My childhood was rich with dreams and all of them got colours from the English and Malayalam textbooks of my school days as well as from the books my parents bought me from their meagre income. Kashmir was such an enchanting dream ever since I read a travelogue about Daal lake in my textbook. I therefore had no other choices when he asked me where would I prefer as our honeymoon destination after the long awaited union of both of us.
We boarded flight along with two other newly married couples from Patna where he has been working . After a lay over of one and a half hour in Delhi, we landed in the long- disputed soil of Kashmir. It was June, the weather was in its mildest form; we were welcomed with a light shower. I felt so calm as if in the most relaxing pose of yoga, my body sipping in the cool breeze, miles away from the scorching summer heat of Patna. We were transferred to a hotel where we kept all our belongings. After that we had a tour around the city; our soft and less spoken driver Mr. Mohammed took us through the magnificent mughal gardens in Srinagar where the typical Kasmiri blossoms created a visual bliss to each of us.
My husband was busy trying his photography skills, while the other couples lingered close to each other, taking in the sweetness of being close to each other in one of the most resplendent landscapes of the world. I , on the other hand was caressing every grass- tops with my soul, still and dumb like a statue.
Infront of the garden, was the magnificent lake Daal , bearing no grumble for the harm caused by humans to her. Ice cream
and sweet corn vendors
stood on her shore patiently for tourists.
We strolled back to the car, savouring the lemon flavoured cooked sweet corn, turning back every now and then to capture the majestic view of an orange colored sun, sinking in the horizon on the beautiful sky above lake Daal, as a cold breeze tickled me. Our first day's splendor was over and we had to return to our hotels in order to get up early the other day in to the magic Kashmir had hidden for us.
(To be continued...)
