Kashmir

Dal Lake, Srinagar

Yes, I know I have been away for a while... quite a while. But, can you blame me? I had been to paradise! I know, I know poets, authors, lovers etc have often described Kashmir as paradise on earth, but you know what it is not a bit exaggerated or overrated. It is heaven on earth. It is beautiful. And this time when I visited this heavenly land I realised that in my soul I carry a little part of the soul of the place. I mean like if you can have a soul land like a soul mate, then for me I guess it would be Calcutta (my homeland) and Kashmir (the land from where I get my name).

They say what's in a name and I have also always thought, really what's in a name? However, after I visited Kashmir this time (this is my third visit) that I realised that perhaps there is a lot that a name can mean or do. Perhaps my affinity for the place stems from my name. Or perhaps this land has this intoxicating and mesmerising effect on every romantic soul. 

Beginning of October, the localites explained, is not the ideal time to visit Kashmir. There are neither beautiful blooms nor the stately snow. It's barren and cold. But even in this emptiness I found something longingly beautiful. Pahalgam, which I have seen before in it's youthful, lush greeness; was a somber shade of brown with strokes of warm orange and mellow yellow. The apple orchards stood bare with the luscious red produce neatly arranged in heaps near the gates - ready to be weighed and sold to distributors. The days had suddenly become shorter and the evenings longer and chillier. Yes I know I am sounding like an incurable romantic but trust me while sitting in the lawns of Woodstock Hotel in Pahalgam and watching the gentle Lieder river flow by I couldn't help but recall John Keats' poem To Autumn. So all I did in my three-nights stay in Pahalgam is eat, laze and dream, and of course shop (can't ever forget that, can I?). One of my best memories of Pahalgam from this trip is the breakfast that we had in Cafe Log Inn. It was the most delicious fish and chips I have ever tasted in my life! Fresh river water trout and crisp chips, it made even the dated music of the cafe seem fresh and new.

The last three nights of my stay in Kashmir was in Srinagar - one night in Clermont Houseboat just opposite the university and two nights at Shahenshah Hotel at the boulevard overlooking the Dal Lake. While at the houseboat I lazed and lazed and lazed a little more and had numerous cups of kawah while greedily catching up on reading books that I have been meaning to read for months. At the boulevard I became active. I shopped, shopped and shopped...till I dropped. Those delicate pashminas, colourful kani embroidery, intricate wood carvings and bright and fragile paper mache are just irresistible for a shopaholic like me. In between shopping I took breaks for eating and on a particular afternoon when I was scanning the shops on Residency Road we discovered the famous Adhoos restaurant, which had been highly recommended by friends. The rich and scrumptious meal (purely non-vegetarian) was in itself the taste of paradise. Even after days, I just need to close my eyes and the delicious aroma and flavours of gushtaba, tabak maas, rista and biryani envelop my senses. 

So while I relish and relive these memories till my next visit to paradise, I urge all those reading this space, that if there is a place that you must visit in this lifetime then it is Kashmir. Do make it!