a call to Khursheed Bhai to locate him in the call. He asked us to come a little ahead where he had parked. After reaching our car I told him about our plan to go for a shikara ride, but he seemed reluctant. The first problem was that our driverji wanted to head home for the night (he stayed in Tanmarg) and the second problem we soon discovered. As we touched the boulevard road we saw the unending traffic jam on the lane going towards the city, which was also the lane we needed to take to reach any of the ghats. The road which was practically empty during the afternoon had transformed into a big traffic snarl by the evening. Khursheed bhai told that this is the usual scene during the evening when most of the tourists prefer to hang out around the boulevard. The traffic was moving at a snail's pace. It was very clear we would not make it to any of the ghats before sun sets, hence all my anticipation of taking those picture perfect sunset shots drowned prematurely. However the only good thing was that we were already on the boulevard road and could see the stunning sun set from the car at least. Stunning was actually an understatement. It was one of the most prettiest sunsets I have witnessed. 

One of the best sunsets I have witnessed in recent times

Finally we reached a ghat nearby and decided to stop and check the rates. The moment I got down from the car I realized that the weather had drastically changed. Till Nishat Bagh it didnt feel cold at all and I was not carrying any jacket. But post sun down the mercury had suddenly dropped and the air was too cold. I was contemplating if it would be a good idea to go for a shikara ride in such a cold weather considering I was not appropriately dressed. However I crossed the street and went to the ghat to check the rates. I had checked the standard Shikara rates on tripadvisor forum before my trip started. The standard government rates were something in the range of Rs. 500 to Rs 700 for one boat for an hour (two people). 

The moment we reached the ghats, touts and shikara drivers surrounded us. There was this henchman type guy who asked us how many of us are there. I told him two, and he quoted a price of Rs. 3500 for an hour. I was stunned. At first I thought that I heard wrong, then I queried again and he told me the same answer. The rates he was quoting was beyond bargain but still I told him that government rates are not what he is quoting. To this he blatantly said "we dont do government rates, please move if you don't want to pay, I have other customers who will be willing to pay". I did not expect such a rude response and it felt disgusting the way he told. All this while our driverji was standing there. When i told him to help in bargain he didnt step in. This was also surprising as otherwise he was being helpful in things. It was only on the last day we came to know that all the drivers here take some cut money from the shikara drivers based on what deal they cut with the customer. So the more they can extort the better commission the drivers get and hence they don't try to intervene in this atrocity. Also one more thing we found out was that the rates for the evening rides were usually higher than the day time and also the ghats after ghat number 19 or 20 is usually expensive as they are far off from the city center. 

The sun was setting at this time

So here are a couple of suggestions if you really don't have any hung up on doing evening shikara rides:

• Go to ghat number 18 or lesser ones. These are near to the city center and charges are economic
• Go for Shikara rides in the morning around 8.30 - 9 AM, it is really peaceful and economic
• Don't agree if they are charging anything beyond Rs 800 for a couple for an hour, they are just trying to fleece you
• Don't expect your driver to bargain for you, they are also in this commission model (doesn't mean the driver is bad, its kind of become a standard operating model now)

So we didn't argue with that rowdy person anymore and decided to spend some time walking around the place. We also saw another group of tourist being treated the same way by the guy who also refused to go with him. I had always heard good things about the Kashmiri hospitality but this was definitely a bad experience that I would remember from the first day. but in a way it was actually good for me, because the mercury was dipping really fast and it would be very uncomfortable for me doing the shikara ride without proper warm clothes.

A lot of tourists were there around the Boulevard road

The sun had already set and the lights were coming up around the road. The vibrant Boulevard Road is the heart of Srinagar. Flanked by the Dal Lake on one side and bustling market on the other, it is a beautiful stretch to walk about in evenings. Cool breeze, views of the mountains, house boats moored on wooden jetties, colorful shikaras vying for attention - all of this makes this place a unique experience. The entire boulevard road has great photo ops as well. After spending like 10-15 minutes we decided to head back because Khursheed bhai had to then head back home after dropping us. 

On the way back we stopped at a small grocery store and got 3 bottles of Bisleri. Usually the bottled water is cheaper at the store than the hotels. By the time we reached hotel it was too cold outside and pitch dark. We were supposed to head to Gurez the next day. Khursheed bhai said he will come by 8 AM to pick us. 

A sunset to remember

After reaching the room the first thing I did was getting dressed in all my warm clothes. It was a really good decision to bring ample warm clothes because in Srinagar itself it felt too cold at night. We tried to watch TV for some time but nothing interesting was there. Finally around 8 PM we went down for dinner. The way to the dinner hall looked even more shady with dim lit passageways. Most of the packaged tours include breakfast and dinner. So the hotels here has a buffet provision for all such guests. You can order certain ala carte items from the menu but the charges were pretty steep. 

The set buffet didn't have much options. The taste of the dishes were also very sub standard. This was probably one of the worst buffet dinners I had while travelling. Even the chicken didn't taste good. The only thing I liked was the rajma. How did they make everything taste so bland was a question I wanted to ask. But the person manning the buffet table was not a very friendly guy and kept giving us stares as if we had done something wrong. There was no point in complaining also, as it didn't not seem that they are much bothered about customer service. There was one more group in the dining hall and seemed like they had come from south India. This was also a very surprising aspect of Kashmir trip. The primary group of tourist I saw in Kashmir were either from Gujarat or Southern India with some amount of Bengalis and Marathis. 

Post dinner we spent some time in the reception area. There was a handloom shop in the premise where we took a look at the shawls and other local made garments. Mom was looking for some hand embroidered shawls which was not available. The prices were however quite high and also we didn't want to buy something without seeing other options.

So finally we decided to call it a day. It was a very long day and we wanted to get some good sleep before the long journey the next day. Next day onwards the core journey started where we would be travelling to some of the most offbeat locations of Kashmir. That's all till now. Don't forget to check out the other blogs in this series (link below). Stay tuned!

Continued in Day 2...

Other blogs in the Kashmir series:

1. Is Kashmir safe for travelers?
2. What to pack for Kashmir in May -June ( for Gurez- bangus - Lolab circuit)
3. Kashmir Diaries - Day 1 : Pune to Srinagar | Nishat Bagh
4. Kashmir Diaries -Day 2: Srinagar to Gurez| Razdan Pass | Krishnaganga 
5. Kashmir Dairies - Day 3 : Walking around Gurez Village
6. My Top Favorite Foods From Kashmir - Part 1
7. My Favorite Food from Kashmir - Part 2 (Second Trip To Kashmir - October)

25 June

I feel if you are a person who loves nature and verdant greenery then May- June is the perfect time to travel to Kashmir. This is the period between Spring (March to early May) and Summer (early May to late August). If you are doing the regular places like Gulmarg, Sonmarg etc, then even April - May is good. But if you are doing the northern circuits like Gurez, Bangus and Lolab valley then mid May to first week of June is perfect. Since these are at higher elevation so by this time the snow especially around the passes starts to melt, there are occasional showers which enhances the greenery of the valleys, flowers bloom along the way and the weather is a mix of temperate during the day and cold during the night. So you get to experience the best of both temperatures. From June onwards the actually summer starts so it becomes quite warm in all of these areas. 

We travelled between 21st May and 28th May. Srinagar had the warmest temperature conditions at this time while Gurez and Bangus had the coldest. I am mentioning the range of temperatures we got at each of these locations:

• Srinagar ( 18 - 25 degrees)
• Gurez ( 3 - 10 degrees with rain)
• Reshawari Bangus ( 4 - 20 degrees)
• Chandigam Lolab ( 10 - 30 degrees)

Check the temperature predictions

So first thing before you pack, make sure to check on google the temperature you are going to get in the areas you are travelling. If it is very remote you might not find the temperature of the exact place but try to look up for nearby areas temperature, it should be nearly on the same lines.

Warm Clothes

If you are not sure about the night temperature then I would recommend as a backup pack some good woolens and an umbrella. Its better to be a little over prepared (especially if you are travelling with old people and kids) than unprepared. If it rains the temperature plummets easily in the mountains. Also, you might not easily get quality warm clothes stores in the remote villages where you can purchase them on the fly. So just carry some extra warm clothes with you. Also instead of carry big heavy woolens which takes lot of space and adds to the weight, focus on layering. Like take a thermal, a light sweater, shawls, scarfs. Layering helps you keep warm better than one single piece of heavy clothing. Plus if the weather starts to get warm you can just shed some of the layers instead of the complete warm clothing. 

Regular Clothes

The clothes you should carry to any place should align to the culture and tradition of that region. You should take a note that in any religious shrines or dargahs in Srinagar, ladies you need to wear clothes that cover your hand and feet and a head scarf or dupatta to cover your head. So you can take any kurta or dress which has long sleeves and carry a scarf or dupatta to cover your head. If you are not planning to visit any religious places then normal clothes like jeans, tee-shirts, tops, kurti would be okay. You can also opt for dresses which are not too revealing. While I did not see any issues with any kind of dressing here, but make sure to dress appropriately to not stand out in the crowd for wrong reasons. 

For men, the usual clothes works. 

Raingear/ Sun shade

Always carry umbrella during this kind of transition weather (Spring to summer). There is a good chance of rains in the high altitude and weather changes anytime. If the prediction shoes heavy rain or continuous rain then carrying a raincoat/ waterproof jackets is also recommended.

Sunscreen

Sunscreen is a must. The sun is very harsh during the when you go to mountains in the summers. You might not realize then but once you are back home you will realize how much sunburnt you got. Plus you will be doing lot of sightseeing and activities like hiking or trekking so there will be considerable amount of sun exposure. Carry a good sunscreen with you and use it everyday even if it is cloudy. 

Footwear

Good walking shoes are very essential. I usually carry 3 pairs of shoes - 

• Closed shoes - sneakers or any kind of sports shoes
• Semi formal shoes - these go well with any Indian dress or kurtas as well as jeans when you dont want to wear sports shoes
• Home slippers - I definitely carry these if I know I wont be staying in business hotels or 4 stars. (Though in Kashmir even in the govt guest houses we were provided with one pair of bathroom slippers)

Bedsheet/ Pillow covers

Post covid this has become a mandatory thing for us. Even if we are travelling to good hotels, we carry either single queen bed sheet or 2 single bed sheets and 1 pillow cover per individual. If you are going to stay in government guest houses this is a must. Pillow cover because your face touches the pillow and bedsheet mainly to cover the underneath of the blankets. Even though the bedsheets and pillow covers are washed after every checkout, the blankets are something which are hardly washed. So it is more hygienic if you cover the upper edges of the blanket with a bedsheet so that the part that touches your face is covered. 

Travel Towel

I carry a very thin and small travel towel (gamcha) which gets dried in half and hour (max.) and takes up as little space as a hanky. Whenever you are not sure about the towel you get this is a handy option.

Toiletries

A small body wash or facewash which can double up as body wash. This also comes more handy than regular soap after your morning washroom routine. Shampoo sachets are good options for your hair. Keep those Rs.1 sachets which are good for single use. Apart from this a travel toothbrush and toothpaste is a must. I prefer using my own toothbrush no matter what. If you want to carry some body or hair oil then you can get the travel size almond oil bottle. I carried a small bottle of hair serum instead of oil. And finally keep a good moisturizer handy. Your hands are feet are bound to get dry in the cold.

Snacks and munchies

Carry some chocolates, snacks. This is not specific to Kashmir but whenever you are visiting some remote villages its good to have some snacks and chocolates with you. Before starting from Srinagar, buy some biscuits, namkeen, chips and chocolates. At this moment this particular circuit mainly has government tourist guest houses ( apart from Gurez) . When they serve you tea, it wont come with any biscuits or snacks. So its a good idea to carry some yourself. Also, you wont find many restaurants on the way to sightseeing points in this circuit,  it will help satiate any between the meals hunger pangs. When in Gurez or any of the villages around, you might happen to come across village kids. I have seen the kids feel very happy if you give them some chocolates or snacks. So keep some with you during the trip.

Medicines/ First aid

Since medicine shops and hospitals/ medical facilities are very limited in these remote places, it is always a good idea to medicines with you, especially if you have senior citizen or kids with you. Some of the medicines I usually carry

• Anti Vomiting ( Ondem)
• Stomach upsets (O2, ORS, metrogyl etc.)
• Gas/ Acidity (Pan 40, Omee, Histac, Roasted ajwain etc)
• Fever (Calpol/ Paracetamol)
• Headache/ Body ache (Dispirin)
• Vitamin B (Becosule)
• Allergy (Cetrizine)
• Cough drops (honitus)
• Band aid
• Prescription medicine

Sanitizer & Masks

I find the tiny miniso sanitizer bottle with a clasp to hang on your side bags very useful for travel. They are super handy and you can refill them as needed.

The mandatory mask policy ( as of June 2022) is still in place at the airports so make sure you are carrying masks.

Electronics

Keep in mind that most of the places in Kashmir faces electricity issues. The power would be there for some part of the day while rest of the time the hotel would give backup for limited time or emergency lights etc. This issue is worse in the Reshwari and Chandigam guest houses. They either have a very limited backup (1-2 hours which is usually turned on during dinner time) or no backup at all. So if you are planning on carrying tablets, phones and a lot of electronics I would suggest you don't. Only carry things which are essential. Also carry powerbanks if you feel you need additional backup. If you are using nebuliser or any specific electronic device then make sure to check with your hotels/guest houses for the provision of backup. Also the charging points are very limited in the guest houses. So just do the math, limited power backup at night + limited charging points, you can easily figure out how you need to manage.

For cameras, carry extra battery and memory card if possible. Additional memory carry would eliminate the need to transfer data using your laptop. All the plug points are Indian ones so carry necessary adapters with you for camera and phone chargers. Carry some rainproof bags for you camera and phone.

SIM Card

Pre paid sim cards don't work in Kashmir. So if you are travelling from any other place to Kashmir, keep this in mind that either you need a post paid sim card or a local sim card once you are in Kashmir. in Srinagar any post paid card would work. But if you are planning for Gurez  circuit then be sure to have a JIO post paid card or a BSNL post paid card. None of the other networks like idea would work there. Jio pre on post cards also work. I was having both idea and jio post paid cards. Once in Gurez only the Jio had signal because right in the middle of the village there is a JIO tower, so the reception is pretty good. 

Worst case if you don't happen to have any local or post paid cards , the locals at the hotels sometimes help you with their own phones. But still that is not a very good option to rely on, as you also wont have any access to internet if you dont have a working sim card. 

Documents

If you are an Indian, its best to carry Aadhar card as a document proof. Throughout Kashmir where ever you go this is required. Especially when you travel to the border areas like Gurez, at every check point you need to furnish your ID. If you are a foreigner, Passport would be sufficient. Since we travelled in May 2022, the covid norms were quite relaxed. We didn't get asked for any RTPCR test report. However keep the double vaccination certificate handy for airports. While paperless formats for all tickets and hotel bookings work, it is good to have hardcopies of a couple of double vaccination reports. 

Additional Bag

Though we are not heavy shoppers but it is always a good idea to have an additional foldable carry on bag with you just in case you need additional space.

Luggage Straps/ Belts

This is one of the most recommended items for any traveler. I have been using this for past decade and it makes my life so much easier to track down my suitcase on the conveyor belt or anywhere for that matter. Now a days most of the suitcases look alike and it gets difficult to figure out your luggage in the airport, or someone else might even pick up your bag thinking its theirs. To avoid all these hassles just tie a luggage strap around your suitcase or bags and choose one which is very colorful (rainbow color or neon color) which can be located form a distance. These are very useful for old people who are travelling alone. They can easily locate their bags. Its a one time investment so get a good quality one. And they are washable too. Product links given below.

Other Blogs in the Kashmir Series:

1. Is Kashmir safe for Travel ? Is Kashmir safe for women or non Hindu travelers?

The comprehensive list:

SIM Card ( as of May 2022)

• Post paid or local sim card
• JIO or BSNL post paid sim card if you are visiting Gurez

Documents -

• Aadhar card (Indian Nationals) / Passport (foreign Nationals)
• Double Vaccination Report (softcopy/ hardcopy)
• Hotel bookings / Hotel numbers
• Flight Tickets
• Car bookings (if applicable)
• Tour agent numbers ( if applicable)
• SOS numbers 

Clothes -

• Light summer tee shirts/ tops/ blouses
• Jeans / Jeggings/ Leggings
• Kurta/ kurti/ dress
• Dupatta
• Underwear
• Sleep wear
• Thermal
• Shawls
• Jacket
• Light sweater
• Scarf
• Woolen cap
• Socks
• Warm Pajamas

Toiletries -

• Sunscreen
• Moisturizer
• Aloe vera (for sun burn/ general)
• Shampoo Sachet
• Body wash / facewash
• Sanitary needs
• Tooth brush
• Tooth paste
• Combs
• Makeup (as needed)
• Hair oil / hair serum

Medical -

• Sanitizer
• Masks
• Tissue paper
• Prescription medicines 
• SOS Medicines (list given above)
• Spare Prescription glasses & cleaning cloth
• Spare Contact lenses

Edibles -

• Biscuits
• Small packaged cakes/ pastries
• Snacks/ chips
• Non alcoholic drinks (druk green apple juice)
• Toffee/ Chocolate
• Local seasonal fruits (cherry etc.)

Shoes

• Sports shoes / waterproof shoes
• Walking shoes / flats
• Semi formal shoes
• Bathroom slippers
• Formal shoes (if needed)

Gadgets/ Electronics

• Phone
• Camera
• Charger
• Additional camera battery
• Power banks
• Memory cards
• Mini tripods
• Camera remote

Rain/ Sun gear

• Umbrella/ raincoat 
• Sunglass

Others

• Bedsheet
• Pillow covers
• Travel Towel
• Foldable bag
• Luggage Straps/ belts
• Luggage tags

Product links for some of the very useful products I used during this trip

1. Luggage belts/straps : shorturl.at/cmsDU
2. BIOTIQUE Bio Sandalwood Sunscreen Lotion - SPF 50 PA+ - shorturl.at/fuLW0
3. Wildcraft 40 L Duffle bag - shorturl.at/knC24
4. Mini Tripod for mobile : https://amzn.to/3OmTSyJ 
5. Lavie Pitaraa Women's Backpack (spacious and light) - https://amzn.to/3HQErwx

1. Is Kashmir safe for travelers?
2. What to pack for Kashmir in May -June ( for Gurez- bangus - Lolab circuit)
3. Kashmir Diaries - Day 1 : Pune to Srinagar | Nishat Bagh
4. Kashmir Diaries -Day 2: Srinagar to Gurez| Razdan Pass | Krishnaganga 
5. Kashmir Dairies - Day 3 : Walking around Gurez Village
6. My Top Favorite Foods From Kashmir - Part 1
7. My Favorite Food from Kashmir - Part 2 (Second Trip To Kashmir - October)

Krishnaganga, Gurez Valley

19 June

Once again hello everyone. 

Reading the title if you have started wondering whether this is going to be a political opinion post then you are wrong. As I mentioned in my last blog, last month I travelled to the valley of Kashmir. And just like after every travel, I was about to pen down my experience. But then I thought, when I was thinking of making plans to visit Kashmir, the very first question that came to my mind was - Is it a safe place for travel? That's why let me begin this trip diary trying to address this question itself.

In one word the answer is YES. And that's a yes in bold letters. And I will explain the rationale behind this. In fact Kashmir is the safest place in the whole of India for female travelers ( any age).  I have travelled extensively across India and outside India. So when I say it is safest, you can try to believe me. I never felt this safe travelling on remote roads, spending night in a deserted tourist hut without any power and walking down to locals homes without even giving a second thought. I stay in Pune which is relatively a safe place for women but still I would say Kashmir is where even a solo woman traveler would not feel any scare, even if she is walking down a forest road at sundown.

I usually plan all my trips by myself - starting from hotel to vehicle to food to sightseeing - everything is meticulously planned months ahead and I keep an excel sheet handy with all the necessary information. Planning a trip yourself might be a lot of hassle but I feel it gives me a lot of flexibility in terms of what I want to do on a trip. Plus getting a package trip from any operator doesn't feel like a good deal to me because it offers limited customizations. When I started planning for Kashmir initially I thought I will go to the standard tourist destinations - Pahalgam- Betaab Valley, Sonmarg, Gulmarg etc. But then the more I started reading about these places and the travel details from fellow travelers I noticed a couple of things - 

• they are usually overcrowded 
• you need to take pony ride to reach the sightseeing points 
• highly overpriced 
• touts make your life horrible. 

Considering all of these points I was almost about to drop my travel plans for Kashmir. But then fortunately I came across a post on FB which was taking about some remote places of Kashmir and they looked absolutely stunning. After some intense research on the places I decided to go for it. But since these were a little remote places and this was my first time in the valley which is often touted by the media as the hotbed of various unrests and violence - I thought it was safe to go for a tour operator who would know the pulse of the place better than a tourist like me visiting for the first time. And if in the worst scenario any issue happens at least there will be some accountability on the part of the operator to get us back to safety.

Interesting to note is that my travel to the valley was scheduled a few days after the release of  The Kashmir Files, a film on the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits from the valley in the 1990s which took the country by storm. The very natural thought lingering on my mind was, even though I have heard the valley is safe, considering the current situation and the news of violence that I was reading everyday in the newspaper, should I postpone or cancel my trip. My thoughts were further fueled by the fact that I was going to travel with my senior citizen mom and it would be just the two of us on this trip. Heaven forbid if some unrest happens how would I cope with it in an unknown land?

I think by now you can resonate to some of my concerns. And apart from all this the most sensitive question was, post Kashmir files, as a non muslim, will I be welcomed or resented? My mother was very concerned about this. Which is very obvious because she keeps reading these news pieces which always magnified what was happening in the valley. But I decided that since I have put in so much money into this trip, lets just make it happen and be positive. 

I kept telling me All is well , All is well until we reached Srinagar. There were a few minor hiccups like flight delays which kind of made me anxious (superstitious - at the start of trip things going wrong!) but I decided to hang in their with my positive beliefs a bit longer. 

We landed in Srinagar and the first thing that mesmerized us was the beauty of the land. I have earlier mentioned that my first look of the Shillong airport ( Meghalaya trip) took my breath away with the beauty. The same happened in Srinagar. The moment we left the airport premises natural beauty literally engulfed us. Our driverji - Khursheed Bhai was a soft spoken helpful gentleman and that calmed down my anxious nerves a bit. At least I did not feel threatened by the man on the wheels. The second interesting thing in Kashmir is that every place is very meticulously monitored by the army and the police. It was normal to see army men walking down the road in military trucks holding guns. Srinagar especially has a lot of surveillance for obvious reasons. But once you go to the border areas you will find army check posts at regular intervals and patrolling vehicles on the road. You need to submit all your details at every checkpoint and they keep a close monitor on who is entering and exiting, how many ladies are there, what is the purpose of visit, where are you coming from and your aadhar details. Hence even if you wish you can not be unsafe, they will track you down if you get into any kind of trouble anywhere. 

I don't know why , I was partially expecting to see some reactions/signs of post Kashmir Files impact in Srinagar. But the city didn't have any traces of any unrest. It was a normal day like any other city where everyone was going about their business. If it was not for the beautiful Shikaras lined along the boulevard or the towering Nanga Parbat mountains, you would feel that this is just another city in India. There was no trace of any tension anywhere. 

Gurez Village

Once we travelled out of Srinagar towards Gurez which was the most remote place on our list, we got to know how the real Kashmir is. And it was poles opposite to what the media makes you believe. Unlike what we believe that Hindus are not welcome here, let me tell you most of the locals are not at all bothered about your religion. There was only one occasion where a local asked us whether we were Muslim. when we said no, she simply said okay, koi baat nahi. No reaction or further questions post that on our religion. It was as normal as my mother tongue is Bengali while theirs's is Kashmiri. Some of the locals also told us, that all these stories are made up by the politicians for vested interests, the people here live harmoniously with all religions and there is no distinguishing. We found this to be very true. There was no religious bigotism. If I go to any other place in any other city in any Muslim specific area, I would feel that I am standing out. But here I never for once felt that I am travelling in a completely Muslim dominated state. People were more than welcoming. We got invited to local's homes on multiple occasions. The ladies here were especially friendly with us and shared so much about their life over chai sessions. Sitting with the locals in their homes didn't feel weird even for a second.

Now coming to dressing in Kashmir when you are travelling. Surprisingly, this is the only place in India where I didn't get stared or ogled by any random guy even if I was in a decent jeans and tee. This was surprising because ladies in kashmir after a certain age always wear burkas in some form or pherans and cover their head. So being in jeans and tee ideally should attract eyeballs but that didn't happen. I felt that as long as you are wearing decent clothes it doesn't matter if you go around in jeans or a dress. Yes there are places like dargah's where you need to follow a certain dress code. But apart from that you would not feel uncomfortable in any attire if you walk around the city or even in the villages. 

We went to areas from where you could see the India Pakistan border. There was a place named Sheikpura ahead of Gurez where there was only a couple of government places to stay. We could see how he people of these remote villages liked to see visitors. they felt good when travelers form around the world would visit them.  The caretaker told us before covid there was a lady solo traveler who stayed in that place for a couple of night all by herself. This further emphasized the fact that there is a lot of solo lady travelers who are venturing out in even remote locations across this valley without any fear. 

Chandigam, Lolab Valley

Let me talk about a few more things to give you an idea about how critical a women's safety is considered here. We stayed in a tourist hut in a place called Reshwari. Electricity is a major problem in Kashmir and more so in the remote areas. It comes for only some stipulated hours and rest of the times either things run on backup or you remain in the dark. This was a big govt. guest house but the infrastructure was pretty poor and they did not have any backup. So post 7 PM when it was pitch dark and only one emergency light at our disposal, my mom was getting a little jittery. The additional point was that we were the only two boarders that day in the entire premise apart from the caretaker and our driverji. But since the caretaker was an ex-armyman I was not much scared. Plus I thought that since it was a government hut, obviously even the officials knew we were coming. But later in the night when we asked the caretaker why there was no other boarders he said, there is a group of campers but they were not allowed inside the premise today. the reason is that there is a rule for that property set up the SP- if there is only female boarders any day they do not allow any other male boarders in the premise that particular day to ensure safety. Even if it means loss of revenue. We were surprised to note that. Also, there is a forest guest house almost adjacent to this place. So earlier in the evening, the forest guest house officials had come to this tourist hut and we happened to talk to some of them. One of the official gave his phone number to us and said if there is any need anytime we can give him a call. And after this he gave us a call in the night to check if we are okay and then till the time we were in Kashmir everyday he checked on us whether we were doing alright. That is the kind of hospitality you would see in real Kashmir. I say real Kashmir which means when you are travelling to all these rural remote places. The people in Srinagar, we found were more commercialized in their approaches and the human touch was slightly missing. Since there is so much tourist influx they behave just like you would see in normal tourist places. I am not sure how it is in the other popular tourist destinations like Pahalgam, Gulamarg but all the places we went to like Gurez, Bangus and Lolab valley we found the people with soul as beautiful as the place itself.

We also met a solo woman traveler Maria in our next destination which was Chandigam. She has been doing solo trips in the Valley for past 4 years and she spoke about how amazing her experience has been. In fact we resonated the same views about how safe the whole valley is especially when you go remote. She accounted many of her travel stories in which she got assisted by the village folks or tourist polices whenever she needed any help. We agreed that the people of Kashmir were more beautiful inside out than the land itself and no where else in India did we experience this kind of heartfelt hospitality.

So you see things are very different when you actually are in Kashmir. It is different and refreshingly good compared to some other big cities. They might not have advanced infrastructure, high rises, state of art transport, fancy malls etc. But the people here carry a lot of love and respect for you as an individual and more as a women. Even if they are in burkhas, the women here are quite empowered and educated. And this reflects well on their overall society and the way they behave towards women. Interestingly every time I told anyone in the villages that I am from Pune, they actually knew Pune is part of Maharashtra and near to Mumbai.  Even housewives who have not stepped out of their villages in the entire life, knew where Pune was! This is how well read the people of the valley are. 

When travelling to remote Kashmir I would recommend to interact with the locals and villagers as much as you can. Apart form getting to know their culture and life up close, you will end up making so many connections who will ensure you are safe while you are there in their place. I will be writing in more details about my overall experience of the valley in my upcoming tour diary. But just as a signing off note I want to say that this place is rightly called as the Jannat on earth ( paradise on earth) and you can definitely visit this place without any fear in your heart. 

Other blogs in the Kashmir series:

1. Is Kashmir safe for travelers?
2. What to pack for Kashmir in May -June ( for Gurez- bangus - Lolab circuit)
3. Kashmir Diaries - Day 1 : Pune to Srinagar | Nishat Bagh
4. Kashmir Diaries -Day 2: Srinagar to Gurez| Razdan Pass | Krishnaganga 
5. Kashmir Dairies - Day 3 : Walking around Gurez Village
6. My Top Favorite Foods From Kashmir - Part 1
7. My Favorite Food from Kashmir - Part 2 (Second Trip To Kashmir - October)

18 June

Its been such a long long gap since I posted. So much has happened in the last couple of months. Work has increased by almost ten folds, I have started going to office a couple of days a week, travelling for various customer visits across India has again resumed and in the middle of all this I even took a week long break for summer vacation. So basically I am back to my old routine in the pre covid times and life has again become hectic. Even if cooking is a love affair to me, but I think given a choice I love travelling more any day. Thus once a trip ends I start looking for the next destination almost immediately. And very naturally Instagram, or blogging has taken a hit. After a long week now I don't feel like burning my midnight oil scrolling food posts on Instagram. Rather keeping up late to watch and read about places I want to visit seems more interesting. 

So my travel last month was to very remote and offbeat places of Kashmir. I hope that I can start penning down that travelogue soon. This was my first time in Kashmir and I simply fell in love with the place. No wonder it is known as the Jannat on earth. I found the cuisine of Kashmir quite interesting. Since we were travelling remote, I got to taste some authentic local cuisine ( not part of wazwan ) which Kashmiris have as their regular food. I kind of collected all the recipes from the chefs and cooks we met at various guest houses where we stayed. And these were not just recipes but there was a lot of stories accompanying them. I am raring to try them out and write more about these foods slowly on my blog.

But for now I thought of sharing a quick and easy recipe from the Kitchens of Bengal or Bangladesh. I have written about different bhorta recipes in my blog earlier also. You can check them out in the recipe list. Bhorta is basically any kind of a vegetable mash. But it can be non vegetarian also or a combo of both. The one that I made today was with kochu or taro. 

I had to do a impromptu travel to Hyderabad for 2 days which left me completely drained today. I didn't feel like making anything special even if it was a Saturday. A homely warm meal was all that the heart craved for and some good long sleep. So made this really quick taro mash and paired it with steamed rice and a light radhuni foroner mushur daal with raw papaya.

Check out the other bhorta recipes on my blog:

1. Dim Aloor Bhorta
2. Narkol Chingri Bhorta
3. Macher Bhorta

Ingredients for garnish:

• Mustard Oil - 1 tsp

Equipment:

• Pressure Cooker
• Mixing bowl

Procedure: 

1.  Wash the kochu thoroughly to remove any dirt on the surface. 

Tip : The dirt clings to the skin to you can keep it immersed in water for sometime to loosen them and then gently scrub them off using your fingers.

2. Transfer the washed kochu to a pressure cooker filled with 2 cups of water. Steam it for 2 whistles or as needed. Drain the water. 

3. The kochu needs to be peeled while they are still hot/warm. If its too hot to hold dip the boiled kochu in some water and then peel off the skin. 

4. Take mustard oil in a kadai and heat it. Once the oil is hot add the peeled garlic pods and fry till golden. keep aside.

5. In the same oil fry the dry red chilli, keep aside.

6. Now fry the sliced onion with a pinch of salt. Keep aside.

7. Now break the red chilli with your finders. In a mixing bowl take the boiled kochu, fried garlic, onion, red chilli and the oil left in the kadai. Add salt, chopped green chili, grated fresh coconut and mustard powder. Using your fingers mash everything nicely and mix together. 

8. Add some more mustard oil before serving.

Best served hot with steamed rice and daal.

This year has been going super slow in terms of food blogging it seems. I just noticed today that I only have posted 9 blogs in the year so far and already we are at the end of a quarter. Last year this time I had already 20 posts. I have not even done half of it so far and hence this quick post. The workload is frankly quite high and hence the time for social activities has gone down drastically. Plus this summer heat doesn't help either. The more hot and sunny it gets the more I feel my creative juices get into hibernation mode. The light is just too harsh even at early morning to get some good shot even indoors. 

Though I do have a basic studio lighting setup but still I don't feel like dragging all my equipment out when I am already feeling lethargic due to to the weather. So most f the times if you have noticed I prefer shooting in natural light unless there is a deadline to shoot at unholy hours. The point is managing the exposure with this strong sun, is a task in itself. But then lazy people like me still find jugadu ways to navigate the situation. From the time lockdown started I had been shooting with a professional camera and  I tried out shooting in the various light situations across all the rooms in my house. I had read about this suggestion from a professional photographer who had given this important tip to beginners who are starting out on food photography to explore the light in all the available spaces in the house to get a fair enough idea which light at which time of the day works best for which kind of food shots. Like my guest bedroom has a window where I can get the best backlight. Whereas the living room is best to shoot everything with a sidelight. And most of the times I have seen I like the outcomes when I use sidelight. They really accentuate the textures and bring out the colors. 

When I started off, flatlays were my favorite photography angle. One of the main reason was when I had a lot of food in the scene I could accommodate all of them easily in a flatlay and number two reason was I was shooting mainly gravies which most of the time didn't have much of a height element to emphasize. There was a point I felt that I am only food in flatlays and other angles like straight on angle or 25-75 was not meant for me. And I had concluded that without even trying to learn the other angles or composition styles. That is what happens to most beginners, we struggle to find a niche and then don't want to come out of that comfort zone. We give up even before we try and keep repeating the same thing for years instead of exploring new things in which we might even be better. 

After a point I was bored with the same kind of setup. Plus flatlays at times leaves very little to imagination as you expose all the cards or the elements of your composition in the frame. Everything is right there in the frame, very little is hidden away from the sight. Also to fill a frame you need a lot of elements - that was taxing. I had to cook at least 2 sides with a main dish to fill in the gaps in the frame. Too much time went for cooking and very little time left to setup the frame and think about a good composition. When I say good composition - I mean a frame which might tell a story, which my give you some fodder for thoughts, or have a technicality which might pique the interest of the audience. At that time I was just shooting flat frames with just the food. 

So I started spending some time on Instagram to look for inspirations. I found that Indonesian and Middle eastern food photographers did wonderful creative food frame which left you looking at the frame for long thinking who did they manage to get a certain effect. I am not saying the European or American food photographers are bad, but the aesthetics brought on the table (literally) by the Indonesian photographers appealed to my taste. The way they used the light, the way they brought in traditional utensils or local produces and created a rustic looking frame was simply mind blowing for me. I did notice they give a lot of importance to tiny nuances in the frame like a speck of chilli or a pod of garlic etc. and it was definitely not a minimalist frame. But the main takeaway was, creating moody frames aesthetically. 

I keep looking for such kind of inspiration everyday and anytime anything catches my fancy I save it or bookmark it. While I cannot say I am an expert photographer now, I have certainly come a long way from 2020. I can confidently say, now I understand a few things better than what I did when I started off and it definitely makes me happy. Even if its a delta growth I feel happy. Checkout for behind the scene for this particular frame on my Instagram feed to see how this shot was setup.

Today morning as I was making my breakfast I thought of shooting it as well. I think I had mentioned in a previous blog that I was turning to healthy food options slowly. Most of the days my morning breakfast is different king of smoothies. They are so easy to make that you don't even need to put your mind into making one. Just throw in the ingredients and blend. Some days I add nuts or chia seeds to make things a little interesting. I feel smoothies get a robust texture and and nice body when you add banana to it along with any other fruit of your choice. Moreover bananas add a natural sweetness to the smoothies as well. More than a pure Mango smoothie I like the taste of the combination of mango and banana. Try it once if you haven't yet. 

And if you think smoothies are the most boring things to start your day with, nothing can be far form truth. I know because I was also one of those people who didn't get excited at the thought of smoothies first thing in the morning. The first small step was to convince myself to start my day with something healthy and have controlled portion of food throughout the day. Having smoothies for breakfast is a great way to portion control and yet have a filling breakfast. The banana in the smoothie helps keep you full for a long time till lunch so that you don't feel any mid morning hunger pangs. Also a small tip is to replace sugar with honey, it helps loose weight over a period of time. This is a really really simple recipe and I will put some other smoothie recipe soon. 

Ingredients for garnish:

• Chia Seeds - 1 tsp

Equipment:

• Blender

Procedure: 

1.  Soak the chia seeds in 3 tbsp of water for about 10 minutes.

2. Add all the ingredients - milk, banana, mango and honey in high-powered blender.

Note: I prefer to have cold smoothie hence I use chilled milk but you can use room temperature milk too.

3. Blend for 1-2 minutes until you get a smooth and creamy texture.

Note: Color will depend on the quality of the Mango used

4. Pour into serving glasses. Top it off with soaked chia seeds. Enjoy!