The following spot in our itinerary was Gulmarg, located
in a western direction from Srinagar and takes approximately 2 hours to reach.
Now again we drove across certain locales where we could see the open hostility
of the denizens and defiance to the Indian army and Indian administration-
spray paintings, slogans like "India Go Back", "Azadi",
"We Want Freedom" and so much more along these lines. We tried
scrutinizing why there is such unrest amongst the people here, why are they
hell bent in destroying such a beautiful place- a place which God indeed has
moulded with all the time in his hands. Anyway after driving on Srinagar
Baramulla road for nearly 1 hour we reached the bifurcation where going left
would take us to Gulmarg while the right goes to Baramulla (another disturbed
region which came into limelight again a few months back when the army of our
respected neighboring country Pakistan attacked the villagers at Uri and killed
many). We continued on the Srinagar Gulmarg road for another 1 hour approx. and
finally reached the foothills of Gulmarg- a place named Tangmarg where our
Kashmiri guide Ghulam made a deal with one his known people (who owns horses)
to give all of us a ride to the end of the cable car stoppage and back to the
base. We were unfortunate enough to miss the cable car ride as a few weeks earlier there had been an ill-fated mishap where a whole
family from Delhi lost their lives when their cable car crashed into the deep
valleys in Gulmarg. Hence the cable car services had been stopped.
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| On Srinagar Gulmarg Road |
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| Gulmarg from Tangmarg |
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On the way to Gulmarg
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We reached Gulmarg by our Innova but during winter, travelers need to climb up on horses only as the road from Tangmarg till Gulmarg is heavily covered with snow. There, mules (NOT horses) were waiting for us to take us to the top point where the cable car too goes.
The ride was really very painful as the seats were not at all comfortable. According to the rules set by Jammu & Kashmir Tourism, the charges are INR 350 (approx.) for the 1st 2 hours and then INR 250/300 per subsequent hour for the mule ride. Ghulam's person took INR 1200 per person (we didn't know that there are specific charges for the ride, has we known we wouldn't have finalized the ride at Tangmarg). Anyway, there will also be lot of persuasion by the locals there to take along an extra person for your help (like getting up and down from the horse, carry your luggage if any etc but to be honest, it really is not required as the guide himself helps in doing these things. We took 6 mules and had 4 persons along with us). Taking extra people means paying extra (already we were duped as they did not mention the actual charges to us). We would have loved to help them if they hadn't lied to us regarding the charges, we also understand that Kashmir being a state of unrest and continuous disturbance tourism is the only business on which the locals thrive.
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| That's us ready to explore Gulmarg |
Nonetheless we proceeded towards the snow-point in
Gulmarg on our respective mules amidst the greenery all around. Never though
the color green would be so pleasing and soothing to my eyes, devoid of any
pollution and such invigorating breeze that I desperately wanted to forever
stay here at Kashmir and explore even the unexplored, remote places all by
myself. We, since childhood, are so used to the blaring honks and disgusting
traffic of the urban life that I am really awestruck that these guides have
such a tough life. Their means of earning is through mule rides during summer
and sleighing during winter. Imagine a state wholly dependent on tourism...!!!
DISCLAIMER- none of the mules were hurt or harmed during our
ride to the snow-point in Gulmarg. It was really a remarkable yet bizarre
mule-ride and experience while we crossed mountain springs, some of the mules
happily splashing while crossing the springs, some of them abruptly stopping to
drink water (yes I understand they too feel thirsty and tired of those hundreds
of to and fro journeys), while one of them loved strutting away from the bunch
all by himself confidently via most freaky paths along the steep edge of the
mountains :D :P The one thing that I funnily annoyed me was the intensity and
frequency of excreta the mules ejected anytime & every time. Compared to
their intake, their copious droppings amazed us. The air became chilly as we
ascended towards the snow point in Gulmarg. Finally we reached our destination
and were gasping for breath.
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| Riding a mule :P |
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| Gulmarg shrouded in clouds |
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| Tourists playing and riding on sledge on dirty snow in Gulmarg |
The snow is very slippery and dirty (nobody except me
dared to go near the snow, afraid of slipping and rolling all the way down :P )
The weather was chilly but surprisingly I was not at all feeling cold but was
ready to even climb higher with a renewed fervor.
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| Mules grazing (a picture which till then I had seen only in magazines) |
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| Partial group photo with our guide form Tangmarg before leaving Gulmarg |
It was our misfortune that we could not see THE Gulmarg
which we had seen on internet and google and yahoo and NatGeo traveler guides.
So with a heavy heart, we descended and returned to the foothills of Gulmarg
and then back to Srinagar.
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| On our way back from Gulmarg |
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| Beautiful Kashmiri flowers |
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| Beautiful Kashmiri flowers |
Finally we were back at our houseboat at Nigeen Lake,
fervently waiting for our dinner (we had asked the for mutton pulao and mutton
curry as we were forced to have veg dinner the earlier day). As soon as the
clock struck 8pm, dinner was served and we pounced on the delicious food like a
pack of hungry wolves. what is the purpose of living if it is not for food,
sleep and travel?
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