By the end of the day, I am dead tired and want to sleep right away. But I’ll try to write about today’s journey as by tomorrow I might forget a few details including names etc.
On the morning of the second day of my stay in Srinagar, we started with a walk in the old city. Aadil was my guide for the heritage walk. We started from the hotel at around 10.30 am. We walked in old Srinagar lanes for 2.5 hours and earned 5.6 km walk credits while exploring old shops and buildings of Mai Soma Market, Medina chowk, old and new Habba Kadal area, and various bridges on the Jehlum river. This city is on the banks of this river and inside the city, this river is very dirty. It is like a connecting thread of the city and while walking beside it, I walked through the narrow lanes of dry fruit and textile market, crossed the bridge where the film ‘Haider’ was filmed and saw Zaina Kadal and Pathar Masjid. As soon as I reached the place famous as the pickle king of Kashmir, I couldn’t resist checking the variety of pickles including non-veg pickles too. He has been preparing it for many years and his story has been featured in several papers and magazines.
In the market, there were old people, old shops and age-old occupations normally not seen in the cities like repairing shops for stoves, utensils made of copper, etc. (I have filmed the streets on my mobile which I’ll be sharing with you all). The market has several abandoned buildings which are in bad shape but still have that nostalgia attached to them. Part of the market was destroyed in the floods in 2014 and the same has been renovated. Life has taken its course and it seems like a usual business to a visitor. My thoughts were imagining how it is when you lose everything and start your life again. It takes only a sentence to write on this, but unimaginable perseverance is required to accept the course of life to move on and start afresh. Isn’t it these are common incidences for people out here with losses happening now and then. I bow down before their courage and ability to not let the hardships take their innocent persona and cordial behavior and how they continue to face their life.
After Mumbai and Pune, this is the third place where I felt safe as an outsider around unknown people, the taxi driver whose kind behavior makes you feel there like home. But I know I cannot roam around in the city alone especially after dark because the military is deployed everywhere. They say Kashmir is the only place where military personnel count is more than the residents. Any place you look carefully you find a face that seems to look at you, questioning you, judging you at various crossings (known as chowks), markets, watching from up above sitting in the widows of the buildings both abandoned and occupied alike. That stare terrifies you. Even during the day while I was walking the city with Aadil, several military men asked me my whereabouts, why am I clicking photographs, etc.
After the old city walk, Muzzafar picked me up for the rest of the day’s plan. It was Namaaz time and we went to Jama Masjid. Muzzafar asked me to roam around the masjid for 15-20 till the time namaaz is done after which I could enter the mosque. I needed some clothing to cover my head, and one of the shop owners having a readymade clothes shop gave me a chunni to be returned after I visit the mosque. I was touched by his gesture, he didn’t have any commercial motive. He showed me a few ‘pherans’ – the traditional over gowns worn by Kashmiris to keep warm. I visited Jama Masjid, asked someone to click my photograph, and sat there for some time on the fallen Chinaar leaves for that serene feeling and silence all around.
After Jama Masjid, Muzzafer took me to the Gurudwara Chathi Patshahi, Kathi Darwaza. After paying by obeisance before Guru Granth Sahib Ji, I took prasad and enquired if langar is available. In the warmth of the sun, I had langar and a conversation with the local women sitting beside me for langar. Almost all people including shopkeepers whom I had a chance to talk to, asked me if I was visiting alone and where do I belong which is a normal curiosity.
After visiting gurudwara, we went to the Dargah but as ‘bade din’ have arrived, they were not allowing cameras inside due to the celebrations. I skipped going inside the Dargah as Muzzafar had already told me that qwallis are not performed here. Instead, I went to the back of the Dargah to the Dal lake. Spent some time there looking and admiring the beauty of the lake and the place all around before coming back to the car.
Then we moved to the last point that was Nishat Baag, one of the many Mughal gardens in Kashmir. Before buying the ticket, I had a cup of tea with pakoras at one of the tea stalls opposite Nishat Bagh. The tea seller accepted the money for tea only after I had my tea. He said ‘pehle aap chai piyo, hum pehle paise nahi lete hain.’ It was only on his insistence I took pakoras for Rs. 10 with my tea. After having my evening tea, I went to the baag and got astonished by the magnificence of the garden. In the middle of the garden artificial waterfall flows in steps. I spent almost 2 hours there clicking photographs and with my newfound confidence in clicking selfies. I wanted to capture the sunset as just opposite Nishat Bagh is Dal lake and it was going to be magical to see the orange circle drowning in the waters of the lake. My wait was rewarded and I got a few shots of my interest.
Note: The fee to visit all the monuments in Srinagar is Rs. 20 plus GST which is Rs. 24 and they do return one rupee.
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