|
At each street corner, military booths armed with automatic rifles watch over each and every movement of the civilian population. Srinagar lies 1730 m above sea level and spreads from the western end of Dal Lake around the River Jhelum. The city has almost 1 000 000 inhabitants and Dal Gate, from where the Boulevard runs alongside the lake, may be described as its nucleus, laden with row upon row of house boats awaiting the warmer season.
It is here that life on land and life on water meet. Beyond the boats the floating gardens begin. They stretch out, taking up a good third of the lake’s total area and producing much of the food consumed by the population. Everywhere, narrow boats- called Shikaras- slice through the water’s surface. They are the natural means of transportation here, where all is liquid. The locals use the simple ones that slip through the waterways inches above the cold wet.
For the visitors, fancy boats have been built that are steadier, cushioned, decorated with plastic flowers and equipped with radio static sound. In one of the latter, we arrive at the house boat, a 40 m-long construction carved exquisitely from wood and fashioned in the style of the late British Raj, whose officials introduced this means of accommodation. On the porch, the house boy places the table in the sun for us, and the first of the Shikara merhcants, selling photo equipment, furred gloves, and sweets comes paddling softly toward the landing, ready to honey-talk me into a monetary transaction.
Hoping to complete my first impressions of the day I hop onto a Shikara and we set off toward the centre of the Lake Dal, also called Sona Lank or Lukut Dal, the lake of Lotuses. White-bearded mountains preside over the eastern end of the lake. The water’s surface reflects their grave bulk and the width of the blue sky above. Again and again the floating merchants try their luck but with a firm farewell they are set on their way again.
Below the surface, the algae billows out in ghostly sweeps. Shrouds of greenish, feathery vegetation pollute the lake from underneath. This is hardly surprising, for each boat and home on the lake dumps its waste directly here. I would not even dip my hand inside, and am amused to learn that tourists actually swim in the lake during the summer. Surely they must be intoxicated by booze or the infamous Kashmiri hashish when they do that.
Slowly the sun sets behind the range of snowcapped mountains in the west, lighting up the eastern range, lending them flowing red capes for one last time. Lights flicker on along the Boulevard. House boats switch on strings of festive bulbs here and there and the coals of a water pipe on a Shikara are mirrored on the lake’s smooth table top.
People stroll on the planks by the water and shop in the tangle of alleys around Dal Gate. The market roads there are a disorderly assembly of crooked streets with lopsided houses that lean heavily on each other. The brickwork occasionally has stones missing, like teeth in a decaying mouth. Shops, tucked into the buildings like shelves, are inhabited by keepers who sit cross-legged, their wares, mutton thighs and beauty products, dangling merrily around them.
The greetings exchanged on the streets are quietly cheerful. The lake radiates a pre-season calm and, at night, the chilly air lends the lights of the 1 200 anchored house boats a cool aura. Only the chanting from the mosques summons up the pent-up tensions, channelling them.
The chanting is the last thing I hear at night as it drifts across the water of the lake. Echoing off the surface of the water the religious chants make their way up towards to the stars. Softly, they lull me to sleep, cuddled beneath layers of blankets with a hot water bottle by my side. As the night draws to an end and morning nears the chanting resounds again on the lake. I am awakened by the melody I fell asleep to.
Darkness is carefully wrung from the sky and the black lake’s surface echoes with the repetition of “Allahu Akbar...” A one-oared Shikara throws ripples through the water as it glides towards the floating vegetable market, where the farmers typically sell their products at the break of day. “… La ilaha illa Allah.”
We drift past rickety houses on tiny patches of land encircled by water. Sheep graze there. Ducks fly up from tufts of grass sprouting in the lake. When we reach the vegetable market the light is still feeble. A congregation of long-tipped boats nose each other gently, laden with greens, piles of carrots and bundles of white lotus. By now the weeds and algae of the lake are visible once again, stretching their fingers upward toward the first morning light. Suddenly the sky opens up and between the crowns of the mountain tops the sun’s rays blink through.
We row to a small shed serving as a general store and I purchase tandoori bread for breakfast. It is pizza-like, small and round and looks as hard as stone but is surprisingly tasty with a bit of butter or with a cup of salty, kashmiri milk tea.
|
Tags
You must be logged in to add tags.
|
Writer Profile
svenja bary
This user has not written anything in his panorama profile yet.
|
Comments
Nice vision Nishant | Sep 15th, 2009
What you observe is something very rare and great. You showed the valley of Kashmir what it was and what it become now. Terrorism is a height of hatred...and hatred has evolved as an epidemic in every part of this blue planet. I work as a development professional and observe this everyday and feel ashamed of being Human... Fights, Terrorist attacks, genocides, these all are the means of getting Power as an end. I loved the way you observe things and write. I wish to meet You someday and show you the same in many part I visited... and its still going on and on...
Nice description Ikram Ullah | Aug 4th, 2012
I appreciate the way you have described Kashmir, My Land. I hope Indians understand how pathetic it is to see their ghostly looking soliders yanking at us each passing moment. But let me tell you, the dream of Independence which you thick as unrealistic is going to see the light of the day. We the young and intellectually more strong Kashmiris are highly inclined to see our dreams come true in a much different and effective manner. Surely, time is what it takes but hopes become the feeder of our aim.
Contact the Great Mother Ella Bruce | Aug 21st, 2017
I made a promise to tell my testimony all over the globe once my man come back to me and my husband came just as Great Mother told me when she helped me. I made the right choice to have contacted Great Mother the great spell caster who is capable of helping you solve your problems. My man left me to suffer and i never believed that he will come back to me again but when i contacted Great Mother she assured me that my man will come again. She gave me some list of items to buy but i could not get them in my country and so i sent her the money and she bought the items and prepared the perfect love spell. My husband ran back to me in 3 days time begging for forgiveness THIS IS SO REAL AND GENUINE. NO SCAMS. I was so surprise that the spell worked just as she told me. This is so amazing and i want you to believe because Great Mother is so real and i urge you contact her now on her email so that she can also help you the way she helped me. Her email is Greatmotherofsolutiontemple@yahoo.com and you can also contact her with her phone number on whats app +2348078359876 you can also check and contact her on
Greatmotherofpowers.blogspot.com
Greatmotherofsolution.blogspot.com
Contact the Great Mother Ella Bruce | Aug 21st, 2017
I made a promise to tell my testimony all over the globe once my man come back to me and my husband came just as Great Mother told me when she helped me. I made the right choice to have contacted Great Mother the great spell caster who is capable of helping you solve your problems. My man left me to suffer and i never believed that he will come back to me again but when i contacted Great Mother she assured me that my man will come again. She gave me some list of items to buy but i could not get them in my country and so i sent her the money and she bought the items and prepared the perfect love spell. My husband ran back to me in 3 days time begging for forgiveness THIS IS SO REAL AND GENUINE. NO SCAMS. I was so surprise that the spell worked just as she told me. This is so amazing and i want you to believe because Great Mother is so real and i urge you contact her now on her email so that she can also help you the way she helped me. Her email is Greatmotherofsolutiontemple@yahoo.com and you can also contact her with her phone number on whats app +2348078359876 you can also check and contact her on
Greatmotherofpowers.blogspot.com
Greatmotherofsolution.blogspot.com
Disease Cure Aisha Kun | Feb 29th, 2020
Great Mother is Real... I am Aisha Kun and i want to testify about Great Mother how she cured me of hiv aids. I was diagnosed of this disease some time ago and i was worried. when i was searching the internet looking for a cure, i came across some testimonies of Great Mother how she has helped a lot of people and i decided to contact her on her info and explained to her. She laughed and told me that she will help me and i was surprised. She sent me the cure and it was a spiritual holy oil and water which is more than a medicine. She directed me on how to take it and i did. I took the cure for 3 weeks and i went to the doctor for check up and to my greatest surprise the disease was no longer in my system. I am so glad and i want to thank Great Mother for helping me. Contact her now on her email: Greatmotherofsolutiontemple1@yahoo.com you can also reach her on her whatsapp number +17025514367. If you have any disease, she can help you. Contact her now
Disease Cure Aisha Kun | Feb 29th, 2020
Great Mother is Real... I am Aisha Kun and i want to testify about Great Mother how she cured me of hiv aids. I was diagnosed of this disease some time ago and i was worried. when i was searching the internet looking for a cure, i came across some testimonies of Great Mother how she has helped a lot of people and i decided to contact her on her info and explained to her. She laughed and told me that she will help me and i was surprised. She sent me the cure and it was a spiritual holy oil and water which is more than a medicine. She directed me on how to take it and i did. I took the cure for 3 weeks and i went to the doctor for check up and to my greatest surprise the disease was no longer in my system. I am so glad and i want to thank Great Mother for helping me. Contact her now on her email: Greatmotherofsolutiontemple1@yahoo.com you can also reach her on her whatsapp number +17025514367. If you have any disease, she can help you. Contact her now
You must be a TakingITGlobal member to post a comment. Sign up for free or login.
|
|
