Chapter 12: GULMARG Calling

25-Aug (Sat)

Srinagar

Gulmarg

Srinagar – Gulmarg – Srinagar

6.25 AM

6 PM

110 KMS

It was a day trip to Gulmarg. Even though we had plans of moving into Pahalgam, and had checked out all our luggage, the Almighty had a different plan for us. Drive to and back from Gulmarg was an uneventful one.

After we reached Gulmarg, decided to spend half day in the pony ride till the Glacier on top and use the next half of the day to drive to Pahalgam. Had to negotiate cut throat to get a discount of Rs 100. We landed up spending Rs 1100 per pony. Pony ride for 4 hrs and at this gradient was a new experience to all of us. The other option for us was to take a gonDOla ride till stage 2 and then walk till glacier. We decided on the pony as it would be a complete trip of all places at Gulmarg. The other humanitarian view was that it would help the shepherds to make their daily living as this area is open only for 6 months for ponies.

4 Ponies were led by 2 shepherds with whom we had a chat all way through. It was during this chat , I realized that there is a day in the calendar dedicated to SNOW ! (http://world-snow-day.com/en/wsd/Event_Locator/India/Gulmarg/World_snow_Day). We had kept our cameras ready to capture the breathtaking beauty of Gulmarg all through the Pony ride. As you keep on climbing the beauty of Gulmarg unfurled every moment, which one would surely like to cherish later on.

Gulmarg:  View of Glacier in the Background, Golf course next to the road

Gulmarg:  SKIING School

The beauty of Gulmarg changes every hour. On a bright day, you will be enchanted with it's changing beauty every hour. We were mesmerized by the sheer changing beauty of the place the few hours we spent there. Few pictures shared at the end is only an indicator. However, Gulmarg (Meadow of Flowers) is equally popular in winter as it is the SKIING capital of the country. Many foreign tourist flock this place during winter. Google for GULMARG IN WINTER and the view of the pictures online are mind-blowing. This is certainly not going to be my last trip to Gulmarg. The place is so beautiful one must spend at least day here just watching the changing beauty of Gulmarg!

Originally called ‘Gaurimarg’ by shepherds, its present name was given in the 16th century by Sultan Yusuf Shah, who was inspired by the sight of its grassy slopes emblazoned with wild flowers. Gulmarg was a favourite haunt of Emperor Jahangir who once collected 21 different varieties of flowers from here. Today Gulmarg is not merely a mountain resort of exceptional beauty- it also has the highest green golf course in the world, at an altitude of 2,650 m, and is the country’s premier ski resort in the winter.

Shiva Temple: The Shiva temple was actually the royal temple of Dogra kings of Jammu and Kashmir. Also known as “Rani Temple” or “Maharani Temple”, this is situated on a small hillock in the centre of Gulmarg. The unique thing about this royal temple is the fact that it can be seen from all the corners of Gulmarg. The Maharani temple also known as Mohineshwar Shivalalaya was built by Mohini Bai Sisodhia, the wife of the erstwhile ruler of Kashmir Maharaja Hari Singh (the last king of Kashmir) in 1915. Mohini Bai Sisodhia was the daughter of Maharaja Mohandev of Dharampur. When the last Dogra king was spending his time in Gulmarg in his royal palace, a couple of kilometers from the temple, his queen used to come here to worship Lord Shiva. Infact, she stayed here for months and worshiped Lord Shiva in this temple. The temple remains open every day from 6am to 9pm. Jai jai shiv Shankar song was shot at this temple.

Indian Institute of Skiing & Mountaineering, was the next landmark on our way to Khilanmarg. Its shares its campus right in the centre of a 18 hole golf course. The next was the HAWS (High Altitude Warfare School).

Climb up from here till Glacier was pretty treacherous on our thighs and calf muscles. We spent good time in photography on top of the glacier. We could see the Pakistan Occupied Kashmir peaks from the top of the glacier. Ride down till the base camp was a bumpy ride personified. At some places we were at a gradient of 35 – 40 Degrees where you repeatedly remember your favourite God.

As we came down we had to stretch for a while to come out of cramps. As we drove back, we were caught up in heavy rains. Stopped at a Kashmiri Cloth Shop (who also runs his business at Brigade Road, Bangalore). Did some shopping before we stopped for our lunch at 5.00 PM! Avinash updated us that as he is pretty much early to Pahalgam, he would catch up with us at Srinagar. We decided to re route ourselves to Srinagar.

As we met Avinash at our Hotel, it was time for him to share his experiences and adventure of driving via Kishtwar. Search on YouTube for driving videos and you can have a firsthand description. His experience was no different from the video that you may come across. My recommendations

from Wanderers: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gSny6pWmgGk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9YoTKL6WJIs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ob_Hf0x5uZY

From HVK

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGLBa4C9b3g

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gSny6pWmgGk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ob_Hf0x5uZY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqMGg_Bq3RI

Rested for the night  as we had to prepare for a longer drive tomorrow.

Some more pictures from the day :

Gulmarg:  Entry to Khillanmarg

Gulmarg:  Water crossing at Avalanche Zone

Gulmarg:  Under the Glacier Arch

Gulmarg:  View of Gulmarg base camp from Glacier

Gulmarg:  one of the 45 Deg Gradient paths

Chapter 11: A Day of Unexpected Adventure..

24-Aug (Fri):

Srinagar

Srinagar

Kheer Bhawani, Dal Lake

8.15 AM

7 PM

96 KMS

As the plan was to spend the whole day (mostly lazing around) woke up later than our last week routine time. But as someone said, share your plans with God, and you will have the best ever way to end the day… the day had something else in store for us. Had breakfast at 8.00 AM and we had to make plans for the day.  Avinash had previous day called us to indicate that he would not be able to make it on time to pick his wife. He was caught in a landslide and it would delay him by a complete day. Considering the blazing sun so early, decided to drop into Kheer Bhawani temple and it would be right time for us to pick Shilpa from Airport. And evening ride on Shikara at Dal Lake.

Amber joined us to Khir Bhawani ( as his plans was to start late to avoid the serpentine traffic at ZOZI LA due to landslides of previous day). Had nice darshan at Khir Bhawani Temple. The drive of 14 kms was a smooth one amidst the granary of Srinagar. The temple spring complex is guarded by military and we had to make and entry into the visitor log book to get an entry. Thousands of devotees offer milk and 'Kheer' to the sacred spring, which magically changes colour, turning black which warns of disaster.  The temple constructed (/renovated ?) almost a century back (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kheer_Bhawani  and http://gaffarakashmir.com/kheerbhawani.html) still remains a testimony to changing face of Kashmir. Its maintained pretty well too. Covered under the shade of chinar trees, it was a welcome ambience indeed.

Then we hardly knew that we were getting into for some real treasure hunt in the heart of Srinagar. Started off by around 12.15 towards Sringar Airport. Our dAri  dIpa did not have random keyword “AIRPORT” search in POI (Point of Interest – near us). Opened up DJ’s iPhone to search the airport and it did indicate a direction.  And as we sped through some new roads (that we had not traversed on our way to Kheer Bhawani) the localites were clueless to direct us in the right direction. The map was not completely upto date. At last we fell into the road that would lead us to Airport.  We were negotiating some narrow roads. We hardly could find any milestones/ boards indicating the direction to Civilian Airport. (BTW , its known as Sheik Ul Alam Airport).

Somehow we drove past the narrow lane leading to the airport gate with a strong disbelief that it certainly cannot be the way, JK government enthuse new tourists. No sign boards, no broad roads leading to airport. A question always lingered on the back of the mind. Are we on the right road. As expected, we drove into a checkpost to be enquired with a long list of questions: Aap kahan se aa rahe hain ? Aap ko kisse milna hai ?.. and many more vague question. Somehow the conversation led to a clue to the sentry at the checkpost. He indicated that we had landed up in front of a military airbase and we had to go to civilian airport. In his vague direction (to a new comer to the town) he asked us to turn left  under the pool ( bridge in hindi). As far as we remembered.. we did not find a pool (bridge) on our way as we came in this narrow road. Neither the Srinagaris were co-opearative to let us know. Had to get into GPS mode once again to find a parallel road that led to the Pool (bridge) and we were on the main road at last. Only that road contained evident sign boards to airport. How on earth the town planner had this vague idea of publicizing the road to Airport only on the last few kms to airport! I had no words of appreciation as I drove into the airport complex. By this time Shilpa had her own share of adventure in getting in touch with us. We had lost almost one full hour in this jhamEla !

We were stopped by the first sentry checkpost (with road spikes and bumper pillars). We were advised that only one person would be allowed into the airport. Bandi and DJ quickly got out of the car.  However the second blanket of security was to check the underbelly of the car, interiors and frisking the driver. I was told that I cannot carry all this luggage into the airport and I had permission to take in only an empty car ! Took an immediate U turn to come out of the airport and dumped out all the luggage. Bandi and DJ waited in hot sun under an umbrella. They would have been worth a million dollar picture. The gunpoint towards them (in suspicion of an explosive material hidden in the luggage) added additional frustration to their wait under the sun.

Had to once again clear the 2 layer security check and as I finally drove into airport… was wondering where Shilpa could be seated. The airport had space for not more than 10 cars to be parallel parked. Parked at the entry end and as I walked through the passenger maze, was searching for a desperate face. I had not met / seen Shilpa before. I zeroed in on one and the moment I uttered the name, she was in all smiles. She exhaled a sigh of relief before she  picked her luggage. Had a customary introduction as we walked back not more than 30 steps into the car. She was terribly hungry and as we came out and packed our luggage, she started sharing her share of adventure story (although censored) to us. Drove into JAMKSH VEHICLEADS – A Maruti showroom on our way back. This was needed on priority as we had to replace the lamps, check the brake lining and a customary test drive for its fitness check for the PASS  roads that we were to drive. An added 90 mins of delay had taken a tool on our strength. Service Advisor (Farooq Mohammad) was pretty perfect in his advise on the braking capabilities of the car at high altitudes. He asked us to keep the tyre pressure a notch below (almost to 25 PSI as against a normal 33 in plains) and advised us to resume to normal levels once we are back on plains. His indepth knowledge in this subject came to our realization, when we actually screwed up the pressure levels (in an analogue meter in Kargil IOCL)

Had a quick lunch at the same Punjabi Dabha. Took a quick nap break before we headed for a shikara ride at 5.30 PM.

Dal Lake has 3 island 2 of which are marked with four chinar trees at the four corners, thus are known as Char Chinar. Murad, brother of Arunagzeb, constructed them. The Dal is famous not only for its beauty, but for its vibrance, because it sustains within its periphery, a life that is unique anywhere in the world. It’s worth visiting DAL LAKE in all the 4 seasons. The houseboat and shikara communities have lived for centuries on the Dal, and so complete is their infrastructure on the lake, that they never have to step on land! Doctors, tailors, and bakers - you'll see them all in tiny wooden shops on the lake, near picturesque vegetable gardens and acres of lotus gardens.

A shikara ride is one of the most soothing, relaxing aspects of a holiday in Kashmir. Shikaras are long boats which crowd the Srinagar lakes. They are used for getting back and forth from the houseboats or for longer tours. It is worth to take a pleasure ride around the lake in shikara. Shikara is a light rowing boat. The two hour boat ride took us on a relaxing sightseeing tour of interior parts of the calm and placid waters of Dal Lake, and be part of shopping- by-shikara expeditions.  We went past he floating gardens, known as "Rad" in Kashmiri, blossom with lotus flowers during July and August.

While riding on Shikara we can often observe white breasted Kingfishers (Halycon smyrnensis), large striking birds with robust bills perched on the branches of willow trees. These birds concentrate their efforts to hunting on the floating Gardens. These man-made islands comprise of aquatic vegetations held together with humus consisting of mud from the lake bottom. This is extremely fertile and provide rich source of food in the form of frogs, lizards, mice, grasshoppers and other insects to the Kingfisher.

We did some shopping for our near and dear ones at home. We did not have time to cover Chashme Shahi, Shankaracharya Temple, Nishat Bagh, Hari Parbat and Hazrat Bal. One of the prominent miss was Lal Chowk. Now there is always a reason to go back to Srinagar. Don’t know when Kashmir will call once again.

Dinner was another funtime to end the day. When DJ ordered for Butter Milk from the menu at the same restaurant, he was served MILK with BUTTER suspended on it. We could not control laughter almost whole of next day. It went on to tease DJ to try out various combo of Butter Milk in every restaurant that we hopped in.

Chapter 10: Experiencing a Transition (into Kashmir)

23-Aug (Thu):

Jammu

Srinagar

Jammu - Udhampur – Anantnag – Srinagar(5184)

6.30 AM

8 PM

298 KMS

The drive today would get us today into the famed Srinagar valley through Jawahar Tunnel. I was excited; I am going to be driving on ‘real’ hills today… unlike the ghats in southern India!

We left at 0630hrs after seeking blessings from Ayesha’s parents. They had almost treated us like their sons. After refueling moved on with our itinerary.  Udhampur was our next stop where we stopped at a hotel on the way for breakfast. The newspaper of the day had all horrific stories of heavy rains the previous day. The deadliest of them was of a BOLERO being swept away in heavy rains in Rajasthan!

After driving for almost five hours, we were crossing Patnitop. A misty morning at 11.30 is hard to come by at planes. The drive was pretty picturesque.  An hour later, stopped at the Badarwah Dam View restaurant for a photo session of the new dam being built. I wished that Sir MV was alive today to see many hydel projects coming up in J&K. The visionary would have been pleased by the full fledged attempts made by the governments to harness the hydro power.

The traffic on the route was low except for a long serpentine queue as we approached Jawahar Tunnel at around 3.30 PM.  After some eight hours of driving since morning, we reached the two-kilometer plus long Jawahar Tunnel. It was time to stop, and we chose to stop at the Titanic View Point, about six kilometers from the tunnel.  

Car was badly dirty since last 6 days of drive. We just decided to have a water service done for the car.  We had also noticed that the high beam of the left headlight was fused and we had to badly find a place to replace the bulb. On approaching Ananthnag, we drove into MAS (I don’t even remember the name for the quality of interaction that I had with them). It was almost 4.30 and they did not oblige to change the lamp! Cooly they indicated that we could make it to Srinagar in daylight. The very reason for their DOS (Denial of Service) was that they were winding up their day !! The service engineers as I came across them are more under the mercy of the mechanics and are not in a commanding position to decide on what work has to be taken up.

Drove into a water service station, and for the level of dirt that had accumulated, it sucked away good ONE HOUR of our daylight. Even the serviceman asked “Ap kahAn se Aye ho ?. Mujhe nahi lagtA ye miTTi yahAn ki hai !” was quite amused for his acumen. I was thoroughly happy for the amount of attention he paid to clean my car. Indeed he took care of my care more than what I would do normally. Also shared 2 chocolates for his kids other than the agreed Rs 150 for the car service. It was a complete paisa vasUl.

We drove into Srinagar by around 7.30 and we missed an important turn. Had to enquire the route towards DAL LAKE. In one such U TURN, bumped into an Innova of KA registration. Many thoughts flew on who it could be. It was indeed Amber Rao (A fellow HVK Forumite). He sped ahead of us to indicate to pull over. After a a 2 min informal talk, followed him to HOTEL MALIK PALACE right in front of Gate 1 of DAL LAKE.

Post a longer informal chat, settled down in our room and had dinner at an adjacent Punjabi dabha. Our hotel surprisingly was more popular for carnivorous food than vegetarian food.

Retired early.. considering that tomorrow would be a longer day for  us.

Photos of the day...

Traffic Jam on the other side @ RAMBAN.

Devdar trees at Patnitop

Devdar trees at Patnitop

Devdar trees at Patnitop

Devdar trees at Patnitop

Train tunnel under construction- connecting Jammu to Srinagar

Kashmir side view of JAWAHAR TUNNEL. Google map shows the erstwhile road in blurr and a straight tunnel for around 2 kms.

Picture already has the caption

V3

Chapter 9: Experiencing Kashmir first Hand (independently)

22-Aug (Wed):

Khajjiar

Jammu

Khajjar – Pathankot – Jammu

12.15 PM

8 PM

219 KMS

Route Map

Day break was with a mist cover all around our hotel. It had also rained overnight.  We felt it was a flop show for all the adventure that we had planned for the day (Paragliding, Zorbing) at Khajjiar Lake. Avinash was pretty disappointed that with this weather, he would not be able to have clear view of the Guest House that was on his mind all night long.

Cloud cover cleared by around 8, and to his surprise, the lake and the guest house that was on his mind was right in front of us. Cheered each other like mad guys after a cricket match. Got ready quickly to go out for a photo shoot which almost lasted 3 hrs long! 

View from hotel room

Zoomed view

Golden pillar on left has a direction / distance board to SWITZERLAND (6194 Kms)

Walkway all around the lake

The Team

The famed HPTDC Guest House (Haunted ??)

An Alternate Autumn picture of this place
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=334384833305135&set=pb.188236081253345.-2207520000.1350404452&type=1&permPage=1

Meanwhile Pandu had left both the keys of Scorp inside Scorp and he was getting ready for a shower of swears from Avinash. Even though we got to know from Pandu, we did not want to spoil Avinash’s elated mood. We found a right moment and prompted Pandu to disclose the same.

Avinash walked back to car in a bad mood (as it would certainly spoil the plan for the rest of the day) and was working out an all alternatives to open up the car. We completed last leg of our shoot and when we returned, the work was not yet over. He had tried all the known tricks till then. By then a HP gang of guys came in a XYLO. I spoke to them and asked for the help (from the driver). But to our surprise, the whole gang of boys were on the job of saving the car from any damage, and yet open up the car. They showed their dexterity in opening up the beading of the rear door window and helped us opening the car. With the same dexterity, they also replaced the window pane. Job done without a bit of damage to the car. However, Pandu came to senses and was happy that all ended with a happy note. The guys also shared info on the quality of the road ahead towards Kishtwar where Avinash was to drive.

Men at Work

We split the convoy till Srinagar where we were supposed to meet after 2 days of drive. Wished each other a happy journey and drove towards Dalhousie. We got to realize that it was our share of Kishtwar road as we had not realized the quality of cliff that was on our side as we drove yesterday night.  As our breakfast itself was at around 1.30 , we did not stop anywhere till Jammu for next pET pUjA. Post Dalhousie the road was drying up, yet it had been battered by yesterday night’s rain. We also came across a live Landslide that was not yet cleared.  Drive till Pathankot was uneventful except that we took the RIGHT route from Dunera.

Landslides that we had not seen yesterday night

Lakhanpur Excise Toll Both - Marks the entry to JK

Exit of Punjab at Lakhenpur was indicated with a (welcome!) check post  before Ravi river. Driver Id, details of the vehicle and passengers were noted down before we were permitted to enter Jammu & Kashmir.  Lakhenpur entrance was pretty empty as compared to the stories of long traffic jams that we had heard about it before our trip.

When we had stopped for a tea break, we received a call from our colleague Ayesha, we invited us to host at her home at Jammu. After a small deliberation, we decided to accept her invite. Our dAridIpa (map my India GPS Device) showed the exact route to her doorstep.  We were treated to some delicious Kashmiri food at her house. 

We with Ayesha's Father

Had a good rest overnight.