10 JUNE
Day 3 - Trip to Pahalgam
We were going from Srinagar to Pahalgam. Distance 90 km. On the way we were to stop at saffron fields. And also to see dry fruit trees and apple orchards.
Stop 1– Saffron Fields and Dry Fruit Trees
I was expecting to see fields full of saffron and trees laden with walnuts and almonds. Though what we stopped at was an emporium type shop that sold these – saffron and dry fruits. They said it was handled by some farmers themselves and the items here came directly from the farms.
But imagine, an emporium of size 10*5. It had 33 of us, 5 staff members and other visitors. At least 50 people in a 50 sq metres room. I was bound to suffocate.
As much as I loved the complimentary kahwa and wanted to check out saffron, I walked out of the shop within a few minutes. And took a stroll around on the highway. Skipping one shop from this saffron and dry fruits emporium, was an emporium that had wooden items. The best part about it was- It was empty. The environmentalist I want to be, I still love wooden items. Wooden boxes, wooden houses, everything. (You don’t have to chop trees, just make stuff out of the ones that have fallen or by chopping old branches).
Stop 2 - Apple Orchards
Here our new guide walked my mum through the apple trees and probably told her everything she wanted to know about them.
Stop 3 - An unintended stop AND a new friend
Our check in at the hotel was scheduled for 2 pm. And it was 1. So we stopped over for lunch and shopping in a marketplace. Walking around I spotted a girl selling wooden keyrings. I knew I had found my stop for the next few hours. Me and my mum bargained for a bulk price. I started getting keyrings for all my friends and family, at least the ones I could remember. I asked my mum to take a look around the market while I got these made. Because this would take long and then she wouldn’t be able to have lunch or check out the market.
But my mum, if you know her, she wouldn’t leave my side even for shopping and food. :p Then our tour guide passed by. I realised I didn’t even know his name. Was I supposed to call him tour guide the entire time. :D?
I asked for its name and its meaning. Now the name and its meaning is confidential :D. But for some reason it reminded me of the pole star. So from now on we will call him Pole Star. He went off and I got one keyring made for him. Something for him to remember us by. :p
In the next 20 minutes while I was still dictating names and getting keyrings made, I had asked my mum to go and have lunch and shop. I knew she wanted to check out the market and have something to eat but she wouldn’t leave me alone here. While I was asking her to go for the umpteenth time and she was refusing for that many times - Polestar came on his round back to us. I showed him his keyring. And my mum said – You should also have something to remember us by. She knows everything I think without even me saying it :p – very well. :D.
I asked her again to have lunch and shop while she still had a chance. I could get these keyrings done on my own as well. For some reason, unexpectedly, this time she agreed. She asked PoleStar where the others were and left for the Nathu Sweet Shop. But before going she also told him to stay with me. Like I would run away or something!
I am like – waah – I am asking you to go so that you don’t get bored. And you are setting up this poor soul to get bored seeing keyrings made for unknown people with an unknown me. But little could I say anything or she would herself starve and stick by me.
So, now my mum went. And PoleStar started dictating names along with me to be made on the keyrings. The conversation started with who were the people whose names were done. And the common names. Like my mama is called “Princy” and he calls his mother “Princy”.
Then it went to what we both did. As much as I had guessed, he turned out to be a college dude. Who loves cars. Our favourite car turned out to be the same one – Scorpio. Although I like the red scorpio and he liked the white one. :p
After getting all the keyrings done, taking a few pictures with the cutesy little girl (Her name is Nisha) who made them, we went off.
Now, we had the full market to check out and a few minutes left. Given my love for all languages and wish to speak in all different ones, I asked him to talk to me in Kashmiri. He did and I guessed what he said for a while. It was fun. Although given my abysmal memory, out of the 4-5 sentences he taught me, I only remember two words-
Mish - my
Kaava- crow :p
While walking down the marketplace, we came across a masjid. I have only seen masjids on TV. Never been to one! I asked him if Hindus could go inside a masjid alone. Turns out we could though there are some simple norms, like covering your head etc!
As much as I wanted to go inside, I knew the ruckus I would cause if I did. So, this time I made peace with just a selfie outside the masjid with PoleStar.
And then we went back to the bus stop where our group was supposed to assemble.
So, this unintended stop, to the market, turned out to be quite nice. I got souvenirs and got to know PoleStar a little.
While we got keyrings, my mum did some shopping with Khushbu and had lunch too. Next we went to our hotel.
Hotel Pine View
We got down at the hotel. Bhaiii.. Kya hi view tha! It was set at the foothill of a mountain and there was Indus river flowing outside. Imagine waking up to this and staying here. This was what I picture when I think of my perfect home.
The air was cool. For some reason I wanted to go up on the bus. I climbed on the roof of the bus and unloaded the luggage with the driver uncle.
Our driver uncle was so impressed with my heavy weightlifting :p, he offered to let me drive the bus on our journey ahead. I had to pass the offer this time because I have no experience in driving heavy vehicles especially on mountain roads. (Duly noted as a skill I need to master when I come next :p)
You know how much I run away driving cars especially in Delhi. :p. But now I will learn to drive it like a pro. :D
While I was unloading luggage, Anju aunty came upto me and asked me to accompany her to the stream. After unloading all the luggage, I joined her.
We crossed the river of ice cold water. A local boy clicked our pictures. There was some confusion regarding rooms that PoleStar was trying to resolve. I finally got a room and got changed. After that we had to get into smaller cars and had to see three points-
Aru valley
Chandanwadi- The point from where Amarnath Yatra starts
Betab Valley
Aru Valley
We stopped at a river front. Clicked many pictures.
There was a small hut. Inside it there was a stone chakki that was grinding corn flour. A lady was making rotis from it and a man was making tea. My mum bought some flour from them.
Outside while I was clicking pictures of all this. Our driver and everyone was calling us back since we had two more spots to cover and it had started to rain. As I was going back, I heard someone calling my name. I looked up to see an old friend, a classmate from college - Harsh. Who had come with another friend of his. Surprising! Very surprising! Meeting in some other corner of the world just like this is always a pleasant surprise!
We had a quick picture and decided to connect later.
While going back random strangers blessed me for no reason whatsoever, and that was something that brought my heart out to them. I wish I had a piggy bank to collect blessings and tag them to people. :)
Next stop was Chandanwadi.
PS- Later we came to know, we didn’t see the real Aru valley. The driver just took us to the river front and said it was Aru valley.
Chandanwadi
There was nothing much to see here unless you want to go for Amarnath Yatra. We just bowed our heads to Lord Shiva and came back..
Betab Valley
Sunny Deol’s first movie - Betaab was shot here. After that this valley was named after the movie as Betaab Valley. It was a beautiful place. It was drizzling. Small kids of 11 and 13 were offering to be our guides here. I forgot their names. They were really cute. It pained me to see kids coming here after school.
But then my mum said- Its a skill they are learning while having fun. It will get them some money. And they can become tourist guides. Well, she had a point. We took them along though we didn’t need guides for walking in a park. It was nice to watch them more than watching the park and its scenery.
We paid them some money and they went off. After clicking some pictures we also went back.
Back to Hotel
Now back to the hotel, we changed up for dinner. The dinner was not as tasty as the one we had the previous two days at our first hotel. But it was good. After eating as much as I could, we retired to our rooms for a peaceful sleep.
- manu
- twwg
(Link to master post --> https://www.thewarriorwizardgirl.com/post/kashmir-diaries)
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