Well I am not into describing entirety of the 5 days journey we had to Jammu and Kashmir (of which it would take 5-6 pages), but I'll just brief down the wonderful memories that have left their imprint on me.
We(6 of us) started on the trip on 27th of november just the day our endsems bade farewell to us. Ofcourse born out of the excitement and enthusiasm, we didn't really care how it went. We took off by train to NewDelhi where we had to change back the train that took us to Jammu-Tawi. Thanks to the all time waiting status saga of seats in Indian railways, we could get some time to spare in the busy but alluring streets of New Delhi (where I had never been before), speaking of which I really found the place amazing. I don't know if the way that our Taxi took was through some specifically big posh area, but the greenery around the roads , the peacefulness of less heavy traffic and holding & banners so aptly put up , really took me in an awe - "Mumbai is loads worst than this".
Whatever be the scene, we reached Jammu on 29th morning 11am . Our train was 3 hours late but all we could do was nothing (later we realized many of ours plans got ruined just coz it got 'late' at many a places). We took off for Katra in a bus, took a hotel for rent, relaxed in our rooms for a while and then tightened our belts to climb on the 12kms for the darshan in the holy shrine of Maa vaishno devi. I should mention like it started to rain when we reached Katra making us ponder 'What'll we do in such cold and wet', but fortunately it didn't rain anywhere later (I am not counting snow as rainfall :P ).
While climbing all up to 'bhavan' the thing that stuck me the most was the courage that people had to reach the temple. I could see old people over 50yrs age striding their way ahead, then parents with their children on back, small kids with their small lathis- all moving forth the stony ways of the climb, which I should mention were so painful that even youths(not per se) like me had to pause and gasp badly for breath every half a km. And then the spirit of people, humming the word 'Jai mata di' all way long, did put a smile on my face - "India indeed has some things so unique with its sentiments".
We had the darshan around 11:30pm, then climbed another 2hrs to Bhaironath and then rolled back down to hotel by 5am. Return journey was pain in the hell, which I had never really imagined. Our knees had all given up :P.
Next day around 2pm we took off for srinagar hiring a package worth 11k INR that was supposed to take us through Srinagar, Gulmarg, Patni-top and places around. Sitting in the back seat of the Tavera moving up through the ups and downs & turns and rounds of the roadway, I could see the wondrous mountains, valleys and stretch of forests. It was indeed breathtaking with music at play in background. Pages from my past started flipping back and all I could do was let myself go free at that.
We reached in srinagar around 9pm and the cold there froze our soul. But again seeing the people serving at dhabas move so efficiently through this, all I could do was hats off to the kashmiri spirit.
Next day off to Gulmarg was the most amazing one where we touched and lived the snow for first ever time along with great experience of skiing,sledging and rolling in it. Skiing, ought to mention, was the most difficult of all. I mean we were sweating literally like we had run 10's of kms, just around 10 min of doing it. 'People say it takes 1 month of training to learn so & then even the slope wasn't that good'- excuse we took back for not doing well :P.
Last visiting places were 'dal lake' and 'Adi-shankarcharya temple' which were awesome as ever. Dal lake especially was marvelous with shikaras & house-boats and markets floating so well over it, like it was another world set apart. We couldn't visit parks and other scenic places for which kashmir is famous, been bound in time limits(owing to traffic issues where a small accident can block the roads for hours & our laziness to move out of beds in such cold). The shredded leaves made 'The Green tunnel' look not as good as what some images assure.
Night stay on 2nd of dec at Patni-top was unforgettable. The cold there made our laptops, mobile and watches freeze to work anymore.
The ride back to Jammu next morning was again great with views so lively as paradise (won't mention the music & slipping back of memories again :P ). We took off to Amritsar on 3rd noon but owing to traffic again, we couldn't visit any a place there :( . Then what! Back in trains to our home :)
The trip was indeed the brightest of the visits I ever had anywhere else.None of rumors of bomb blasts or curfews put us off. The all time helping nature of people in Kashmir really was unforgettable (especially our driver- respect!!). And then the Police force and the patriotic messages put around- woke back my feeling of serving the nation to its best.
What I took back was more than the things I purchased, indeed much more. :)
We(6 of us) started on the trip on 27th of november just the day our endsems bade farewell to us. Ofcourse born out of the excitement and enthusiasm, we didn't really care how it went. We took off by train to NewDelhi where we had to change back the train that took us to Jammu-Tawi. Thanks to the all time waiting status saga of seats in Indian railways, we could get some time to spare in the busy but alluring streets of New Delhi (where I had never been before), speaking of which I really found the place amazing. I don't know if the way that our Taxi took was through some specifically big posh area, but the greenery around the roads , the peacefulness of less heavy traffic and holding & banners so aptly put up , really took me in an awe - "Mumbai is loads worst than this".
Whatever be the scene, we reached Jammu on 29th morning 11am . Our train was 3 hours late but all we could do was nothing (later we realized many of ours plans got ruined just coz it got 'late' at many a places). We took off for Katra in a bus, took a hotel for rent, relaxed in our rooms for a while and then tightened our belts to climb on the 12kms for the darshan in the holy shrine of Maa vaishno devi. I should mention like it started to rain when we reached Katra making us ponder 'What'll we do in such cold and wet', but fortunately it didn't rain anywhere later (I am not counting snow as rainfall :P ).
While climbing all up to 'bhavan' the thing that stuck me the most was the courage that people had to reach the temple. I could see old people over 50yrs age striding their way ahead, then parents with their children on back, small kids with their small lathis- all moving forth the stony ways of the climb, which I should mention were so painful that even youths(not per se) like me had to pause and gasp badly for breath every half a km. And then the spirit of people, humming the word 'Jai mata di' all way long, did put a smile on my face - "India indeed has some things so unique with its sentiments".
We had the darshan around 11:30pm, then climbed another 2hrs to Bhaironath and then rolled back down to hotel by 5am. Return journey was pain in the hell, which I had never really imagined. Our knees had all given up :P.
Next day around 2pm we took off for srinagar hiring a package worth 11k INR that was supposed to take us through Srinagar, Gulmarg, Patni-top and places around. Sitting in the back seat of the Tavera moving up through the ups and downs & turns and rounds of the roadway, I could see the wondrous mountains, valleys and stretch of forests. It was indeed breathtaking with music at play in background. Pages from my past started flipping back and all I could do was let myself go free at that.
We reached in srinagar around 9pm and the cold there froze our soul. But again seeing the people serving at dhabas move so efficiently through this, all I could do was hats off to the kashmiri spirit.
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| Me at Gulmarg |
Last visiting places were 'dal lake' and 'Adi-shankarcharya temple' which were awesome as ever. Dal lake especially was marvelous with shikaras & house-boats and markets floating so well over it, like it was another world set apart. We couldn't visit parks and other scenic places for which kashmir is famous, been bound in time limits(owing to traffic issues where a small accident can block the roads for hours & our laziness to move out of beds in such cold). The shredded leaves made 'The Green tunnel' look not as good as what some images assure.
Night stay on 2nd of dec at Patni-top was unforgettable. The cold there made our laptops, mobile and watches freeze to work anymore.
The ride back to Jammu next morning was again great with views so lively as paradise (won't mention the music & slipping back of memories again :P ). We took off to Amritsar on 3rd noon but owing to traffic again, we couldn't visit any a place there :( . Then what! Back in trains to our home :)
The trip was indeed the brightest of the visits I ever had anywhere else.None of rumors of bomb blasts or curfews put us off. The all time helping nature of people in Kashmir really was unforgettable (especially our driver- respect!!). And then the Police force and the patriotic messages put around- woke back my feeling of serving the nation to its best.
What I took back was more than the things I purchased, indeed much more. :)
It was not our laptop...it was just urs that freezed :D :P
ReplyDeleteLol :P but teri ghadi ki toh waat lag hi gayi thi.. n mobile too...
ReplyDeleteIt seems like you guys had loads of fun. Tere description se hi feel aa rahi thi :p
ReplyDeletetruly a lifetime experience :)
ReplyDelete