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| Gul, Gulshan, Gulfam. |
Even as the luggage was being taken to our room on the house boat, Imtiaz enquired if we would like to have some Kashmiri Kahwa. And it was love at first taste for me 😊
We then embarked upon a leisurely shikara ride on the lake - taking in the sights, listening to the music from the transistor radio on board, the kids doing some river surfing, and finally the inevitable shopping for hand loom dresses, ponchos, dry fruits and saffron. The floating markets of Dal Lake are a veritable paradise for shoppers.
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| The floating markets of Dal Lake. This one is called Meena Bazaar. |
Imtiaz waited till we finished our dinner, and then showed me the itinerary he had put together for us. His family have been in the house boat business for at least five generations, and the one we are staying in is a brand new house boat, costing the family upwards of Rs. 2 Crore, as the cost of walnut wood and the artisan charges have gone through the roof in recent years. With the tourist season not really picking up yet, they are heavily dependent on word-of-mouth referrals. The business generated through the travel portals is useful, but cuts heavily into the margins.
"Every taxi driver and hotel owner in Srinagar can be a tour operator, sir. But what we offer on the house boats is a personalized experience - right from the food choices to traveling in comfort and security. We ensure that our guests never get into a dangerous situation, as we have a network throughout the valley, and constantly keep a tab on what's happening in the villages of South Kashmir. I once managed to get some foreign tourists travel safely to Pahalgam and back, during curfew. The regular tour operators do not bother so much. They simply assign a taxi and a driver and that's it. And the travel portals sell insurance for the flight tickets, but balk at paying us a premium for the safety service we provide." - Imtiaz was in his element explaining the nitty gritties of house boat and tourism business.
It was getting late, and the family went off to bed, talking excitedly about the shikara ride and the next day's promise of playing in the snow. I was about to call it a day too, but Imtiaz suggested that I wait for a few more minutes to meet the other guests of the house boat. A Gujarati couple from Hyderabad on their honeymoon, a policeman from Saharanpur with his wife to celebrate their first marriage anniversary, and a family of four from Assam - as we stood on the deck of the house boat getting to know each other, and sharing the experiences of the day, it became clear to me that the UP cop and the young Gujju software engineer see Kashmiris as 'them'. The Assamese tax consultant cribbed about the exorbitant charges and how the taxi drivers are in connivance with the horse ride agents and other activity organizers at the tourist spots. "It is day light robbery and they know very well that we (tourists) have no option but to pay, because we can't go back without doing the rides. And no one pays taxes here in Kashmir."
Imtiaz supplied us with some more Kahwa, and added his bit: "We (house boat owners) do pay GST, sir. But 18% is too much. The Government keeps saying they wish to encourage tourism, but I am not sure whom to approach to explain the problems we are facing with GST." In this aspect, Imtiaz and his fellow house boaters are the same as any Indian, I thought. Also, years of dealing with tourists has honed his spoken English skills so much that he sounded much more eloquent than the guests on his house boat. As I left for our room, I told Imtiaz that his English is accent free. He blushed and said: "If enough people come, we can learn Chinese and French as well, sir." I told him about my time in UK where I was a tenant at a place in Reading, owned by an immigrant from Muzaffarabad. His face lit up and he said: "But that is in Azad Kashmir. We have relatives there - I have never been that side. Nor do I want to go. We are much more secure and happy here in Dal Lake."
The next morning, we left the house boat by 9 AM, and Imtiaz came with us to the jetty to have a word with our taxi driver Parvez bhai - a wizened old man dressed in impeccable whites. Parvez bhai loved to talk, and that's exactly what I wanted to do too. All through the way to Sonamarg, he kept sharing his thoughts and anecdotes about local history, the politics of separatism and so on. Some snippets below:
"Kashmir originally was populated by only Hindus. The Chinese were ruling over Gilgit, but they lost it to the Arabs. It was only when Bulbul Shah (a Sufi preacher) converted the Hindu ruler here, that most people converted to Islam. So, in a sense both the Pandits and the Muslims share the same blood and ancestry."
"It was Gulab Singh (Dogra ruler) who bought Kashmir from the British for 75 lakh rupees. They sold it to him because he helped the British army defeat the Sikhs, who were ruling over Kashmir, Jammu, and even Tibet. Even now, his family owns hundreds of acres of prime real estate in Srinagar and rest of the valley."
"Things were fine till 1971 between us. Pakistan on one hand, and our politicians on the other hand spoiled the beauty of life here forever. And every time there is some hope, the media kills it by highlighting the separatists' voice and not of the common people."
"Most of the politicians and the media get paid by both Pakistan and India. So, why would they want the problem resolved, ever?"
"There used to be a time when one would have to wait for a shikara for 30 minutes to get to your boat. So much rush that even getting a house boat booking was not easy. And traffic jams on the way to Gulmarg. But now? Not even 1% of peak tourist traffic ! Tourism is our backbone, and every time there is a security situation, tourism drops heavily, and we lose our bread."
"God has given us the most beautiful place in the world, but we Kashmiris are not capable of enjoying it. We don't deserve this beauty and peace, may be. Our downfall started when we lost honesty and integrity. Don't blame Islam for our downfall. Islam has been here since hundreds of years, but our downfall started since the 1970s."
"The people who speak about being pious and how a true mussalman should live - the ones with long beards, they are the ones who debauch, lie and commit all kinds of unpardonable sins. And in the villages where there are no jobs and no regular income, these people have become/becoming role models. The city youth has realized it now, but the rural youth are gullible."
"Education? What is the point, sir? You will find graduates and post graduates driving taxis, rowing boats and rearing horses. Where are the jobs?"
"We had no choice but the Abdullahs. Mufti saheb was genuine, and his daughter seemed fine too. And we were happy she joined hands with BJP, because Modi is strong and can solve our issues if Mehbooba ji convinces him. But not much happened in the last 4 years. So, we have no where else to go."
"The Army, sir. Without the Army's help, half of Srinagar would have died in the floods. The Army people are nice. They serve at the borders, and have nothing to do with the violence in the valley. (Showing me a school building in a village) ..did you read the name of the school? Yes, it is the Army Goodwill School. They have built schools and hospitals in many villages. If any Kashmiri blames the Army for what is wrong here, he is a fool."
"The big difference in the last 3-4 years here has been the roads. Modi has built many roads here and got the old ones repaired. Mehbooba ji takes the credit, but we know it is Modi. The other big thing he has done is the notebandi (demonetisation). You should have seen it here. All the people with black money and counterfeit currency didn't know what to do. Patthar bazi (stone pelting) is time pass for some youth, but money making for the ring leaders. Modi has done a good job with notebandi, but it is not enough."
And so on, and so forth.
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| We stopped by a river on the way to Sonamarg. Parvez bhai had his chai and smokes, while the kids tried putting their feet in the ice cold water. Life is beautiful ! |
At Sonamarg, we bumped into a group of all-male tourist group from Warangal. We bargained (under the able guidance of Parvez bhai) with the ghod savari (horse riding) folks for Rs.1500 per person for a pony ride to Tajwass glacier, snow gear, and snow sledge - all inclusive. They quoted Rs.3000 per person originally. As is common with Telugus, the Warangal men promptly checked with me about the rate and informed me gleefully that they bargained for Rs.1000 per person without the sledge.
The slow pony ride up the hills towards the glacier afforded me a chance to strike conversation with the men who were helping us. According to them, they are all salaried employees and the horses are owned by someone else. They get Rs.4000-5000 per month, and nothing during the off-season. Among the four people with us, two identified themselves as Kashmiri, and the other two as Gujjar. The spoke a mix of Kashmiri and Gujjari with each other (what they told me - I was blissfully clueless about the difference between the two languages).
The young Kashmiri teenager walking/running beside my horse turned out to be a graduate, who has dreams of doing Masters. " We are educated, sir. Most of us, in fact. But this is the only job available here, and I can't go anywhere else leaving my family. Some of my friends visit cities in India to sell clothes and stuff. But they tell me there is no other place like this anywhere in India."
"You should stay for two more days here, sir. Salman Khan was here last week. He said he will be back again and this time, will stay for two weeks. Race 3 movie is being shot here."
It was a bit ironic to hear him speak about bollywood stars, because all his life, he has never been inside a movie theatre. The last film theatres in Kashmir closed in the early 1990s. Srinagar, a city with close to 1.2 million residents, does not have a single movie theatre.
More on that, and the rest of my Kashmir valley trip, in the next and final part. Here's a vista of the Tajwass glacier snow point.
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