From Kashmir Dairy ( Travelogue )
Onthe morning of the third day, we woke up and had breakfast of bread omelette and tea from a local food vendor at the edge of Dal Lake. This reminded me that everywhere in Kashmir, you will get very weak tea. The people here drink little tea to begin with, and they drink it weak. Tea shops are not visible everywhere. Only after much searching does a shop appear where you can get tea. And that too is just plain tea, nothing special. Anyway, after breakfast we set out for Sonamarg.
When we reached Sonamarg, the first thing you have to do is rent mules, large leather shoes suitable for walking in snow, jackets and such things to protect from the cold. Here too, you should do some good bargaining. We had rented the shikara at very economical rates, but we got stuck here.
We thought we had done good bargaining here too, but when we asked another group that had come from our own city, we found out that they had rented mules, shoes and so on at much cheaper rates than us, so we realized we had been cheated here.
Although that group had been cheated in renting the shikara. No matter how good your bargaining is, you will definitely get cheated somewhere. Well, this cheating thing is only for fun really. The real point is that sometimes you will spend more money and sometimes less. How much money you can actually save is the real achievement.
After all, the livelihood of the local people of Sonamarg depends on this tourism. If a little extra money goes, it will only help someone. There is no harm in it.
This is a hill station. Most people here looked poor. In a big city like Srinagar, you cannot gauge the poverty of the Kashmiris. But here in Sonamarg, which is a small village, poverty is evident. Farming and tourism are the only sources of employment here.
For this reason, you should make an effort that wherever someone needy is selling something — breakfast items, boiled eggs, maggi and so on, and Kashmiri shawls, caps, winter clothes for children and so on — if you don’t even need it, you should buy it with the intention of helping. These are people who, instead of begging, are trying to earn bread with dignity through hard work. The more tourism grows in Kashmir, the faster terrorism will decrease.
Anyway, sitting on the backs of mules, we headed towards the snowy peaks of Sonamarg. In Sonamarg, mules are generally used to take tourists up, not horses or ponies. Mules are excellent for mountains. They maintain better balance and footing in hilly areas. They are more weather-resistant and can walk on difficult paths. Mules can carry both tourists and luggage, and they are more cautious on dangerous slopes.
If you don’t ride a mule in the valleys of Sonamarg, then consider that you have done nothing in Sonamarg. The journey we made riding on the back of a mule in the delightful valleys of Sonamarg was not merely a ride, but a memorable experience immersed in the beauty of nature.
The complexity of the mountain paths, the coolness of the air, the green slopes stretching far and wide, and the silent majesty of the snow-capped peaks. All of it together was creating such a scene as if nature itself had adorned this valley with its own hands.
The mules were carrying us towards the heights with their slow but confident gait, and at every turn a new colour, a new fragrance and a new beauty of Sonamarg appeared. In this enchanting journey, not only were our eyes satisfied by the scenery, but our hearts also bowed before nature’s incomparable splendour.
When we reached the top, we enjoyed playing in the snow. There was only snow everywhere here. We enjoyed the thrill of sliding down the slopes on a wooden sledge, for which we had to pay a rental fee. This was also a way of earning a livelihood here. Similarly, tea, coffee and maggi were available up there. Nowadays is the era of Instagram reels. We made reels here too. While renting mules below, we had also hired a reel-maker.
In Kashmir, at every place you will find reel-makers with iPhones. You bargain with them; we paid each person 100 rupees per reel at every location. This is also a good way to earn a livelihood from Kashmir tourism. Many young people are doing this. We paid 300 rupees to one man here, and in return he gave us three complete edited reels each and even gave us some photos of each person as a bonus.
When there is a snowy mountain and cold wind, the taste of tea and maggi increases many times over. And why would we want to deprive ourselves of it? Everyone had one tea for fifty rupees and one maggi for one hundred and fifty rupees. Now if they are providing you this at such a height, they will certainly take some money. It’s fine. When you go out to tour, save money but don’t worry about spending.
The people here are very hardworking. Their behaviour towards tourists is friendly. They are good-humoured, but the effect of poverty is felt. They try to make sure that tourists leave them with as much money as possible. For this reason, those who don’t bargain or bargain less often end up paying expensive rental fees.
On top of the mountain, soldiers of the Indian army are present to protect the tourists. From five o’clock in the evening, they start sending the tourists back down. From five o’clock, the return journey begins, and besides the soldiers, no one stays up there.
You have to come down on the same mule you came up on. While descending, riding the mule feels even more frightening. There is fear that the mule might throw us or that we ourselves might fall. But the mules descend quite carefully and slowly. No mule falls and it does not let any rider fall either. The proper route from top to bottom and from bottom to top is already determined beforehand.
The mules are also used to this. However, out of hundreds, one falls, and unfortunately one of our friends experienced this. Although the routes set for the mules are suitable — it is not as if you will fall from a great height or tumble into a ravine below. You just fall to the ground from the small mule if you fall at all. There are no serious injuries. This mule journey has been designed keeping everything in mind, and it is a safe adventure.
By nightfall, we were back in Srinagar. We had dinner here. Then we returned to our hotel. Because we were tired throughout the day, we drifted off to sleep without even realizing when.
— — — — To be Continued
( Read Chapter One “ SriNagar” by clicking the link given below )
