Day-3 of our Srinagar trip was planned to be a light day, a break from the hectic days, a day on which we intended to visit some local sites like the Hazratbal mosque, Old Srinagar City , Lal Chowk, Mansabil Lake, all covered by car without too much walking. But in the morning we were informed that this Saturday, again a weekend curfew was in place and all these places were closed. So we hung around the Houseboat for the morning and then we opted to go for a walk around the Boulevard, and have a Kashmiri lunch (Vazwaan) at a TripAdvisor recommended restaurant. We took a few pictures on the walk and then returned to the Houseboat for a siesta in the afternoon. For later that evening, we had booked a 1 hour shikara ride which would take us round the lake and also to the floating market, which is another unique attraction in the Dal lake. We didn’t see them doing much business though.
It was going to be our last night on the Houseboat and we had a date to keep with all the floating salesmen, as we had promised to look at their wares and perhaps pick up a few things before we checked out of the houseboat. We were back in the houseboat by 7 and then began a session with the various sales people, which kept us busy till well after dinner. Ladies Suits for Tiny & Viveka, Scarves for me and Mohit, Leather Sling bags, many nice things to remind us of our trip to Srinagar.
For our next morning we had planned an early rise as we intended to visit the floating vegetable market which operates only between 5 am and 7 am. We had called our shikara at 5 o’clock and it took quite a bit of rowing through complex waterways to eventually get there. It was interesting to see farmers in their boats trading wholesale quantities of a variety of vegetables. We got some pictures, nothing spectacular because of the poor pre-dawn light and the rolling of the boat, but at least for memories sake it was something. All was very quiet on the lake at this early hour. A little later, news started filtering in that the President of India would be visiting Srinagar this morning and there would be a complete lockdown in this area due to security considerations. There would be no shikaras on the lake and the Boulevard would also be completely closed to all traffic as a security concern. All gardens, Srinagar sights et cetera et cetera would also be similarly closed. Fortunately, we had no flight to catch but we learnt later about the hardships which may tourists and travelers had to go through due to non availability of any transport, dragging their luggage for long distances. Till about 11 am there was no activity whatsoever. Not even a bird fluttering on the Dal lake. We even had commandos stationed on our houseboat as well as on several others too. We had no idea if the President had come and gone or if he was still being awaited. The only boats on the lake were motor boats of the Coastguard. Then some shikaras started becoming visible and one of them popped by and offered to ferry us right across to the main Dal Gate, from where he was confident, we would be able to get an auto to take us to our hotel which was not too far from there. So we bade our goodbyes, settled our bills, had our bags loaded and off we went. We crossed over and at each shikara jetty the oarsman would inquire about any auto or taxi being available, only to be told no way. Finally we had no choice but to hop off at the last point and we decided that with the help of Google Maps, we would walk the walk to the hotel through some of the inside by-roads. So we started. It looked quite easy on Google Maps but in the heat and the and the humidity it was no joke. It was our good luck that our shikara driver who had helped us carry out our luggage to the road and was still hanging around, was able to negotiate with a passing auto driver who agreed to take us to our hotel and we could reach in relative comfort. Because we realised that the walk through the narrow in-roads in the hot and humid weather would not have been as easy as we might have believed. Yes, it was some experience. Fortunately check in was not a problem and it didn’t take too long, our room was ready and we just checked in, had a quick light lunch and collapsed in the air conditioned comfort for a long siesta. Later in the evening we went out for a short walk to the nearby Zero-Point bridge and returned for an early dinner in their open air cafe.
Our plan for the next day was to visit Gulmarg. It was a Monday and the restriction of a compulsory overnight stay which applied on weekends was not supposed to be there. We intended to start reasonably early in the morning and be back in the evening just as we had done in Pahalgam.
That’s what we thought but it turned out to be quite something else.
