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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

heres the group during the evening walks.

celebration time!

so I became a certified skier with A grade :D

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

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

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.jpg rug 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.

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.

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

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.

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A treat for your eye and a piece of my mind