The God's Wayfarer

- Traveling and Living it up in Srinagar

           

            Like a rolling stone I went down and about to a place I didn't know anything on. A mystery that a place brings to your soul takes you to a route that is untold. Untraveled places make you realize that you are like a vagabond and your path is a story that unfolds to everyone who has to listen to a commencement of disaster however, a pleasurable one.

            Srinagar, a place I wanted to go to anchor my belongings to take a route towards other destinations. A place I decided to stay not longer than a day. I would rent an apartment, keep few of my belongings there and walk the rickety thoroughfare of unknown journeys I planned in Jammu & Kashmir.Leh, Ladakh ,Gulmarg, Pahalgam,Kargil, Rangdum Gompa,Akhnoor, the whole of Zanskaar Valley and more. I had a compiled list of stints that I survived to not make it but I realized that Srinagar was an itinerant's wish list. The journey inside the heart of a Srinagar's inhabitant's mind was a roving journey of understanding nothing and exploring everything that seemed unimportant for a while. The traveler, nonetheless, has something to carry along with him as a souvenir in his mind, a meandering wisdom of nothingness is just about enough.

            I was a tourist when I took a road trip in April 2015 around Maharashtra but my Srinagar spell in July 2015 was an explorer's relocation gambit. I was better at traveling and exploring, so as to compare my solo travels. The road trip was a drifting phase while Srinagar was an arrangement to replace my life. I didn't choose Srinagar for this rearrangement but it decided on me from the time I was determined to leave Mumbai forever.

Prelude to my Travel Memoir

            A sudden glow on my face said I was enjoying the food but I had to see more, explore more but didn't get the inclination to. The whole experience of me living it up in Kashmir started with money problems that I had to face when I lost my mother because of a murderous disease like cancer. I lost her that was enough of loss that I had to bear and I needed a change. I had a loan of more than 3.00 lakhs on my head and I knew survival in Mumbai would eat my strength away and I would be left with nothing at all. So that day I decided to leave this city for a year where I could rent a place and live a life where money is not the concern I have every day and my senses would function for survival.

            I didn't choose this place but I felt that someone was calling me here as if everyone wanted me here. Psychic as it might sound but I never wanted to go to any place except Kashmir. I didn't have a plan like always. But I decided on the place when I called a person living in Srinagar to know about the rent system here. No deposit system and monthly rent only a paltry Rs 9000/-. I knew I would survive and decided on an impulse to book my ticket to Srinagar. I even booked a houseboat for two days to decide there if I shall be living here for a year or more or less...

            I came here alone only to find that all were closer to me than me and I liked this place instantly. A person from Mumbai or someplace else are treated the same here but if you are a Muslim, you are welcomed with lots of love. I am a convert Muslim only to know I was a revert Muslim like years ago when I was sitting with the first Muslim family I knew from Bhopal. They were not a good memory but that didn't keep me away from people of Srinagar or Muslims. Not at all. They make a good memoir...

Before the travelogue would take effect through my eye...

            I made my way towards packing and planning about my traverse from Mumbai to Srinagar by leaving what is not important and taking what was essential in living a normal life. I never left home for another home however this time I was in a trance doing my work like I was on a pilgrimage going towards my God, leaving it all here and living it up some other distant unknown place.

            I planned, I bought new clothes, I got a new duffel bag to carry all my stuff, I had in all eight bags with me for the commute and the meanderer in me knew it would not suffice till the end. I needed more. I needed what I didn't comprehend I needed and that would come later. I planned to sightsee a little then stay for a year nonetheless like a vagabond.

            I had time to plan out my vacation and my relocation. I thought I had time for exploration and the nomad in me wanted to be a rolling stone in the peaks, near the lakes, meandering the rivers, doing my adventure bit. I believed that time was there but the crucial part of returning back was soon, nevertheless. The migratory bird in me wanted to go further but the terrible political weather was a ruffle in the air.

            I reached the airport, my brother dropping me till there and taking charge till I reached my destination. I wanted him to know that I would take good care of myself and he wanted me back in ten days after sightseeing. I took off after he left me and after paying a hefty five thousand Indian rupees for the extra baggage that weighed 31 kilograms in all. After a long time I was travelling by Jet Airways and I felt nice with the food coming my way, with the extra coffee and tea. I liked it till Delhi and then the transfer till Srinagar was also very enjoyable.

In and Out of Me

            The itinerary was clear. I had booked a houseboat in the Dal Lake and thereafter I would go check out houses to rent and then take a nice walk towards the Shankacharya Forest range. The forest being a far away outcry I decided to take only to oblige myself some other day. I had planned a long walk and I made my way towards the Gate 11 of the Dal Lake to reach the side walk by a shikara (a small boat in Kashmir).

             A cruise is safer than a shikara ride but shikara rides at the Dal Lake are hypnotizing and mesmerizingly beautiful. They are both made for water however the shikara is more adventurous. The rowing, the sound of the water titillating your senses is a delightful feeling that you can never get on the biggest boat possible.

            The sidewalk was my path for another two hours and I walked like a wanderer who has not seen the world at all. I saw Kashmiri apple trees, flowers, small gardens on the way. I returned in a rickshaw, stopped again, bought some clothes and some dried fruit sweet meats enjoyed the walk till Gate 11 to go through the long shikara ride once again. The more I went out I knew I would get shikara rides twice, to and fro.

The Rushing Water & the Shikara

            When I reached Srinagar, I was taken to the Dal Lake by taxi and was given a good welcome. When I reached the lake I presupposed that I would be taken to the houseboat in the car thinking that all the houseboats might be very close to the bank (as ignorant as it may sound) however I was in for a surprise when I was taken in a shikara to the houseboat. I was a little wary about my belongings falling into the water as they kept my baggage near the tip of the shikara. A shikara is a small boat that takes you to the big one where you become a feature of for a few predetermined moments that become an era.  

            While going towards my houseboat I wondered how it will look and kept asking my shikara wala where the houseboat is and how does it look. While clicking snaps I realized I was missing out on the compelling part. The sounds of the beautiful water being stirred by the rowing of the shikarawala, the enchanting things to see on a lake were what I was missing out on. The lake had a stunning serene feeling to it. The water did not stir till it was trampled with and shikarawalas always worked towards troubling the serene water to make the tranquil water sounds that take you further ahead. The whole atmosphere is arresting whether you are still in water or are being taken to each and every beautiful place on the shikara. A very delightful welcome on the shikara got me to my houseboat and from there on I was on a ride for two days.

             A ride I can never forget because it is instilled in my memory with a mesmerizing stamp of serenity. I still feel in harmony with myself and my life while writing about the Dal Lake. I didn't know when I reached the houseboat that I can take a shikara ride for two hours and enjoy that lovely feeling all over again. So on the day I reached in the evening I was told I can go for a nice boat ride and I promptly said," No." I didn't know I would spend so much after that day on a simple boat ride.

            While thinking about not going on the boat ride I decided on asking a few more questions about the boat ride. I should be glad I was ignorant as I went out of my room just to decide on saying yes for a two hour impressive shikara ride.

            I was fascinated by the occurrence and reoccurrence of something I didn't plan. I sat behind, comfortable on the sofa of the shikara and I was taken to almost every corner of the huge Dal Lake. When I saw the beauty that lied right in front of my eyes I decided to look everywhere the same way. I met myself there, I met the Almighty there. It was heaven, not just a piece of it but every inch of paradise was there in Srinagar. That is what I believe in, like everyone does when I saw what hypnotizing and fascinating the scenes were that lay here, there & everywhere.

            I saw people selling seekh kebabs, jewellery, kehwa and saffron. I saw a market created in the lake where you could get charming Kashmiri carpets and shawls. The market was full of dry fruit stores and delightful Kashmiri clothes. I bought a surma, pearl earrings, bought a Kashmiri carpet and ate seekh kebabs on my way back to the houseboat.

Back in Mumbai

So I wrote after reaching Mumbai back after a small stint in the relocation gambit.

            While writing a review for this beautiful houseboat on Dal Lake, I was mesmerized and shivered with awe about the fact that I was right in the heart of Kashmir, in Srinagar. I wanted to write all that I knew about Kashmir right there but my heart wanted to talk about this particular person who made me feel like home the minute I entered the houseboat on the 20th of July 2015.

            The best part about this trip started when I started talking to people and those two people I met were my brother Maqbool Bhaijaan and a child, Muhammad Abrar who welcomed me like no one did in Lake Victoria, Srinagar. They made me feel like I am staying at my own place, do what I like, eat what I prefer and just sit in that beautiful shikara and get mesmerized by the beauty of Dal Lake. The rowing on the boat, the serene sound and rushing of water, the people selling every possible thing on boat is exquisite grub for your senses. I went on the shikara ride because of the way the people at the houseboat treated me. I would be secluded in the houseboat and I would just write my way through the night but I wanted to go for this ride like forever. When I entered the houseboat I was a little scared that being alone would trouble me a lot but my brother in Srinagar made me feel at home. Maqbool bhai , was the person who was best at the kind of service you need and get in a seven star hotel .He can be your best guide, he gives you the best advice on where to shop and what to do when in Srinagar. His family is at Gulmarg, 6 hours away from Srinagar and he stays in Lake Victoria, a place where you will be so much in awe with the splendor that surrounds you with the high peak mountains, the serene lake and the beautiful people in their charming Kashmiri avatar. With the people being so pleasant towards you, this houseboat is the right place to live in Srinagar. In addition to this welcome, you will get to meet this child who will receive you like a friend does with open arms and the impression gets embossed then and there.

            On 24th July 2015, I wrote that writing a review was always on my mind and I didn't want to not. I just wanted to and I knew how to by thanking them in a special way cause they were the ones I made an impression with on Srinagar.

And so the story began...