It was such a great birthday bash. I was having the time of my life. Just then there was a knock on the door which dragged me out of bed. I reluctantly left the party for ever and opened the door. Someone had come to wake us up at 5.00 am so that we could get a taxi for Leh. After having travelled continuously for twenty four hours (from
Delhi to
Srinagar), I had slept for only four hours at night. I definitely deserved more sleep. Went back to bed and fell unconscious in two seconds. Woke up much later, perhaps at around 9 o’clock. Then took a walk outside, showered and then began to wait for Mr. Moktan to wake up- what a sleepy head!
He slept like a log for hours on end. In the meantime, I finished reading The Eleventh Commandment by Jeffery Archer and began to surf through the channels on TV.
Palzer definitely can sleep like hell. I’m sure he will be frontrunner for the “Sleeping Competition” if there is anything like that. Nevertheless we are on a holiday and he has all the rights in the world to sleep like that.
We were finally ready to explore Srinagar by 1 o’ clock. We gleefully jumped into a shikara which first of all, took us to a restaurant by the Dal Lake, where we had brunch. Man! Kashmiri food is delicious to say the least. Some Kashmiri bread (or bun I should say), kabab, Kashmiri chicken and some tea made sure that our day began in a grand fashion. Food was cooked in saffron, almonds and many other spices that I have no idea of. Even though the food was spicy (which I dislike), I couldn’t help devouring the food. I was ready to burn my oesophagus ten times over with spice if I could lay my hands on food like this!
After a hearty meal, we set off to explore the length and breadth of the Dal Lake in a shikara. Whoever first said that that Kashmir was paradise was definitely not joking. The mountains surrounding the enormous lake offered one of the most picturesque sights I’ve seen. The numerous houseboats with their strange and even funny names kept us amused right till the end. Palzer got busy with the camera right from the word go. I think he is seriously considering a profession in this field. Srinagar is a hotspot for tourists you see (he even told me that he would love to settle down here). A lot of businessmen in their shikaras kept pestering us, trying to sell us gemstones, ice-cream, saffron and so on. These people left me alone perhaps thinking me to be a local guy (with my light beard and sharp features, I look quite like some of the people here), and hounded Palzer thinking him to be a foreigner (one of them even tried talking to him in Japanese). Poor friend of mine bore the brunt of it all alone. Our host (the guy who owned the shikara) was quite a chatty fellow and pointed out to us various five-star hotels, expensive houseboats (hotels), Akbar’s fort, cottage industries and so on, as we surveyed the lake. He even took us through a vegetable garden which lay floating on the lake. Our four and a half hour boat ride had been worth every rupee we paid for it.
Then we went walking to Lal Chowk hunting for an ATM, after which we found ourselves inside a small café. Hot chicken patties, spicy kabab with bread and tea- had a really delicious evening snack. Palzer believes that at this rate we will fatten up in a week. I believe that in a month, we will transform into hogs. Even after such a heavy snack, we managed to enjoy our simple dinner which consisted of roti, jeera rice and rajma. I think that the wonderfully cool weather here makes us relish our food like never before. The ambience at this town could also be another factor.
Tomorrow, elections are going to be held here, so we may not get any vehicle for Ladakh. We may have to spend another day here. There’s not much we can do about it, can we? Let’s see how another day unfolds.
No comments:
Post a Comment