A tour to the heartland of terror - FINALLY...

I was really excited only on this day. Finally, we were to return to some sort of proper civilization. The train at Jammu was scheduled only for 7 45pm. We had some repacking to do, considering all the stuff that the ladies bought. Poof.

We were taken out for a local sightseeing- which of course, means some more temples. It was peak heat, when we moved out for it. There was this temple, which was about a half hour's drive from the hotel and we landed up there in all that heat.

Just after we finished with that temple and got back to the car, the normally extremely temple fanatic uncles of mine, declared that they couldn't manage any more roaming in this heat. Believe me- Katra was nearly 40+ degrees hot. So we returned to our hotel, had lunch and got a bit of a nap, till about 3 pm. Then the repacking and all continued till about 4 pm, when we finally loaded the luggages in the 2 qualises that had come.

It wasn't long before we reached Jammu and had some tea there. By around 6 pm, we finished shopping and started to the railway station. The train was at 7 45pm. We reached the station by around 6 30 pm.

It was a tough time managing and carrying all those bags and heavy suitcases, which had only increased in number since we landed in Kashmir. We came to Kashmir with 10 pieces of baggage with us, now we were leaving with 19 pieces, which included 3 cricket bats and a baseball bat.
No ramps at the entrance to the railway station. Tough work, but we managed it. Then, our baggages went thru a scanner at the entrance and collecting them and consolidating those baggages took a good part of over 20 minutes.

At last, at around 7 15pm we reached the platform and found out where our compartment would be. A few minutes later, we loaded the stuff in and settled in our seats. I breathed a huge sigh of relief, when the train moved. Atlast- We were going to Delhi.

A tour to the heartland of terror - Day 7 &8- The journey to Katra and Vaishno Devi.

One thing that I was happy about is that, it won't be long before we would reach Delhi. It was just a couple more days away. A couple more days, until I can use my phone again. :(

So. We started at around 8 30 am from the hotel in Srinagar. There weren't many stops in between. Just one stop at around 2 pm for lunch. Mum and my eldest aunt fell sick. Mum due to lack of sleep and my aunt due to some nausea. And that lunch stop was heavily debated by my uncles, as to when we should stop. I was very thankful for that lunch stop, as I was hungry myself.

We had lunch at a dhaba, where we were served with rajma-chawal and rotis. After about 20 minutes, we were on our way again. I do remember trailing a lot of army vehicles, after which I guess I dozed off.

It was around 5 30 pm when I woke up to find our qualis crossing through a major army district, Chandanwadi. An hour later, we end up in front of a hotel in Katra. It was still bright even at that part of the day and was very warm, unlike what we had experienced till then in Kashmir.

Through some contacts, a darshan for Vaishno Devi had been arranged for the next morning and we had even obtained helicopter tickets.

Now- certain things about Vaishno Devi temple.

1. Popularised by the owner of the T-Series cassettes company, Late. Mr. Gulshan Kumar, this temple has grown to become a very popular Hindu pilgrimage destination.

2. This temple has access only by 3 means of transport-
(a) By helicopter, which takes you to a helipad located at about 4 km from the temple. After which you either have to walk or take a pony, which costs a reasonable amount.

(b) By pony

(c) By walk.

Taking either of b or c, you will have a pathway which is about 14km long and it is very steep. It takes about 8 hours for you to climb, provided you dont stop for too long. My cousins and their parents decided to walk and just only managed it.

3. And it is believed that when you pray at this temple, your prayers are always answered and no one returns disappointed.

Alright, we had dinner at a hotel near to where we stayed and went off to doze for the night. Nice room really and for the first time in all of the last 4 days, I got a mattress of my own. Nice sleep for the first time in the last 4 days too. And yes, I really did miss someone. The someone was always on my thoughts though.

Yawn. Wake up at around 8 am. We were supposed to start by 9, which later became 9 30 and then finally 10 30. I was pissed by that time. Finally, we proceeded to the heli-pad. One more hour's wait. It was 11 35 am when we got into the helicopter and 11 39 when we got off at the other end. Just 4 minutes.

It took us a good part of over 3 hours to have the darshan and return to the heli-pad again. We were at the helipad by around 2 30 and by 3, back at the hotel, while my cousins and uncle and aunt were climbing up, to stay for the night.

Then, shopping after 6 pm. As usual, the ladies... And I was so very tempted by the sight of a nice kashmir willow. That was for my cousin, not me. I had this nice opportunity to interact with a Katra based bat maker. My god. All those pieces of willow, come from Kashmir. They cost about 3k here in Chennai, while it's less than half of it there.

Hit the sack, a little while after 10 pm. The last few hours in Kashmir. :)

A tour to the heartland of terror- Day 6- Srinagar return

I wake up drenched in sweat. Not a nightmare- it's cos of the bed heater. It takes me about 15- 20 minutes to get ready and head for breakfast at around 8 am. The rest of the group's ready and munching away on aloo parathas and toast. As usual, I force the food down my throat and escape before the group finishes.

The bumpy ride to Srinagar begins in the next few minutes and doesn't end until about 3 hours later. We are then brought to a hotel, whose entrance gives the feeling of an Army base(of course, there was an army base next door) There were sandbags and guns arranged near the main gate of the hotel. ;) I certainly missed the boat house :( .

Lunch, then off we went sight seeing. First point was a Shankaracharya temple, which overlooked the Dal lake. Nice temple and very well maintained. Was I happy to spot a BSF (Border Security Force) personnel with a Tamil name. Had a little chat with him and moved on.

Then, we went on to visit 3 gardens. One of them being the cheshmashai, which is located right near the Governor's residence. Then, after about half an hour there, we went on to the shalimar gardens and another garden, whose name I don't remember.

At around 7 30 pm, we were dropped off at the main street to go shopping. As usual, you know the ladies... need I say more? Finally, we returned to the hotel at around 9 30. Way past my dinner time. I was extremely hungry, but my mood was just a shade better than what it was at Pahalgam. I managed to stuff a couple of naans and finally went off to doze a little after 10 pm.

PS: There was some problem in Jalandhar, through which the train from Jammu to Delhi had to pass. We were concerned about it as a train had already been burnt. We were hoping that the problem would be settled soon.

We start to Katra early tomorrow morning. Why Katra? That s where the Vaishno Devi temple is.

A tour to the heartland of terror- Day 5- Gulmarg

Up, Up. Rise and Shine. It was just about 7 45 am when I opened my eyes to see everyone running around holding clothes in their hands, while me and my cousin (Badri, he s doing his masters in tennessee.) were still asleep.

Soon enough, even I got going. I still felt so tired. I just didn't want to wake up, but somehow I pushed my self and got ready. I had to literally drag myself down to the restaurant to catch a bit of aloo parathas for breakfast. After the bomb 2 nights ago, food was a luxury to me. With a heavy load of luggage, which included a couple of cricket bats and a baseball bat, we set out to Gulmarg on that rickety bus again.

Gulmarg- the valley of flowers, was about 8 hrs drive from Pahalgam. I slept through most of the way. I didn't stir till we were about half hour from the resort. Even then my thoughts wandered back to Chennai. Gulmarg's another cold place. The main attraction for tourists there happens to be the cable car or the gondola as it is also known.

We reached the gondola station at around 2 30, just a few minutes after another lunch, which I had to push down my throat. Then we boarded the gondola and the slow long ride to the top took a good part of fifteen minutes.

If you had seen the movie Roja, you would have seen the song- Puthu Vellai Mazhai( I dunno what it's called in Hindi) you would know what it really is to see so much of ice. None of us were really excited by that sight, but yes, it would make your heart leap up a bit, then your brain says, as if you've never seen so much of ice.

4 o clock- closing time at the gondolas . We made our way down back to the resort and settled in our rooms. Wow. I've never felt heat under my butt till then. We had a bed heater in our room, which felt so good for weary butts. With a Venkatesh movie, which looked like a half boiled remake of Om Shanti Om, to boot, we all settled in our bed and waited for the movie to finish.

Just a little after 7, me and my eldest cousin went off for a long walk. i didn't know we were going for a long walk, so I was jus wearing my sandals. It became mighty cold by the time we returned at 8 30. Dinner at 8 45 and off to doze by 9 30.

PS: the bed heater and the room heater provided so much warmth that we woke up sweating. Do not miss this place if you are going for a honeymoon. ;)

A tour to the heartland of terror- Day4- Pahalgam

Bleary eyed and not in quite the right frame of mind, I struggled to come to terms with daybreak and finally did so. Post breakfast, we embarked on an hour's drive to a path that led to the famous Amarnath temple. That point was supposed to be the start to the holy Amarnath yatra.

Another icy place. God knows I became sick of ice then and there. My cousins took to the ice, a little reluctantly, due to their dad's insistence. Off they went trekking, I even thought, at this rate, they'll probably touch some peak and won't get back. After about a half hour or so, they came down, happy to land their feet on solid ground.

A few minutes after they came down, we were herded back to the Sumos and off we went to a place called Aru valley (apparently called the Switzerland of India. ) Wonder if Switzerland is really that cold. Brrr.. frozen hands when we reached the end of the pony ride. I was really happy to find a tea stall. And it would be a crime, not to mention a Kashmiri speciality called kawah. It s basically a decoction of tea, in which you add things like broken pieces of badam and cashew and some fine grounded ginger and masala. A very nice drink for the really cold weather, keeps you really warm.

Dinner- once again the same menu, no big change, except for the soup and the sweet dish. Gulab Jamun. As usual, you could here my grandmother and her cousin groaning for south Indian food. I finished my dinner quickly, to catch the IPL match in the lobby. I am very thankful to BSNL, for that was the only provider whose signal was picked in all of Kashmir. And I am very thankful to my dear dad for letting me use his phone. God knows what the bill'll come up to.

One nice comedy that I noticed during this trip was that my grandmother (who's a little hard of hearing- like Prof. Cuthbert Calculus, of Tintin comics.) She and her cousin would give different interpretations for anything that they talk about. I even thought of it like, 2 schoolkids, who when they see a cloud say- hey that s an elephant. no, stupid, that's a cow. That way.

One more night- half asleep. Thankfully, there was a room heater this time. It was really cold on that night. Before sleeping, I had the luxury of stretching out in front of the heater in my parent's room. My thoughts before falling asleep, quite late into the night- Wonder when the hell 'll I return to Chennai? Now I knew how Steve Harmison must feel on every tour that he goes on.

A tour to the heartland of terror- Day3- Pahalgam

Yes, yes, day3. Off we go to another beautiful and cold place called Pahalgam. The long, arduous bus ride starts at 9 30 in the morning and doesn't end till about 2 pm. But, before we started, we bid adieu to our dear caretaker, Hussain bhai.

Long, long, bumpy ride. Trust me, you wouldn't want to follow an army convoy. You may think that I'm unpatriotic, but really, by the time you go past an army vehicle, you'll feel very relieved. Kashmir has no dearth for green painted Army vehicles carrying personnel, rations, arms and ammunition.

Poof, finally we land up at the resort in Pahalgam. Everyone's extremely hungry, me included too. So all of us dig in and dig in deep. So, wat's for lunch? Soup (some crap soup), fried rice, gobi manchurian, paneer butter masala, naan, roti, some sweet dish (my eldest cousin really loved that dish). burp.

Post lunch, some local sight seeing at Pahalgam. Usual stuff, roaming around here and there, some small gardens from where we could see the ice clad hills. And yes, the mighty jhelum flowing past these gardens.

Then, at around past 8, we returned to our resort. Dinner. Yet again, almost the same menu. My grandmother and her cousin who had come with us, got fed up of rotis and naans and sabzis, now they started demanding for curd rice. Understandable. I was feeling a little homesick myself. How much I yearned that night to watch the ipl match back at home, in my living room, screaming as loud and swearing for every missed chance and dropped catch, and yes of course, for my mobile to ring aloud with messages and calls from my loved ones.

Finally, there's nothing great to do here in this place, hit the sack at around 10 pm. Hit the sack only, but no sleep that night, due to my cousins, with whom I was put up for the night. Hell of a night really.

A tour to the heartland of terror- Day2

Then the next morning, we were all up and ready by 8 30. Yawn. The tour operator told us to be ready by 9 so that we can proceed to a really snow filled place called sonmarg. Finally, a rickety rackety bus arrives at 9 15. At one point of time, I thought the bus might fall off if I touch it. However, we managed to get a move on pretty soon.

A couple of hours (or was it? I dozed off during the ride.) later, I woke up to find the bus stopped in front of a hotel. We had lunch at this hotel. Post lunch, we had 3 hours to go up to sonmarg. I mean the 3 hours was meant for enjoying the place and returning back. Te only proper mode of transport to the snow was on a pony.

I pity a couple of those ponies really. There were 2 particular ponies, which carried my extra heavy cousin and one of my uncles. Finally, after a 45 minute, bumpy and bouncy ride on the ponies, we reached the icy place.

Honestly, it was great fun, being on the ice. Not that I've never been on the ice, I' ve been on the ice twice before this. Once at Rohtang pass near Shimla and the other occasion being at Nathula pass near Darjeeling. We had a nice time, sleighing (now I know how Santa Claus must feel), throwing ice on each other.

When we started on our way back down from the ice, again on the ponies, it started raining. Not being used to such weather, most of our hands started freezing up. noy, was I happy to get back to the bus, where it was certainly warmer than what it was outside.

Poof, tiring experience though. Imagine, we had less than 2 hours on the ice. Imagine the guys who conquered everest. Imagine- one man who tried to climb everest without using oxygen- George Mallory. I must admit, I missed Jeffrey Archer during this tour, now I longed to find out what happened to George Mallory and Co.

Another couple of hours later, we were back in the Chinar, enjoying a nice hot dinner prepared by Hussain bhai.

P.S: forgot to tell, evereywhere you go in Kashmir, you can hope to be following atleast 50 army vehicles and atleast another 50 vehicles trailing you.

A tour to the heartland of terror

It all started on that fine day, May 21st. We boarded the flight from Chennai to New Delhi. A few hours later, bang- no, no.. no gunshots, don't worry. We landed in Delhi and then in the next 1 hour, we had to rush to catch the connecting flight to Srinagar. Pitiful, the flight duration from Delhi to Srinagar wasn't even as long as the transit time.

Finally, we landed in Srinagar. Before landing, I must say, it truly was a breathtaking view of the valley. No wonder, both countries are vying for that piece of land. Once I landed, all that I could see was army fatigues all over the place. Till that point of time, I didn't know that there were so many army personnel in Kashmir.

A short while later, I found out something that shocked me. The army had blocked out all prepaid signals. Ugh.. Oh no, I cant communicate things to people back home. However, there was some respite, since dad's phone would work as it is post-paid. Then finally we reached our boat house, Chinar. A very beautiful boat house. There was Hussain bhai, the caretaker, who took good care of us for the next 2 days of our stay in the boathouse.

I asked the caretaker "Are there any terrorist attacks happening here?". "No. nothing of that sort really. Srinagar's a very peaceful place." "Is the army presence always this much?"
"Yes. " "Despite of such heavy army presence, how do terrorists manage to attack?" I asked. He couldn't answer that. I'm sure no Kashmiri can answer that question.

Then came the romantic shikara ride. Pitiful, 3 couples (read- my mum and dad, 2 aunts and their husbands) over 50+ enjoying themselves amidst 3 guys who are 20+ years old. Oh, how we wished we had the company of our someone special.

The dal lake is a shopping complex in itself. Boats carrying merchandise everywhere. And there was this boat house where all the ladies settled down to buy sarees. We went in at around 6 pm and it was still light at 8 pm. 2 hours by all means is very very quick work by the ladies. Hats off.

Finally, we came back to the Chinar, to have dinner and doze. That was day 1 in Kashmir.

(pic- a shot of the dal lake from the Chinar)