What a way to start

Back from the rivers of Disbelief ... this is more of an exclamation than a statement; cuz indeed the ‘Kashmir experience’ was way beyond what I could ever dream of – in every sense.

The tour was planned from 21^st Oct ’04 till 1^st Nov, and for the same I was supposed to take the ‘5-20’ waala Air-Deccan from Bangalore to Delhi and join them for what would be the most memorable trip of my life (actually that’s what I’ve been sayin for most of my trips recently, but believe me this was special).

I had finalized the trip about a fortnight back with parents, though my coding-schedule was fraught with deliverables before I could leave (btw this was close to the fag end of our coding cycle here in Talisma). It had been a series of nite-outs before the eventful trip, but still that could help me release only 3 out of the 4 features that I was handling, though the 4^th was almost 80% done, but 6 hrs weren’t to be enuff for finishing it. In fact for once I thot about chucking Kashmir, although my manager wouldn’t mind finishing up the feature once I was back, but it was more so cuz of the idealist and perfectionist person that I try to be (n all I manage to just a try!!). But thanks to some gyaan from Ankit (great buddy in Talisma) that I finally decided otherwise and moved on with the trip. Bags were all packed (this morning – after the nite out – I’d managed to spend some time doing the needful), ‘bye-byed’ everyone in Talisma and off I went.

Reached the airport a good 1.5 hours before the “scheduled departure”. As I gave my bag for scanning an ‘Air Deccan’ guy came running to me asking “Aapko kaunsee flight pakadnee hai?”
I was like “yehi saadhe paanch waali”.

“par who tou dus ghante pehle nikal gayee”.

“What!!!&^*%^#$%@#”, Boy! bahut zor ka jhhatka laga!!

This human mind tends to always read what it wants to read, and so 5-20 was read as 5-20 pm (obviously only jerks wud wanna fly to Delhi at 5-20 in the morning rt?). And surely the Deccan-Airways people dint think so, and there I was stranded at the Bangalore airport wondering what to do. Fighting with the Deccan Airways wudn’t hv made any difference – my fault after all. At least I wanted to find out about the refund schemes n stuff, and had to content with a paltry 200/-. But instead of wasting more time there I quickly checked out all the Airlines’ counters outside the Airport to see if I was so unlucky. For a second I thought I was, as all the Jet/Sahara/Deccan flights were packed. Par jiska koi nahi hota, uska Indian Airlines hota hai, heh! Managed to get a seat for the 8pm flight finally, but only after paying Rs 11455/- (uff it hurts typing the amount!). Actually while waiting in the IA counter queue (I wonder if there were more people like me … queue in front of an IA counter … I must be kidding… rt?), I called up dad giving him the shocking news(They’d reached Delhi a week back). As I was speaking to him, he was repeating whateva he heard on the fone (u think he could keep mum hearing my exploits). As I told him about my chances of getting an IA ticket I requested “dad, mummy se abhi kuch mat kehna. She’d unnecessarily worry!”

“Yaar mom saamne hee khadi hai. No hiding from her now!! Anyways all the best”.

To which mom started repeatedly asking dad, “tum log mazaaak kar rahe ho naa!” And was she shocked when she heard the reply!

It was long 2 hrs wait at the airport. Called up a few friends, but finally had to find a better time-pass, and what better than – “Five point Someone” (5.+1). Oh man, 250 pages of pure-masala. Could only finish the first few chapters and I was in the flight, and u’ll all agree how much an IA flight sucks, especially if ur used to the lovely women who look after you in ‘Jet’. So the journey was largely boring, as I caught with some sleep after scores of nite-outs back in Talisma.

Finally reached delhi at arnd 11. Parents were there to receive me, and mom still asking me if I’d come by Deccan Airways (and if it was all a prank), and its still a secret, hehe! As we moved from the Airport to our guest-house (in Green Park extn), we went past RK Puram (“DPS RK puram!”, I jumped), IITD (I was reading all about it – remember) , Vasant Vihar (this is where I was born 23 yrs back – and my first trip to Delhi eversince) and finaly reached the GH by 12. Was really feeling sleepy and hit the sack soon after.

Day 1 (21st Oct 04): Long journey from Delhi to Jammu.

Woke up at 3-30 am to get ready as we had to leave by 4-30 (dad’s very strict when it comes to schedules – my manager at Talisma isn’t much different either and largely consituted my dreams that night I remember!) in our qualis for the long road-journey from Delhi to Jammu. And for the trip we were joined by the Kapoors (Kapoor uncle, dad’s collegue at IBP, and family – aunty n daughter) – so it was six of us. As per plans we were all ready by 4-15 am and in high spirits. That’s when dad took out the Handicam and after he was done with the 5 of us, he focussed on the driver, “Aur ye hain humaare driver Anand Singh, aur ab humaaaree jaan inkey haathhon mein hai” – and only later did we realise that it was more than just a statement !! Set off in no time, and before I could realise it was all my manager again for the next 2 hours. Finally reached Karnal (Haryana) Lake at around 7. Beautiful Tourist complex next to serene lake. Had a quick breakfast there and entered Punjab in sometime. The highways here was so damn beautiful – covered on both side with tall trees – refreshingly different from the one you find in Karnataka (forget about West Bengal). They were smooth as butter and little did we know that our Qualis was cruising at a 100 kmph. Found time to SMS some frnz back in Bangalore – the balle balle one .. remember? Time was right to take out the 5.+1 book, and in sometime we crossed Ludhiyana and reached Jullundhar, where we halted at a dhaba to have lunch. Next to it was an IBP petrol pump, and as we told the dealer (owner) about our visit to Kashmir, he sounded a little concerned – but that’s pretty normal I guess! Left shortly; all along I’d been sitting in the middle row, it was time to switch places as I now rested legs full stretched on the back-seat, half into 5.+1 and the other half capturing the beautiful roads of Punjab and its surroundings on our handicam. Soon we were through Pathankot and crossed the Punjab-JK border, and off went the Airtel signal. Jammu wasn’t too far from there and by 7 we’d covered a good 620 km to reach our JKTDC lodge in Jammu. We all got freshened up and left for a breif visit to the famous Jammu temple (which was packed with tight security, both outside and inside). Was kinda ok. As we were all tired decided not to search for good hotel, and hence decided to dine at the nearest dhaba, and boy, were the paranthas lovely! The JKTDC was so to say infested with bengalis - Around 20 families! Its the Pujas season in their part of the world and hence long hols. And seriously what better than kashmir!

Day 2 (22st Oct 04): Entered 'The Kashmir Valley'

Today we were to enter Kashmir (remember this was Jammu). So it was again all about getting up early in the morning and setting off (for Srinagar) before sunrise. We were amongst the mountains immediately after we left Jammu, and dad managed to capture amazing shots of the Sunrise (I’ll post ‘em once dad sends over the CDs). We actually lost our way on occasions as this was the first time that our driver had crossed Jammu (and with what happened later on, most likely his last, hehe!). Crossed Patni Top, another half an hour – Udhampur. There happened to be another IBP petrol pump nearby where we halted for sometime, cuz as they say – “Wen u gotta go, U GOTTA GO!” - n I had a go, hehe! As we were passing through the tortuous roads, we could see interesting boards on the road, something like – “If u drive like hell, soon u’ll be there” & “Be smooth on my curves”, hehe! We were around an hour from Banihal where u get the much talked about Nehru tunnel (2 km long!!). Surprisingly, it’s been maintained pretty well, good roads and lights inside. The handicam was kept busy all along. We climbed down the hills for about half an hour after the pass, and there we were, the world-famous Kashmir valley and it was plain-road till Sringar (around 150 km still), and we were all damn hungry. We stopped at a place called ’Qazigund’ – a Muslim town, and looking at the folks around and the brand names on the walls like – Akbar fans and Khyber Cement – for once I thought we were in Pakistan. The food was as usual yum! Then started the final session for the day, as we crossed the Purple/Orange Saffron fields on either side of the road, and it was a treat. AnantNag and by 4 we were in Srinagar – as usual JKTDC lodges – but this was much better than Jammu, with the building looking over a sprawling lawn. Our contact in Kashmir was one Mr.Abdul, who’se been staying there for like ages, and a delight for anyone visiting Kashmir. He took us for a ride in the evening, next to the Dal Lake, past the Legislative Building (Centaur hotel converted), to one of the Mughal Gardens – Chashme Shahi. It was way better than ‘Vrindavan Garden’ in Mysore (apparently the latter was modelled on these Mughal Gardens in Srinagar). He was in a hurry as he had to open his ROZA. This was when the entire Kashmir used to wake up at like 5 in the morning, and abstain from even drinking water. And around 6 “roza kholte hain”. In his words - “Accordinly to Islam, this makes the people more disciplined in life and in a way teaches them about self-control – and really, what better than controlling the most important necessity of life – FOOD”. Had dinner at a “Vaishno Dhaba” and the food was as good as I had all my life. It was around 9 and things start getting serious beyond that. We could only see army folks in our way back to the lodge. It was a first hand feeling of living in a so to say Captive-state. In fact Mr.Abdul was telling us about the Indo-Pak problem, how it all started with a friendly match with Pakistan in Srinagar in 1986. And as he found in us a very unbiased audience, he put his arguments over the issue from either perspectives. From what I understood, a Kashmiri today doesn’t want to go with Pakistan (as they fear they’ll be rendered a 2^nd grade citizenship), and is kinda neutral about India. What they actually want is peace, and if possible as part of a separate Nation (which obvi neigther India – who spends 6 crores a day on Kashmir – nor can Pakistan allow). In fact, what looks the best solution is to prehaps freeze on the current Line of Control. But this would surely steer up political repercussions on either sides of the fence. So unfortunately both sides have to wait for the Politics to mature a bit more I guess! Good to see the media (the likes of NDTV) doing a great job help form opinions on the issue. Lets wait n watch !!

Day 3 (23st Oct 04): Shalimar aur Nishat, Hazratbal Shrine

This was an ok-ok day. We visited the three other gardens in Srinagar. “Shalimar aur Nishat” – this reminds me of the Chapter in Kishore Bharti that we CBSE folks used to have for Hindi – class 5 or 6 – don’t exactly remember! Lotsa pics and vids taken. Nice place all and all. The 3^rd garden (don’t even remember the name now) was a let-down. What better to describe than a bengali tourist nearby exclaiming – “dhoor , paanch taka joule gelo” (damn! Five rupees down the drain). But believe me, it really sounds funny in bengali! Had lunch (so so this time) nearby and next we headed for the famous Hazratbal Shrine (that we could see at a distance across The DAL). It was a good 5 kms by road. It was really peaceful out there. I took a breif stroll as it was prayer time, and we’d been asked to wait outside. I must say, tht “The Silence must be heard”. I felt like spending more time there, but twas getting late, so finally back and this time we planned to go to “Mughal Darbar” for dinner. This was considered the #1 place for kababs. Not really upto it I thought. But I kinda got one of the shocks as I entered the place. It was all empty except one of the tables at the extreme end, and the waiter asked me to take a seat near that table. As I was walking to the table, one civilian crossed me kinda hiding a rifle in his clothes. I was quick to look down to check his shoes, n he wasn’t surely not one from the Army. When I reached my table, I could also hear someone utter a “Plan” or something like that. It was a strange feeling, and was somewhat releived to see maah parents and the Kapoors finally enter the place and … Had dinner and were back by 9.

Day 4 (24st Oct 04): Sonmarg

Today we were to go to Sonmarg. Supposed to be a Shooting (bollywood) Paradise of one-time (e.g. Satte pe Satta), and was quiet some time more known for its Shooting in the other sense (no e.g’s here). The journey was overwhelming, and I was in-charge of the Handicam today and I ended up finishing one complete reel just en-route to Sonmarg. It was kinda interesting to see Kargil (some 200 km) and Leh (some 400km) written on the Milestones on the way – not something I see too often wen I’m on a highway. Reached Sonmarg in like 1.5 hours and fixed 5 horses to take us to the Glacier. We tried a lot convincing Kapoor aunty to agree for horse-ride, but she wont budge. Had a nice time with Rani – my ghodee, hehe! Reached the glacier, but it was all dry, and the ice was still a far cry (hey tht rhymed!), the view breathtaking nonetheless. Came back and had lunch - Nothing to write about. While coming back it was 5.+1 again, was into the final chapters. But we guys stopped a beautiful spot, where the adjoining stream was very close to the road, so close that we could all climb down. Spent a great 10-15 min there, and it was remarkable taking one of Mom-dad’s photos on a rock in the true “Titanic Pose”! As we reached to close to the end 5.+1, we also reached close to today’s journey. Left turn from the Kargil highway, as we took the 5 km long road next to The DAL to get into Srinagar. But we’d hardly covered 2 km and we saw that Army folks were sending all the cars back. Even we were asked to, and the reason being “No one’s being allowed anywhere close to the Legislative Assembly. Either get out of Srinagar or take the long turn around DAL and enter Srinagar from the other side”. Mom was a lille concerned, so I had to say “Mom, Kashmir aaye hain, kuch to hona chahiye jisse lage kee kashmir mein hain”, knowing very little tht this tour had lotsa music in store. We took a long turn and finally reached the lodge at 7. As usual, dinner at “Vaishno Dhaba” and back. When we came back and switched the tv on, we heard about the attack on the Abdullas at Anant Nag. Only then we realised why there was so much security on the road next to DAL and why we were asked to take a different course to enter Srinagar. I immediately asked dad if we were going to Anant Nag. He told me that we don’t plan to stay there, but we’re planning to do some shopping there, while going to Pahalgam (2 days from then). But, if things remain bad, we can take the bypass. I was like happy with the ‘bypass’ idea. Snooze …

Day 5 (25st Oct 04): Gulmarg

Today, we were leaving for Gulmarg. The day was warm, skies blue, and we were all excited to go to what is considered to be the most beautiful place in Kashmir. The only ‘–‘ being the fact that its much closer to Pakistan (lol!) and that we’ll have to go through ‘Baramula’ district to reach there. But all that was just being too paranoid. We reached Gulmarg in like 2 hours, and the people were bloody right about the beauty of the place. This was where Betaab was shot long back (1980). We were given cottages by JKTDC. Was a nice place to stay, with stove and utensils, so we could also cook our food. No plans for that during day obvi. So, we kept our luggage and went to the Gondola (“Cable Car”). It was a great ride, where we had nearly a km’s ascent. Without the Gondola, its usually a 6-7 hr trek upwards. Reached the top, and in fact I was impressed seeing more work going on for the Gondola, as they plan to take it to another km (altitude I mean), from where u can see the POK. The tall towers have already been planted, and they look deadly. Anyways, we moved out of the Gondola stn and could see ice at some distance – half a km or so. This was our destination, and as we reached there we could see people trek up through the ice. N man! it was much more difficult that what it looked, as trekking on half melted ice on mud can challenge the most experienced of trekkers. I was up for the challenge and managed to climb quiet a distance. In in fact I dint realise, and was in fact shocked to see even mom and dad follow me upto some distance with elan, obviously with some assistance, but they look relaxed. But now I’d climbed so high, that was finding it impossible to climb down without slipping/skidding. Finally had a good idea when I saw a cut log at my level slanting down. So I trekked futher to reach that and finally climbed down with composure. But it was tough! Finally came down, had lunch, followed by some shopping, as we were planning to cook our dinner. I was too tired after coming back, and so had a breif nap. The ladies in the mean time were done with their cooking. And Dad n Kapoor uncle had managed to get some Vodka somehow. As I woke up and saw the gentlemen enjoying the drink, I demanded some too. Dad asked me if I was sure, and there I was for the first time drinking with my Dad – proud, really proud wen dad said “ab beta bada ho gaya hai!”. Had dinner and then followed up with a walk under the clear full moon sky in Gulmarg. Twas bsolutely pin-drop silent as the moon-rays poured over the surrounding trees giving the vicinity a dark-green tinge.

Day 6 (26st Oct 04): The day I’ll remember all my life!

This was the day! When events one after the other kept tumbling out of the unknown. Started the day preparing omlettes for everyone – first timer and I guess pretty good at it. Left Gulmarg at around 11 for Srinagar. On the way we got a chance to visit an Apple Orchard. Till date I’d seen apples only in the market or in our fridge, never hanging from a tree – tht looked like fairy-tale, hehe! To top it all, our escort was the Owner’s daughter, and boy she was beautiful, easily the most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen – fair complexion, rosy cheeks, big eyes and lovely smile. Marrying a kashmiri girl would be one of my top priorities in life now, hehe! Left for Srinagar shortly, and on the way there was this Army truck ahead of us, and the folks sitting inside started waving at our car as I took out the handicam. Felt nice, and I saluted them as we overtook their vehicle. Just before entering Srinagar, we had to stop at a place to cover our luggage (in the carrier) as it started raining. Reached Srinagar and had our lunch at the same “Vaishno Dhaba”, and mom had a lot of shopping to do before we finally bid Srinagar bye. And I couldn’t help exclaim - “Dad! I see its really tough to be a husband.”. Even Kapoor uncle leapt to endorse the statement, hehe! Finally left Srinagar on our way to Pahalgam via Anant Nag. Anant Nag – the name that inspired a few shivers due to its rather late history.

It was raining all along, the road full muddy muddy, as we maintained a steady speed of 60-70 kmph. It had been around an hour that we’d left Srinagar. Things had settled down and everyone behind us was feast asleep. Myself n dad on the front seat next to driver, were discussing the possible reasons why the road was so muddy, occasionally taking out the handicam, when we entered the most eventful 5-10 min of our lives. Our driver had taken the car a lille off normal to allow one sumo to overtake a truck coming from the opposite end. He had to apply brakes, but the tyres were all slippery too and hence the brakes wont apply. The driver got shit scared, and hurriedly said “saabjee, brake nahi lag raha”, and pumped the break a couple more times, and unfortunately one of those times the brake did its job. As we were at a good speed and slightly off the normal (with my side tyres already off the road), a sudden brake was enuff to disbalance the car. Dad tried his best to turn the wheels and get the vehicle back in control, but by now the car had a mind of its own, and meanwhile went and hit a tree, uprooting it in the process. All this was happening in split-seconds and all kinda random thoughts were going through my mind. Suddenly the whole world started revolving around us, as our car finally headed downwards, took a couple of turns upside-down and finally attained peace a good 10-15 feet in a ditch next to the road. But the funniest part was tht the tape was still on in full blast – “Mera Babu chhail chhabila or something like tht”. Managed to somehow pull the wires and shut the damn thing up, and a few seconds’ silence ensued. I was the first to cry if everyone was fine and it was relieved to hear everyone respond. In no time the military folks and the localites around gathered around to help us. It was me, on me dad, and the driver on top of him (as the vehicle lay verticle to the ground), and he was struggling to open the door, and his attempts to break the glass went in vain. Thankfully he could open the glasses and hand over the keys to one of the localites, who eventually succeeded in opening the door and out we came one-by-one. And as I jumped out, I could read a board on one side of the road – “Welcome to Anant Nag” – what a joke! We were relieved to see no one even receive a scratch. More than shocked, I was all excited about the accident, strange me! I leapt around in search of the handicam to capture the sight of the accident and the reactions of people all over (u’ll get to see all that in a week’s time!!). The next job was to straighten the vehicle, so that we could at least pull it out. And it took just 4-5 jawans to do the job, but not without the use of certain words that generally tend to pump u up – a 4 yr stint in the hostel is more than enuff to appreciate tht! As Dash (my roomie) once mentioned - I expect honorable citizens of the society to be reading this. Those more knowledgeable may put their choice adjectives at will, hehe! These words generally don’t pierce ur ears, but they certainly do when ur parents around, especially mom, and more so when 4-5 jawans chanting it religiously, and making it very clear that u must’ve heard it as well, huh! But now the car wont start, n it was futile to try pulling it with rope; so the idea was to use a recovery van. Meanwhile, the jawans tried opening the bonnet to see if something could be done to get the car up, without having to bother the police (as that would mean trouble). Bang bang with the back of the rifle and tht dint work. “Abey yaar who militants ka rifle laana, usse khul jayega”. One bang and there the bonnet gives way. This was funny, and u again tend to realise that this India-Pakistan thingy is not just fictitious stories you hear on tv and read in papers; that there are real people fighting it out, who kill and get killed for the sake of the nation...

But, only in films, does the police reach late. One Inspector Shamaz came and monitored the sitution, as I could see dad having a word with him. As the recovery wan thingy would take time, dad asked me to take the ladies to the nearby police station (in BijuBiyara) and wait (cuz it was still raining).

We took the next local bus on the way and proceeded to the Police Stn. In fact it was a great feeling spending time with the common-man. At least, I was looking forward to doing something similar, inspired by the “Swades” promos, but certainly not after having a accident! It was great talking to the person sitting next to me, and I was touched with the way he was speaking. Something like “beta kisee ko chhoth tou nahi aayee” n stuff. It was from him that we got to know that there’ve been lotsa accidents reported in that area of late. In fact just 2 weeks back a Sumo had crashed in there and all 11 inside died, huh!

Reached the Police Station (which was bang on the highway) in around 20 min time and waited there to hear of some news. This Inspector was a smart guy, looked more like an Army guy than an Inspector (that we’ve been growing up seeing in hindi movies). He offered us tea, and was generally asking us about our trip so far. I couldn’t help asking him how the situation in the surrounding area was, specifically hinting at the attack on the Abdulla’s a few days back. He told that he was in the thick of things, and how volatile this area was. He’s already survived 2-3 attacks on his life, and how the intensity of terror increases proportionately to the distance you travel from this highway inwards. Also, I remember him mention about the attacks on the police station in the past, huh! It was all so scary, and it was 5 already with no news from dad. As I stepped out of the police station, I saw a recovery van standing outside load another crashed police gypsy into a truck. I jumped in and called the Sub-Inspector to see if we could send this Rec.van immediately to get the vehicle out. As I stood on the highway negotiating with him, I saw dad get out of a Sumo, and wasn’t I relieved. He told me that the vehicle had been picked and dropped at a nearby Petrol Pump, where a mechanic was working on it. He’d come to the Police Stn to pick us up and thank the inspector. Meanwhile he’d contacted Mr.Abdul in SriNagar to arrange for an alternate vehicle. Mr.Abdul had a friend called Dr.Aamir in AnantNag, who arranged for a Sumo. As we waiting for the Sumo in the Police Stn, Inspector Shamaz invited us to his room (within the compound) and offered us Roza sweets. The Sumo reached and we soon left for the Petrol Pump where our Qualis was “Getting Repaired”. But there happened to be another Junior Inspector who was all set for making money. He was telling Kapoor uncle (who was waiting with the driver) things like “Ab tou case karna padega, aur Driver ko arrest karna padega. I think bail ke liye around 10k lagege, u can gimme 5k” - types. And before we could reach the Pump, he forcefully took the Qualis (and the driver and Kapoor uncle alongwith) to the police stn. When we reached the PP, we dint see anyone, rather anything there. It was already dark and creepy. Finally we got to know what had in fact happened as well set back for the PS, catching the vehicle on the way. As we reached there, the Inspector immediately disppeared into the PS. The driver got all worried, and almost about to cry as his papers were with the Inspector. Dad asked me to go with the drivers into the PS and … But the PS was a completely different place now. It was all dark around, all doors close, a fencing was put in place and the guards were given strict instructions to not allow anyone inside. Seeing us approach the gate, the guard shouts in a broken voice – “woheen thehero. Aagey mat aao warna … “. Man! this was really scary. We’re like stuck in the most notorious part of the country, its already dark, n its like raining for ages, n a place “jaahaan police waale kee bhi phhati padi hai”! I couldn’t believe all this was happening, n all that I could see was headlights of the two vehicles (our Qualis and the new Sumo), pouring light on the non-stop downpour. Huh! But in 10 min the Junior Insp. came out and he’s like “Saab yeh lo apne papers”. Shook hands with dad and “Sir galati ho gayee”, with an ugly grin! I showed some rare sense of urgency and shifted the luggage from Qualis to Sumo, before another catastrophe happened.

Now we started for AnantNag (around 10 km where we had to drop our vehicle and the driver so that he could repair the vehicle), Sumo tugging the Qualis (hey how bout that for an Add punch-line, hehe!). Time n again, the chord would break, and it used to be spine-tingling to get down, and direct the two drivers to position the cars properly to tie it again. This reminded me of - The Matix Revolutions – where Agent Smith and Neo meet up for the final fight. We entered Anant Nag at around 8-30 and there was self-imposed curfew – no trace of life around, raining cats n dogs, absolutely no light around, the road completely empty, only the two vehicles standing, making an angle with each other, the feeling just cant be expressed in words. We somehow reached the hospital where Dr.Aamir would meet us. We decided to keep the car and the driver in his custody left for Pahalgam in the Sumo. I was in fact feeling bad for the driver. He must be surely wondering what would happen to him – “Already shocking things happening the whole day, n now he was left along in an unknown land, amongst unknown people”. He surely looked worked-up.

Our new driver well-acquainted with AnantNag, started taking us through those creepy lanes, any at any moment I expected someone militant to stop the car and …

Suddenly he says “saabjee… teen din pehle yaheen par bum phata thha”. “Sun k meri bhi phat gayee”!! But I was happy it was too dark for him to see my expressions, hehe! After a while we got onto the main road. Some 20 min had passed as yet started honking like hell, and using the dipper big-time. I could clearly see that the road was straight, and there was absolutely no on coming from the other side, so it dint make much sense to me as to why he was doing all that. Obvisouly, curiosity killed the cat, as I asked him, to which he replied - “ saab jee, yahaan raat ke samay woh us pahadi se yeh is pahadi tak ugrawadi ishee raaste se cross hote hain; so agar maine aise nahee kiya tou woh yeh gaadi apne launchers se udaa denge!”. I couldn’t utter a word. After sometime all I could manage to ask is, “aap ugrawadi ke baare mein bol to rahe ho, kya koi dikhegaa?”. He gave me a smile and asks “aap ko dekhene hain kya?”, as if he’s gonna take his gun out and show that “beta ugrawadi aise hote hain. Le dekh!”. I was in complete shock, but thrilled at the same time. I wished I’d recorded all that he had to say, damn! As we entered Pahalgam, there was no single jawan at the post. “Sab saaley dar ke bhaag gaye hain”, he chuckled. Hunh! Finally entered our cottage, and this one was even better than the one in Gulmarg. As it was already past 9, the driver stayed back, as he was too scared to drive back alone all the way. Myself, dad and Kapoor uncle set out in search of some food, but all the shops had closed. Finally we managed to find a place and got some dinner packed (but the bugger charged us some 400/- for 3 plates of rice), whateva!

When we got back, I couldn’t help ask dad y we’d decided to take up this ordeal of a journey from Anant Nag to Pahalgam. And he’s like “Don’t worry, Dr.Aamir told that he’d inform enroute”!

At the end of all this it was great to sit back and relax thinking about the way the day had turned out. Things that happened, and what if something else happened. In retrospection now I realised how lucky we were to have crashed into the tree first. That impact absorbed so much of the momentum. Then as we fell, there was no rock, or any other hard thing on our way, that would break the glass and injure us. Even the soil was so soft, that even the glasses dint break. And the fact that we all tightly fit into our sits, gave us less chance to move too much during the entire process, saving us from sticking out and bumping into something. Huh! Twas a memorable day, one I’ve got enuff to take home about.

Day 7 (27st Oct 04): Pahalgam

This was all about Horse-riding and local site-seeing. We’d gone to a nearby place with a big open field surrounded by snow-capped mountains. Our way down from that place was scary, as our horses had ‘Royal Slips’ (a term used more in these S/w co’s hehe!) of upto 4-5 feet at a stretch. But, we all got back in one piece. Was too tired, so dozed off till evening. This time Dad had arranged for Black Rum, and he himself invited me to have a drink with him, when I woke up. Good show, hehe! At night the place sparkled in moon-light, but the good news was that our Qualis was repaired and the driver reached Pahalgam (inspite of a Kashmir Bandh). “Our time’s changing”, joked dad. Later the driver told us abt another accident which had taken place at the same spot today, n this time no survivors. I’ve already started believing in god!

Day 8 (28st Oct 04): Bye bye Kashmir, back to Jammu

Today we left Pahalgam and set off for Katra (satellite town to VaishnoDevi). The jouney was nice, through the Saffron fields. This was a rather uneventful day, the only good part being The Antax. Occasionally we'd be stopped by the Army folks, for routine checks. At places they'd ask me questions as to where I'm working n the likes. One of them wasnt too amused to hear the name of the co. where I worked. "Umm... Talisma, yeh company kidhar hai ...', he brooded over the name for a while; afterall something like 'Al-Talisma' could very well be some miltant organisation's name, he couldnt help wonder!

Reached Katra by 8. As dad went finding about the acco. and stuff I thot it wont be a bad idea to find out if Talisma’s still doing business. Talked to Ankit, Rajesh and Dash – felt good. Watched “Kuch kuch hota hai” for some time, sahi movie thhee! Then went out for dinner followed by “Baskin Robbins”; mom enjaayed the ‘Choc Mousse’. Then on our way back, we booked the palkees for Mom and Aunty. Tht was about it.

Day 9 (29st Oct 04): Jai Mata Di !

As usual, woke up early and set of for “Maata ke Darshan” at 4-30 in the morning. This was one reason, says mom, that nothing happened to any one of us (Maata ke darshan jo karne thhe). We took 4 horses as we climbed up slowly. In fact I’d’ve preferred walking up. Stopped at a new built ‘Café Coffee Day’, hep n all eh! Finally after half trekking/half walking and rest ‘ghoding’ we reached the top at arnd 9. The ladies were yet to come, and finally reached at 10. Had the darshan and after a light lunch, decided to walk back. It was great to see the enthusiasm of people all along. Shout “Jai Mata Di” once, and u’ll be surprise to hear the same from 10 different corners. Finally got back at 4, and huh, was I tired. In fact everyone (except me) was supposed to stay at Katra tht nite – as I had to catch my train from Jammu. But, dad luckily managed to get the booking transferred from Katra to Jammu JKTDC lodge (where we’d stayed on the 21^st). So, we packed our luggage asap and left for Jammu which was about 60 km from Katra. But just when life seems back to normal, something happens. We must’ve been arnd 20 km from Jammu at arnd 8 (and my train was at 9-20 pm), when at a junction a traffic police (or whoeva) tells us to take a diversion. We took it cuz a bus ahead of us did the same. We kept going for like 20-25 min, but dint see “Jammu” written on even a single milestone. As I was mentally preparing myself to miss the train, thankfully I saw a milestone with “Jammu” written, but still 20 km from there. This was disgusting, but we managed to reach the station a good 30 min before the departure.

I had a Side Upper (3AC - Jhelum Exp), and as I entered my bogie I saw an Oriya group in the compartment. I was about to leave my bag n get out to talk to parents, there goes an announcement “If you find a single passenger, someone who looks suspicious (and with my bloodshot eyes – of late I certainly looked suspicious), inform us immediately”. And boy was there distrust written all over their face! I immediately ran out and called dad in (cuz he looked more human that I did), and started talking to him for a while in front of ‘em, before which we went back outside. Finally, I could see the temperature drop a bit, hehe!

As we were doing our “byes’ n stuff, around 10-15 armed jawans marched into the platform with some “VIPS”, cameramen all over them. When we found it, we learnt that a Pakistani Delegation had come over for some meeting, and that there was high-alert. Apparently they were under some kinda threat. Slowly, I saw the Pakistanis segregate and enter MY BOGIE, and as I went in they were in the next compartment!! I was just hoping tht if someone’s to come and kill them, they better have a good aim – “Kaheen aas paas waale ko naa maar dein”. ‘Bye-byed’ parents n set off for Delhi.

Day10 (30th Oct 2004): Delhi Darshan

I woke up somewhere in Punjab, and the 1^st thing I did was to count my limbs and then my fingers. I was all so happy to find everything was in place, hehe!

Finally reached Delhi and contacted our driver who was to take me to the Guest house. Contacted Gautam (RV Hostel Snr), Pallavi (I’d called her up from the Bangalore Airport telling that I’d be in Delhi on 30th) and Namrata (RV Classmate).

While Gautam was too busy with work, Namrata was down with fever. So, couldn’t meet up with them. Met Pallavi in Preet Vihar McD’s and decided to do some ‘Delhi Darshan’. Saw “Bahai Temple”, “Qutb Minar” (tried some stunts there, hehe!), and as we were coming back to Delhi-Proper, we decided to have a look at IITD. After reading 5.+1 I was yearning to see the ‘Kumaon’ hostel, and the ‘Admin Block’, and … Our final destination for the day was “Ansal Plaza”, and no doubt, had the maximum fun there, for obvious reasons, hehe .

But we spent too long a time in Ansal’s and the station (Nizamuddin) was around 15 km from there. Somehow hurried and reached the train (Rajdhani) only 4 min before it left. For once I thot - “ab yeh train bhi jaayegi”. Abhijeet – ur great!

Day11 (31th Oct 2004): The Ordeal is over …

This was spent in the train, most of the time sleeping. My manager was back!

All in all, the trip was really memorable. Planning to go to Leh sometime soon. Game?