Day 6 and 7 – Pahelgam

Pahelgam is a sleepy little town by the side of Lidder river. Most old (and even) new Hindi films are shot here. We reached around lunch time. As they say “Mumbai ka fashion aur Kashmir ka mausam ka koi guarantee nahi” – out of the blue it started raining in the afternoon. In an hour the rain disappeared. Undaunted (!) we ploughed through the rain :-) !We spent the evening strolling through the tiny market, where everyone hangs around. Needless to say, we had “special” Kashmiri dinner at a “special” place called Hotel Paradise. The kashmiri dum aloo with tandoori roti was to die for.

The Kashmiris are so hospitable, and such lovely people that it partially compensates for the lack of many facilities.

On Day 2, we went for a long morning walk and crossed the gushing river Lidder, and sauntered through a nearby village. We ended our walk with namkeen chai, a rather tasty pinkish brew, a tea preparation, with namkeen roti, a soft bread.

Post breakfast, we spent a most fascinating, and somewhat scary morning on pony back. The ponies were pretty sure-footed and had the reputation of being Amarnath horses which means they are hardy and can sustain 3 day long journeys on much steeper climbs, but there were times that they veered towards the edge of the cliff, and there were brief visions of taking flying tosses through the beautiful forests below. We ended up with completely sore arses, and only a boiling hot water bath later in the evening, with administration of several doses of water could cure our ailing posteriors. Our destination, the Kashmir Valley also called the Switzerland of India, is stunning and has beautiful grassy meadows encircled by the mountains.

A reward of a full course Kashmiri meal replete with Kashmiri yakhni (veg – nadru (lotus stem) and paneer, dum aloo, walnut sauce and rogan josh (meat preparation) at the poshest restaurant and hotel in Pahelgam, The Pahelgam Hotel, awaited us at the end of our bruising 3 ½ hour pony trip. After resting through the afternoon, we decided to record this, while nursing a grog and other spirits. Pahelgam is a dry state, being en route to holy Amarnath, so although we carried our own, this was something we had not quite budgeted for. We have carried the boom box and ipod nano, and are listening to Rabindra Sangeeth sung by a young man with a beautiful voice.

Tomorrow, we propose to spend the early part of the morning in the newly built 19 hole (!) ‘international’ golf course in Pahelgam, apparently the pride of the people here, as everyone including the taxi driver has been strongly recommending that we go.