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 !!