Journey to the Paradise: Jammu and Kashmir

Scenic beauty can be best enjoyed in the hills and mountains. The different colours of Mother Earth, the enchanting greenery and blossoms all surrounding on the layers of mountains gives an intensifying sense of gratitude. The rivers gushing along the rocks, flowing with the speed of water from the height along the slopes of the mountains. Where one can feel the presence of a heaven like feeling with the flow of the Mother Nature. These are visible in Jammu and Kashmir, the beautiful state right at the top of India's map, this state resembles the upper part of our country. This place is as beautiful as the paradise and serene to the sense of admiration and praises it gives pleasure to the heart.

Jammu and Kashmir are worth a place to visit at least once in a lifetime to experience the climatic alterations, the foregoing changes that take place as one move from one district to another. The mindblowing landscapes, the lush green fields, the tall conifers layering the big mountains, the rivers flowing through the slopes of the mountains. One can only believe in God's creation of such a mesmerising place only after visiting with their physical presence. The place is so astounding to the pleasing sense as if God has painted each and every corner of each and every nook and corner of the place with his own hand. The transformation that takes place from low land to the high lands, from lakes to rivers, from barren land to lush green fields, from small hills to the mighty Himalayas is superbly executed by God's own magic and it is just beyond anyone's imagination. One just falls in love with the place after once they visit.

Let's find out some of the important places to visit in Jammu and Kashmir- 'The Paradise on Earth'.

PAHALGAM

The rays of Sun that falls on the way through Pahalgam in Anantnag is so soft that one feels a soothing atmosphere along the journey. Some of these places are often affected by landslides at any point in time, especially when it rains, however, government officials and other locals are always present to help the tourists, so that they may not get stuck on their way to see the beautiful places.

On the way to Pahalgam, there are houses built of chipped paint, old wooden blocks, and windows which play their own part in making Kashmir even more special and warm. The rooftops are painted with bright colour, especially the locals use green, blue and red.

There is a dense forest of pine and conifers, the leaves wavering in the wind deep in the forests and also through the roads.  

On the way to Pahalgam from Ramban, one get to see a typical Kashmiri town surrounding with nature all around itself. This is the Mattan Valley a small village in the district of Anantnag. This place resembles the true and soulful brotherhood of the three religion – Hindu, Muslim and Sikh. Anantnag was and is still actually known as Islamabad by the locals. The Lidder River one of the tributaries of river Chenab comes straight down the mountains. River Lidder is flowing everywhere in Pahalgam which is clearly seen in all the famous places within the valley.

There is live snow clads (the icebergs) upon the mountains in Chandanwari. This is the place where they set up the camps for the Amarnath Pilgrims, to take rest on their way to the ‘Amarnath Tirth Yatra’.

This is the Betaab Valley, one of the shooting locations of a Bollywood movie named ‘Betaab’ in the early 80’s which starred Sunny Deol as his first movie. The place is named after the movie as ‘Betaab Valley’. At present, the valley looked more of man-made place as compared to the actual scenarios in the movie.

Betaab Valley

There are summer resorts, picnic spots in abundance in Pahalgam and its natural beauty have always attracted the tourists and film-makers. The famous Bollywood Movie like ‘Karma’ in the 80’s starring Dilip Kumar, ‘Jab Tak Hain Jaan of 2012 starring Shahrukh Khan, ‘Bajrangi Bhaijaan’ of 2015 starring Salman Khan was shot in the Aru Valley in Pahalgam, and there are many more movies that are been filmed in this beautiful location. The locals call Baisaran as the ‘Mini Switzerland’ and one needs to take the horse ride to view this beautiful portion of Kashmir Valley, also known as the ‘Valley of Shepherds’.

Bajrangi Bhaijaan’s Qawaali song was shot in ‘Aishmuqam Dargah’. The place is very calm and peaceful, people are kind over there and one would feel pulled towards the ambiance of the Dargah premises. There are nearly 350 steps to climb up the mountain to reach the Dargah and one wouldn't even feel tired.

Aishmuqam Dargah

There are sweet outlets on both the sides of the stairs while climbing the Aishmuqam shrine.

GULMARG

Gulmarg always promises a spectacular morning view of the town. There is nothing more beautiful than this place, one feels like in the seventh sky.

When in Gulmarg, one gets to witness the best of nature’s creation. The flowers are way beyond their beauty, they shine under the soft sun and sparkle in the mist. The colors look absolutely bright and beautiful grabbing full attention towards them. These flowers are the main attraction in the Gulmarg hills.

There are 'meadows of blue flowers' they are grown in every corner of the town. This is why Gulmarg is literally known as the ‘Meadow of Flowers’. This is an area under Lt.col.R.N.Chopra which has meadows of all varieties of flowers in and around its place. 

There is a small temple at the heart of the town standing tall upon a tiny hill. The Temple is named as 'Maharani Shiv Temple'.

Maharani Shiv Temple

Just below the temple hill, there are horses always grazing throughout the day.

It is recommendable to take the Gondola ride to view every angle of the valley. Also, people always enjoy the quaint little day of the horse trekking to the Gulmarg hills. The pony ride takes to the Kangamdori which is the first phase of the Gondola. 

1st Phase Gondola Cable Rides

Then takes to the Khilanmarg which is one of the shooting locations of a Hindi film song ‘Chahe Koi Mujhe Junglee kahe….Yahoo’ from the early 60’s.

There are many gurgling rivulets and springs of water and also snow-capped mountain peaks situated at some distance away. It then takes near the Frozen Lake, where the water flows straight down the mountain, melting from the frozen glaciers. The place gets damn cold. Interestingly the people of this place bathe with this chilling cold water even in extremely cold weather, they also drink it directly. People would not need any medicines because this serene water heals any bacterial infections or other diseases too.

DAL LAKE

The markets are filled with fresh fruits everywhere, especially fresh Plums, Apples and Apricots are in abundance.There are many ‘Apple Orchards’, planted in the beautiful valley of Tangmarg, there are a few of the factory outlet showroom of Pashmina shawls and Dry Fruits on the outskirts of Srinagar. While heading to the capital city, there is a Fruit Market at a long stretch by the sides of the road.

Dal Lake 

Dal Lake is located at the vicinity of Srinagar. Many Shikara floats on the lake carry tourists and other locals from one end of the lake to the other bank. There are houseboats beautiful wooden carved and very well furnished, which are a typical ancient architectural design of the Mughals. People go around the lake on the ‘Shikara rides’ and have some relaxing time in the shikhara while watching the beautiful and mesmerizing life of Dal Lake.

Shikara

Dal Lake Reflects the Nature as if a mirror image falling upon the water. People spend some quality time around the houseboats and the astounding views of the lake in the evening lights.

An evening view of Dal Lake

Nigeen lake is actually the backside of the Dal Lake. The timing for the sunrise and the sunset are adjusted according to the tourist's interest, as the day begins too early around 5 am and ends very late around 8 pm. So it gives more hours to the spectators to plan accordingly and visit the places in the daylight.

SRINAGAR

Shankaracharya Temple is a Hindu Temple situated at a mountaintop, where one has to climb up about 400 steps. Photography is not allowed after the checking point before the entrance below the stairs, so you would need to leave the cameras and phones in the car. However, one can still capture a glimpse of the entire city from the top while driving back from the temple. We can have a full panoramic view of the whole Srinagar city from the temple's top.

There are 4 Mughal Gardens in Srinagar, also the Botanical Garden and the Tulip Garden which is known as the largest tulip garden in Asia.

Shalimar Bagh is known to be the largest of all the Mughal Gardens in India, in fact of all the other gardens too. This garden has the Mughal architectural concepts at every interval, at a long stretch of the walking pavement along with fountains setup at the center of the garden throughout the long pavement. The garden is extremely vast in size, one would need at least a complete day to conquer the whole garden. 

Shalimar Bagh

Nishat Bagh offers some of the colourful flowers and scenarios are just nature’s creation that would arrest all hearts within its beauty. This garden provides an absolute delight to every photographers’ lens with beautiful flowers and mesmerizing landscapes at its background.

Nishat Bagh

Chashme Shahi is a bit smaller Mughal garden when compared to the rest. This garden offers a terrace formation or sloped green layers of the walking areas. It provides the spring water channel which is melting and coming down from the mountain glaciers. The gardens are beautifully decorated with varieties of plants and trees, laying a green blanket of grasses all over the terraced formed architecture.   

Chashme Shahi 

As you walk through these gardens, you walk endlessly, extra mile, they are marvelous, huge, staggering into your eye shots. These are an amazing art of nature. The day looks very bright and colorful, the Sun shines at its peak with its ultimate brightness. The salubrious weather and pristine environment welcome all nature lovers with a whole lot of pleasure and memories in the heart. The picturesque and lush landscape are worth visiting the soul of every traveller. 

SONMARG

There may come a few obstacles falling on the way from Srinagar to Sonmarg, as the routes are mostly camped by the military officials, therefore for the sake of tourists and other locals safety there are checkpoints where all the cars are stopped and the checking goes on one after the other, it hardly takes about 30 to 40 minutes or even less. These type of check posts are based in most of the places all over Kashmir to overcome any sort of sudden attacks. Every travellers cooperate with the Army officials and patiently complete the process. This kind of check posts is mostly camped during the 'Amarnath Tirth Yatra' in the month of July and August.

Sonamarg is was known as the meadows of Gold, here the horse ride is a must to catch the astonishing ‘Thajiwas Glacier’ which is the famous breathtaking ice-capped mountains. It looks amazingly gorgeous and the place is absolutely freezing cold.

Thajiwas Glacier

It is much truth to the fact as said by the poet Amir Khusru: ‘If there is a Heaven on Earth, it's here, it's here! Haminasto! Haminasto!!

Kashmir is truly Incredible! It's purely Magical; Exceptionally A Paradise on Earth.

Author: Paromita Pramanick

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