A treat for your eye and a piece of my mind

in life •  7 years ago  (edited)

This story begins with the shikaara ride, the first activity in shrinagar the summer capital of the Indian state, Jammu & Kashmir (j &k). I had just travelled 8 hours in a pooled taxi from jammu to reach Srinagar.

opening.jpg
dhal lake shikara.jpg

early hours of the morning in jammu i came to know that there are pooled cabs that leave for Srinagar every morning and I don't have to take a taxi for myself and instead split the fare with 4 others. There is a tunnel connecting jammu to Srinagar. The other side of the tunnel is totally different from one, with snow caped mountains and endlessly flowing rivers coming out of a city from the other side of the tunnel which was not so snow caped.

This is the person who drove me into Srinagar.

the driver.jpg

as soon as I got to Srinagar I had to go to young Hollywood boat house where I was staying for the night. now what is shrinagar known for, the rugs & saffron! everyone were selling rugs & saffron. even the houseboat manager.

heres me standing outside the young Hollywood with my backpack waiting to check in after the refreshing cup of tea in the shikara.
young holly outside.jpg

The shikara ride with tea and bread on my way to young Hollywood.

tea in shikara.jpg

yeah thats right. I was very happy be where I was. not for too long since I had to get to Gulmarg the next morning to learn how to ski, one of the things I have wanted to do in my list before the end of the year. Guess what I did learn how to ski finally. So the night in young Hollywood was great the manager also made me good breakfast. time to checkout and leave for Gulmarg the meadow of flowers. Another pooled ride I found leading me to Gulmarg, I met very nice people in the taxi a family with a child. children are great to play with, even before I knew I had covered a 4 hours drive with this child.

on the way with child.jpg

before I move forward let me show you a picture from outside the younghollywood.

outside young.jpg

IMG_20160116_160655.jpg

who would ever want to leave this house boat but I have to so I can see this paradise more. so I was in taxi with this brilliant child on my way to gulmarg, I was going to the Indian institute of skiing and mountaineering (iism) for my basic skiing course. I just wanted to do it! so I did. after reaching Gulmarg I was in search of the iism, hiking inside in search where everything was white.

IMG_20160117_170323.jpg

Here is the practice slope of iism gulmarg. yeah cold as you can see. when you come to Kashmir you drink what the Kashmiris drink and this the Kashmiri kawah one amazing drink filled with dry fruits. This is the guy who made me my kawah and it tasted fantastic in this cold.

IMG_20160117_171830.jpg

I found my institute after the refreshing kawah, here is where I was staying for the next 14 days after which I would have learned the basics of skiing.

IMG_20160118_084725.jpg

A new batch had arrived to learn basic skiing while the older batch was having its farewell. Upon arrival we were allocated to our rooms. I was in iism room number 3007. we were 7 people in one room it was a big room. I never knew we would become family we have a whats app group where we stay in touch with each other.

heres a picture of my roommates

7.jpg

The next 14 days was about dedication, focus and hard work. Also a lot of fun. Yes you can see that in our faces. We were known to be the most disciplined batch ever. they never knew what happened off the slopes. :D 14 days passed and we all got a certificate there was also a trophy for my friend in our room who was fastest in slalom we have more than one reason to celebrate now.

IMG_20160129_101620.jpg
heres the group during the evening walks.

IMG_20160130_124735.jpg

celebration time!

IMG_20160130_132629.jpg

so I became a certified skier with A grade :D

IMG_20160129_132721.jpg

Finally its time now to see Gulmarg from a closer view.

IMG_20160118_081337.jpg

IMG_20160118_085304.jpg

This one is my personal favourite, an energising cup of kawah with this view is something that will remain with me forever.

IMG_20160117_171714.jpg

A walk to remember kind of place. I wish I had a girlfriend to share this moment at that time.

IMG_20160119_151110.jpg

Time had come to exchange good byes we were leaving while a new batch was entering. It was an emotional moment for all.

At this time one of my roommates was searching for his mobile that he had lost so on our way back to srinagar we had to register a complaint at the local police station for the loss of his iPhone. This beautiful church that you see was a built at an height of 4500 meters in Gulmarg. I just fell in love with this place. It was time to go back home and what could I take back home soon, apart form good memories, of course the Kashmiri rugs and saffron which is the best in the world. I will show you how I found the farmer who grows the saffron and the hand made rugs that I got for home.
IMG_20160129_132404.jpg
IMG_20160202_154055.jpg

Theres this place called latpora that I found out from the locals where the farmers grew their saffron. I had to get there to buy my fix, so I found my way across from the market where pooled taxis were leaving to latpora every 5 minutes. after reaching latpora I found only shops that were highly priced with their saffron, I was in search of farmers, my mother had to gift everyone saffron, because thats where I was going the land of saffron. saffron tastes really good with tea. its very expensive if you buy it anywhere else. so I saw this guy standing near an apple tree so I asked him can you show me a farmer who grows saffron I need to buy some. he said welcome you have come to the right guy and he invited me to his house. so I went.

IMG_20160201_132104.jpg

Thats the farmer jammal showing me the quality of his saffron in his house after serving me a cup of kawah.

IMG_20160201_131659.jpg

Only the best in the world! he would say, in hindi, Sabse sahi maal hai ye sir! I believe him because all my friends and relatives said that thats the best saffron they had ever tried.

IMG_20160201_131655.jpg

he had them in two qualities one with the ends and one with the broken ends. one is used in making pan an Indian mouth fresher and the other is used in tea for the colour and fragrance. its rich in iron too.

IMG_20160201_131651.jpg

I had picked up enough for my friends and family Jamaal was very happy. he gave me his phone number to give him a feed bad when I get home. I thanked him for his service and the gesture of serving me kawah and left to purchase rugs. everyone was selling rugs everywhere. I would not leave with just any rug I had to find out the source of the rugs. so I went to the heart of the village where these rugs were made not too far from latpora.

rugs 1.jpg

rug 3.jpgrug 2.jpg

I didn't know which one to pick up it was very hard to chose there was a huge range of variety available so it was very hard to make my mind. finally I took I did.

IMG_20160202_073030.jpg

Time had come to call it a night and get home after those walks by dhal Lake and random restaurants and hotel rooms. A last picture of the city Srinagar.

IMG_20160201_104447.jpg

heres me enjoying my last cup kawah before leaving to the airport.

IMG_20160201_094221.jpg

I was taking back home loads of memories which are exponential in value.

Thanks for the patient reading of the post by an armature writer.

do not forget to up vote if you enjoyed this post. Also resteem and do give me a feedback in the comments. It will encourage me and help me get better.
@sweetsssj is my inspiration do check our her posts.

PEACE & LOVE

Authors get paid when people like you upvote their post.
If you enjoyed what you read here, create your account today and start earning FREE STEEM!
Sort Order:  

This post received a 1.2% upvote from @randowhale thanks to @pratikchordia! For more information, click here!

great story nd nice pictures good to see my kashmir through ur eyes

Im glad you enjoyed it my friend, thank you :D

Great pratik.. With ur story i was feeling that i am really able to visualize kashmir and gulmurg... I feel like to packup everything and see all the scenes myself.

Thank you :D I'm glad you enjoyed my friend.

nice post!

Thank you my friend. :D

great story , nice pic , i follow you

Thank you my friend, I'm glad you enjoyed.

  ·  7 years ago (edited)

Really nice post @pratikchordia, I have to got J&K. I am following you for more stories from India. Share more!!Cheers!

Thank you so much my friend. I will surely share more from India. thanks for being a part of my journey.

Congratulations! This post has been upvoted from the communal account, @minnowsupport, by PratikChordia from the Minnow Support Project. It's a witness project run by aggroed, ausbitbank, teamsteem, theprophet0, and someguy123. The goal is to help Steemit grow by supporting Minnows and creating a social network. Please find us in the Peace, Abundance, and Liberty Network (PALnet) Discord Channel. It's a completely public and open space to all members of the Steemit community who voluntarily choose to be there.

If you like what we're doing please upvote this comment so we can continue to build the community account that's supporting all members.

That's a lot of Saffron I see.
You have a nice place, but cold really. @pratikchordia41

Thank you. :D yes it does get very cold there.

very nice photos!

Thank you very much :D

nice photos

Thank you very much :D

Looks like a pretty cool sky trip!

Thank you :D

Definitely looked like a great adventure!

Thank you very much!

Wow

Thank you very much my friend.

I love your posts man! Thanks!

Thank you very much my friend!

Muy buenas fotos, gracias por tu post! me ha distraido @pratikchordia

Thank you so much my dear friend. :D

This post has received a 0.89 % upvote from @booster thanks to: @pratikchordia.