Ever since we got married in Nagrota, near Jammu, a return to Kashmir has always been on our wish list. For Tiny, Kashmir has a lot of sentimental value attached since she studied and graduated from Jammu University, for me it is one of the most beautiful parts of my country which I had never visited and which still remains unseen. After our return to India in 2011, true to the promise we made to ourselves, we traveled to several parts of the country, but Srinagar was always left out. Political unrest and violence, sporadic terrorist attacks, strikes and lockdowns, and other such negative factors scared us enough to keep it out of our travel destinations. But then some years ago, Club Mahindra got into collaboration with a Houseboat owner and later, with a Hotel Chain in Srinagar, which made us believe that it would be possible to probably get there. Having been Cub Mahindra members for several years we had already visited at least 15 or 16 of their resorts and our Bharat Darshan would certainly not have been possible had it not been for our Club Mahindra membership.
In 2020 COVID struck the world with a pandemic nobody had ever seen before. Like everybody else, we too were stuck in a lockdown. There was no going out of the house, people were scared to even bump into each other or exchange greetings in person, so there was no question of undertaking any travel. In any case, flights, transports and hotels were all closed. The first Covid wave was scary enough, depressing news was to be heard or read every day, and the second wave only raised the panic level many notches further. In the midst of all this, we got our vaccinations done which did add some security to our lives.
We could not even go to meet our family members in the same city, let alone travel to any vacation like places. The fear of personal contact was overbearing. One avoided people and people avoided getting together because of the fear of exposure to each other. To travel anywhere, an RT-PCR negative report was necessary and to get that meant going to a hospital, adding the risk of unnecessary exposure, and even then not being sure if the report would be available on time.. We made two trips to Dehradun, obligatory because Tiny’s mother fell down and hurt her back, which at her age was a major concern. Fortunately, because of the emergency nature of our visit, we avoided having to do the test. Covid protocol was compulsory though, the travel was full of tension and there was no pleasure. We were traveling in our own car and that was some comfort. The fact that nobody in the Dehradun House observed any masking or social distancing even with the maids, nor did they think it important added to our distress. Later, the state of Uttarkhand made it absolutely compulsory to have an RT-PCR Report for entry, there was no way around, and as we did have to travel, we had no choice but to comply. Fortunately, by then things had changed, there was home collection for the test, reports came by WhatsApp in proper time and it wasn’t half as bad as whaat it was earlier. By then the second wave had begun to subside and the country was opening out, and we too got the confidence to think about taking a break, an escape from the cage we had been in for over a year. So we started planning and looking for convenient destinations. That in itself was therapeutic. Well if we thought we were smart and courageous, we were only fooling ourselves. It seems the whole of north India was thinking likewise, and as soon as restrictions by by states like Uttarakhand and Himachal were eased, people threw caution to the winds and headed straight to the hills. For Delhiites, since most of these places are only a drive away, the traffic and exodus was considerable. In fact the authorities even started turning people back from Manali, Mussooorie, Nainital and Simla. Anyway, having been to these places several times already, we decided instead to opt for a flight and go to Srinagar. It would mean doing the RT-PCR process again, but we were now okay with that. We decided we needed about a week there so we did our hotel and flight bookings to Srinagar accordingly for the earliest dates we could get. We planned to stay three nights in a Houseboat and then move to a Hotel for the next three nights. Club Mahindra had these options which suited us perfectly.
So now armed with our RT PCR reports and our flight tickets there we were at terminal T2 of the Delhi airport. On the way we realised that it had been over two years since we took our last flight (to Thailand), in fact we had not even come as far as the DND from Noida to Delhi since then. For the flight, we had booked a window and an aisle seat for the two of us, and we had hoped that with only partial flight occupancy being allowed, the middle seat would stay free but the flight was full and sure enough somebody walked in and claimed that middle seat which left us very disappointed. All middle seat occupants are required to wear a PPE gown and this guy, like a few others, was initially reluctant to do so. Eventually they all had no choice as this rule is a strictly enforced rule. All passengers are given a safety kit that contains a mask, 3 sanitizer sachets and a face shield which they are all obliged to wear during the flight. It was a short flight hardly 70 minutes and soon we were on our approach to Srinagar. The view from the air was reminiscent of Amsterdam but not quite as awesome. On arrival at Srinagar airport our RT-PCR negative reports were checked and we were allowed to proceed to proceed further without delay and exit the airport. Those passengers without a report were made to undergo a test at the airport itself before being allowed to leave the premises, so we saved this delay. Our taxi was already waiting for us when we arrived and we were soon on our way to the Houseboat. We drove straight to the Dal Lake along the Boulevard, from where we took our first shikara ride across the lake to get to our houseboat.
The shikara ride takes about 20 minutes being rowed by a single oarsman, and on the way we were met by several vendors and traders plying their wares in their own shikaras – from souvenirs to hookahs, from ice cream to dry fruit and whatever else you have. A fresh fruit seller would not take no for an answer and insisted we try his fruit chaat which was delicious but later we worried about hygiene and hey we hope we don’t fall sick on our very first day here.
The Houseboat was aptly named Queen Elizabeth and was fit for a royal. We were welcomed on board by the houseboat owner call Munna Bhai. As we had arrived well ahead of check in time our room was not ready for us, which we expected. So we had already decided we would just dump our bags, spend the morning doing local sightseeing and return later, by which time our rooms would be ready. The houseboat has only three rooms to rent for its guests and there is no guest washroom either. So, when we requested to use a washroom, we were told to use the toilet in one of the occupied rooms, as the guest had stepped out and was not there. Thus freshened, we stepped out to into a waiting shikara to take us back to the Boulevard where our taxi would be waiting to take us to the various sites.
As we stepped into the taxi to start to figure out our local sightseeing route, we learnt that today was a public holiday on account of Bakr-Id, and several places were fully and completely closed. We were told that some of the public gardens are open so we headed it for the first of them which is called Pari Mahal or the Palace of Fairies it is a multi terraced garden right on the top of a hill and provides a breathtaking view of Srinagar. It’s architecture and beauty have served as the backdrop for several Bollywood movies. On our way down we stopped at Chashme Shahi, another of the Mugahl Gardens, where we hoped we would also find something to eat. That was not to be so we just visited the garden and continued further to the other Mughal Gardens which were open but awfully crowded. It was sad to see irresponsible behaviour on part of the tourists, kids bathing naked in the water bodies, adults climbing structures, even exploding fireworks, doing precisely what they knew they should not be. But that’s how it is.
Pictures of our first day in Srinagar are in the gallery below. All in all it was a nice beginning to what was going to be a very interesting visit as we would find out later.
We returned to our Houseboat towards the evening, quite tired as we had woken up quite early in the morning to catch our flight. After freshening up (in our own room and toilet) we came out to sit in the sit-out area of our Houseboat and watched the activity in the Dal Lake. At this time, as dusk set in and the weather cooled, the lake was teeming with shikaras taking tourists on a ride. It was fun to watch them, as the floating vendors attempted their sales pitch on them and did business. Many waved out to us and we greeted them back. As twilight set in, the street lights along the Boulevard were turned on and then the lights on the hills beyond as well. It was a really mesmerising view. Even though it was time for my regular nightcap, and I had brought my Black Label, I didn’t feel the need and we just continued enjoying the evening. We had requested for dinner at 8:30pm and it was promptly laid out for us on time. A nice home-like meal, a light meal as we had requested. After dinner, we were back on the deck, by then the shikaras had started dissipating, everyone needs to go home after a hard day of rowing. The cook brought us steaming cups of Kehwa – Kashmiri Saffron Tea with assorted dry fruits thrown in. Just what was needed as a finale.
Soon we decided to call it a day and were off to our room to retire. For the next day, we had planned a trip to Pahalgam and even though it was going to be around 9:00 am, we still needed a good night’s sleep and some well-deserved rest.