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7月20日 Kashmir"Paradise on Earth" goes an old saying. I never imagined that i would see Kashmir of all the places, but once i did ...the place is etched in my mind forever.
My brother-in-law's (Chinmay) best friend (Vikram) was getting married in Jammu and so my youngest sister (Sahana) and Chinmay planned the trip and asked me, my wife (Ashwini), mom (Shanta), my other b-i-l (Venu) and my other sister (Sowmya) to join, 7 of us. Initially the trip was just for the wedding to Jammu but later Sahana and Chinmay insisted that as we have come so far, we should go to Kashmir, and not every day we would travel this far together. Some of my relatives including me were apprehensive because of the insurgency, but then we had to give in because Sahana and Chinmay wouldn't listen, but thanks to them ...it was the best experience of our lives.
It was early December and we knew it was an off season trip to the valley, the tourist season was the summer. I had not seen snow before and was very excited. Jammu was pleasant just like any other city in India, unlike what i thought it would be ...guarded heavily by the army and police. We attended Vikram's wedding which was in Dogra style, Dogras are the natives of J&K.
Then came the morning we were to fly from Jammu to Kashmir. We went to Jammu airport, standing outside the airport i felt like i was about to enter a fortress. It was just the beginning of the vast indian army i was going to see on duty, in the line of fire, but i saw much more than just that, the kashmiris. We had to go through around 4-5 security checks, i was never so nervous in my life. Its different from the security checks in other normal airports, but here it was the army. I was carrying the toffee "pan pasand", i found it in one of the shops and got tempted, it was my favorite toffee in school. Unfortunately i kept the toffees in my jacket, i was questioned at every security check and the last checking officer ate one to make sure it was just a toffee and nothing else. I think like all of us he too liked "pan pasand" and let me pass, but not before warning me.
The plane was full, i was anxiously waiting for the plane to land safely. As we were nearing the runway, i looked out and found no buildings around, everything was so greenish in the army colors. It was like a war zone. As i arrived at the exit door, the cold breeze hit my face and i never saw so much smoke coming out when i opened my mouth. The temperature was very low compared to Jammu. I still remember enjoying those moments as i was stepping out of the plane admiring the airfield, the soldiers, the landscape, and especially the biting cold breeze.
Once inside the terminal, we collected our bags and then were looking around to see how we can make reservations for any hotel or taxis for our stay for the two days, we found a reservation desk provided by the government. The booking agent beamed with joy as he heard Chinmay's and Venu's surname (Bhat), he thought we were natives of Kashmir. As in the south, Kashmiris also have Bhat as their surname. We tried convincing the agent that were were in no way related to Kashmir but he wouldn't listen, he believed our forefathers might have migrated to the south. He was so happy, we didn't want to take his moment away and agreed with him.
The agent told that a houseboat in the Dal lake would be the best and the safest place for us, we agreed. Wow!, the beautiful Dal lake. It had just rained, we got into the cab. As the driver was starting the cab, he told us that he came to know something about us. For a moment we held our breath and asked him what it was, he told he would tell us sometime later. We agreed, again, but we knew it was our surname. The news had spread like wildfire. I was sitting at the back in the Taxi and all though our ride to the lake, i saw a taxi follow us with just the driver keeping a distance of 50 yards, and moved away just as we neared the lake. I thought he was following us, or maybe i was thinking too much about terrorism.
The lake was beautiful, i had never seen a lake so clean unlike the Hussain Sagar lake in Hyderabad where i live. I read in some magazine that the Dal lake was polluted, and i thouht that if Dal was polluted then what would one say about Hussain Sagar.
End of chapter 1.
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