“Yeh gaadi aapka hain??” A middle aged man asked washing his car with a straight face.
“Ha! Yeh mera hain…” I said in response.
“Toh andar rakne ka tha na?? Idhar kyon rakha?? Raat ko kuchi bhi ho sakta hain agar gaadi raste main raha toh!” he advised as I had parked my bike beside the road on previous day.
“Aap kaha ja rahe hain??”
“Gulmarg..”
“Srinagar ho gaya dek ke??”
“Ha! Kal Shikara ride pe gaya. Aaj wapas aake Mughal Garden dekunga bus!”
“Bus sirf itna hain Srinagar?? Hogaya??” Boy! Is he from tourism department? I wondered.
“Arre! Bahut se aise jagah hain joh sabhi ko nahin patha. Woh jho jannat bolte hain na, waise jagah hain!”
“Kaha hain???” I asked not to depress him by neglecting.
“Sonmarg ke raaste main milega!”
“Sonmarg toh kal main ja raha hoon!”
At last, he let me move when my mobile showed 8:15 AM.
“Bhaiya yeh Gulmarg ka raasta kaun sa hain??” I asked a young man neatly dressed.
“Yaha se bhi ja sakte ho aur waha se bhi! Agar ho sake toh aap mujhe secretariat tak chod do ge! Woh bhi Gulmarg ka raaste main hi aata hain!”
“Achha bhai chalo…”
While on the move, he said his name as xxx Ahmed! No wonder I forgot the name again as the name itself was quite strangeJ. He said he works as security in Civil Secretariat. On asking him what does that mean, he said it’s related to minister’s work. He works 6 months in Jammu & rest 6 months in Srinagar as they both are state capitals one in winter & other in summer.
After dropping him, straight away to Gulmarg passing through green fields, pretty school girls of villages & so on. Man! These young girls are very fair in complexion. The last 13 Kms of the ride was completely ghat road climbing up the hill. But the ride was super exciting as road was covered with dense trees & small white & yellow flowers on either side of the road.
 |
| Densy climb to Gulmarg! |
 |
| Flowers en-route... |
With few photo breaks, reached Gulmarg & soon was followed by Horse guys. The guy said horse ride will cost 300 bux in which he would take me to a snow point as in Gondola Ride; there is no snow even on the second stage of ride. He also told me to visit to Tourist Information Centre to make sure no one cheats me. I was wondering is he cheating of helping me out. After a visit to centre, the guy over there told me one cannot take their vehicles beyond the parking area & they can take horse rides. As I was not rich enough to blast 300 bux just like that, I told the guy I would walk to Gondola & asked him the shortest route. He showed me the one & as I walked ahead, Boy o boy! What a serene beauty. I was just wondering am I in Heaven??? If not the Indian faces, one cannot say that this place is in India. I can bet on thatJ. The scenic beauty was simply outstanding.
 |
| Gulmarg arial view... |
 |
| Flowers all over |
 |
| Gandola Cable Car station! |
With bundle of captures, walked up to Gondola ride & took ticket to first stage paying 300 bux. Though the queue for ride was long, it was moving at a fast pace. I got inside the car on back side with front side being occupied by a family of 3 members. In no time, cable car started to climb up & view started to get better & better.
As I shifted my place a little to take some snaps,
A lady at back said “Amma” in fear.
“Is this your first time???” I asked casually.
“I am a copter pilot so… but I think it’s her first time” lady’s husband replied.
“Are you a professional photographer???” he asked again looking at my SLR.
“No! I am a software engineer…”
After few more chats about my journey so far & ahead, they started to speak in Marathi.
“Are you from Maharashtra???”
“Yes!”
“Where in Maharashtra??” I asked again.
“Bombay! But the posting is in Jammu… And you???”
“Karnataka, Bangalore….”
“Oh! Actually even I am from Karnataka! Belgaum..” the lady said smilingJ. Within no time, our cable car had reached the destination & we got out. The view from this place was awesome but the view from second stage would be much better I thought. But to go to the second stage, one needs to take 500 bux ticket again. Fuck it! Anyways I would be heading to Leh where in I would get plenty of snow to experience & why to waste 500 bux I thought & backed out from going to second stage. Got my camera out & had few clicks of surrounding. In some time, fog cleared up the hill & I could see second stage is in snowJ.
 |
| I am going up! |
 |
| Want to go up again?? |
 |
| Second station up there... |
Had a cup of tea & back to ground zero. While on the way back, took another route in which I came to parking place in just 10-15 mins time. That bustard showed me the long route while going then I realized. Moreover, he lied that there is no snow even in second stage of Gondola ride. Had a maggi in hotel nearby as I had gone very hungry due to no food since morning & time was already 11:30 AM.
 |
| View of Gulmarg again |
Rode back straight to Srinagar & grabbed Onion Dosa in Nathu’s Sweets. Post eating ceremony went to Shankaracharya Temple to get some good city views. Climb up the hill was of bad patch roads & parked the bike. While entering, the CRPF security guy told me to keep back mobile & camera which are not allowed. After enquiring him about good views of the city, walked a bit in the direction mentioned by him & got arial view of Srinagar. Man! It’s very huge. Dal Lake is damn huge when seen from above. I could see hundreds of boat houses.
 |
| Kashmir greens... |
 |
| Srinagar as seen from hill top! |
 |
| Count the house boats! |
After good amount of captures, while coming down, a CRPF jawan stopped me & asked,
“Aap Karnatak ke ho kya??”
“Ha!”
“Yeh KA number karnatak ka hain???”
“Ha!”
He again asked same question with happiness all over his face. Got it! He is also from Karnataka I judged & it went right.
“Haudu sir! Naavu kannada davare! (Yes sir! We are also kannadiga’s)”
“Naavu sir (we also sir)” he said & smiled as though he was seeing a bride againJ.
After a lengthy conversation in Kannada, few more guards came nearby & poured in some more questions about my trip.
“Dekha??? Yeh sab karne ke liye dum chahiye!!!” one said to other.
“Tamma hesaru sir?? (Your name sir???)”
“Krishna. Nimdu??? (Krishna. Yours)”
“Annayya..”
“Namma halli yella Mysore side sir! Madikeri hatra Kushalnagar! (Our village is in Mysore side sir! Near Madikeri, Kushalnagar)” he continued with no indication of stopping at all. I too continued thinking that he was desperate to speak Kannada with someone.
After few more chats,
“Sari sir! Sigona Tumba kushi aaytu nimhatra matadi (Ok sir! Lets meet some time later. It was pleasant talking to you…)” I said as I had to move.
“Ok sir! Nangu aste tumbene kushi aaytu (Ok sir! Even I felt very happy speaking to you)”
I bid him bye & rode to Mughal Gardens. After paying same amount for parking & entry, went into the garden with my camera out. Park consisted of some beautiful flowers accompanied by some beautiful babes tooJ. There was also a place called Chashmeshah where very pure water comes & people were even drinking it.
 |
| Mughal Gardens entry! |
 |
| Flowers I click! |
 |
| Solo shot! |
 |
| Black or Purple? |
 |
| Glad she dint run away... |
 |
| Rosy |
 |
| Whats it called? |
 |
| More & more flowers |
After some beautiful clicks of the flowers, rode back to my room & got busy writing blogs. Also on the way back, bought plastic cans to carry fuel in the journey ahead. Finally managed to get them as I was worried about it since few days. Also got some Haldiram snacks & ate it till the neck along with some ground nuts. Packed little stuff & called another army officer in Sonmarg whose reference was given by our Lt. Kernel sir. But the call didn’t connect as it was switched off & thought tomorrow straight to Kargil & no break at Sonmarg! Bought 2 water bottles for tomorrow & slept tight to get up early tomorrow.
No comments:
Post a Comment