When a Garhwali weds a Kashmiri.....

Thanks to India for its rich cultural diversity. I recently experienced a different culture, attending a Kashmiri Wedding in Jammu.

All thanks to my co sister for pushing me to attend this wedding, this November 2015. Her brother tied knot with a gorgeous Kashmiri girl. Being a witness to such a rich cultured wedding, I realised there is so much, which many of us haven’t experienced.

The Paharis (Garhwalis) were sweet enough to let the wedding take place with all Kashmiri rituals. I believe, we too wanted to gain familiarity with their tradition and customs, besides extending comfort to the bride and her family.

Best Part of rituals:

When we entered the venue: As a part of welcome, the groom was overloaded with the garlands by all from the bride’s side. Poor he couldn’t do anything except passing broad smiles to all.

The amazingly sweetest part of this module of wedding course was... when we saw the arrival of the bride during the same time, yes, at the entrance itself. The couple were blessed by all their relatives, especially the groom as he had to accept the shower of garlands againJ. And, I believe, at one point of time, his neck also refused to accommodate any more garlanding.

The blessing ceremony during feras: It covered the couple with a shawl and all the elders showered flowers on them, literally making mountains of yellow ‘genda’ flower petals over their heads.

The soaked Kashmiri walnuts as Prasad: I never knew walnuts could hold so much of relevance for a wedding. And, they were delectable.

As in any other Hindu wedding, this wedding too consisted of pheras in front of the sacred fire, amidst mantras. After this, the couple had to feed each other with rice and finally, the Vidai had taken place. So the ‘Kashmir ki Kali’ is an integral part of the Garhwali family now.

But one question still hovers over my head and knocks my brain, ... how would the groom ever get an idea of what his Kashmiri in laws or respective relatives are talking about? Are they passing some loving complements or comments?.... As the language sounds little unadorned & strict.... I really found it difficult to understand.   So, good luck groom J! 

Yet, the bottom line of any successful wedding is 'understanding'.. when the hearts meet, nothing else matters. So, the awesome newsome couple.... I wish you a nice travel through your beautiful married life! 

Travel to #Chopta... you will be satiated for lifetime!

I belong to #Uttarakhand and hence, my love for hills can never take a back seat. But at times I don’t like travelling through the serpentine route, especially when rocky mountain tries to pounce on me from one side and there is a gravitational pull from the river flowing down the hilly route one the other side. Well, it’s a delightful experience when you have naive green trees on both the sides, with sun rays filtering through gaps between their branches and leaves.

Our first view of  #Chopta!

The access to #Chopta right after #Ukhimath (which is a small village and a pilgrimage site in Rudraprayag district of Uttarakhand) offers the most amazing driving pleasure with a zip and zap move after every 2-5 seconds. Enchanting beauty of the pine, deodar and rhododendron forests and mountains covered with sparkling goldenish silver snow gives a captivating pictorial appeal altogether.

I had only thought of visiting the place sometime in the offing, but it will happen so soon I never knew....Well, we were to go to Nainital in the first week of October for vacation, though there wasn’t any booking but some kind of juggaadd was there, certainly.... The bags were almost packed to leave by 5:00 am in the morning.

Around 12 midnight, my husband impulsively said, “let’s go to Chopta”. We were off the cuff. “Let’s Pack up for Chopta and leave in an hour’s time”, Ashok said. I had my jaw almost dropped, but I was thrilled too. And we two along with two kids began our journey at 1:35 am.

From Ghaziabad it’s about 380-400 kilometres journey, which of course isn’t possible at one go. Driving via Meerut, Rishikesh, we reached Byasi around 6 am. We had light snacks there and then moved to halt at our (Ashok’s) maternal uncle’s place in Shrinagar. As Ashok was feeling sleepy I took over the steering wheel and drove up and down the scary hills till a few kilometres before Shrinagar where we reached at 10:00 am. After taking the much needed rest to drive ahead safely, we left for Chopta at 4:00pm.

Moving towards Srinagar from Byasi

We passed by the Srinagar dam at the Alaknanda River, which has a capacity of generating electricity up to 330 MW

Kids had real fun in shopping what not..., I should say, from the road side shops- toffees, chocolates, sweets, chips and drinks. They were enjoying equally while listening to Pahari and Bollywood songs. And when tired, they were sleeping cuddling over each other.

Kids too tired....

Place ahead of Agastyamuni, on our way to Chopta

Passing through Rudraprayag, around 6:30 pm the darkness fell and it felt scary driving on the hilly roads. We had complete faith in God and were equally brimming with our passion to reach Chopta by 7:30 pm or 8:00 pm max. There was no hotel/camp booking but we were only moving ahead.

Darkness fell; we continued driving to reach Chopta. The snow covered mountains excited us more to continue....

Around 7:15 pm, we received a call from a well-wisher who was trying to arrange accommodation for us. “Madam please don’t go beyond Ukhimath. Find a lodge and stay there tonight, as I am unable to get in touch with my people in Chopta due to bad network”, said Mr Bhandari. Though, we had already driven 15 minutes forward. But we listened to him and took a U-turn.We spent the night (October 2) at Anushree Lodge, which was quiet descent and too economical with home-like food.

Beautiful morning captured from Anushree Lodge's rooftop, sun is yet to rise though...

The morning looked incredible at Unkimath. The silver peaks of Himalaya mountain range, clear sky and the sun showering its untouched rays on us... was breathtaking. “Oh it’s nothing. Reach Chopta and then realise what’s nature’s beauty about”, said another traveller who was staying at the same lodge.

It's morning October 3, 2015; we set to move towards Chopta from Unkhimath. On right is the Anushree Lodge we stayed at

We started ... and in another 40-45 minutes we reached Chopta. “Woooooooo... awwwwww !!!!! I am sure nothing can be as marvellous as this place”, I said to Ashok. Kids were overjoyed too! It’s a natural treat to eyes, with views of snow adorned #Himalayan range, 8790 ft above sea level. Also called as #MiniSwitzerland, it's a must for all wanderlusts; thankfully, it’s still not a commercial travel spot!

Kids were overjoyed too to visit the mini Switzerland of Uttarakhand

A base for tracking to Tungnath, which is the third temple of Panch Kedar, which lies 3.5 kilometres away, Chopta looks even more beautiful on way to this temple. During the hiking to the temple, the scenic beauty of silver-lined peaks of Panchchuli, Nanda Devi, Nilkanth and Kedarnath, just hypnotise you.

Entrance to begin tracking to Tunganath Temple

As we had no strength to track with two kids, we hired mules that helped us reach the temple, though I would recommend people to walk up the hills to enjoy the track and capture the serenity and splendour of this place. I missed on capturing various beautiful sites during our journey from Chopta to Tungnath and then, way back.

I loved clicking this pic!

Incredible #Chopta!

Half way to Tunganath, we took a break for 10 minutes at this point

Hey... we had the most delicious food while the mules took a break half way to Tunganath. MAGGI!!!! Though it was still to be relaunched after an extensive ban all across the countryover concerns of excess lead levels, but we were lucky enough to slurp the Maggie noodles in the cold weather.

Enjoying Maggi!

Don’t miss out on the access to heaven like spotI must tell avid travellers not to miss a point, where you feel that you are about to enter heaven... it looks as if the track pathway ends there, and the gossamer sky is there to embrace you.In fact the entire track to the temple gives you that heaven like feel.. you tend to believe you are in cloud nine.

Looks as if the temple is placed somewhere in the sky, amidst gossamer clouds

#Tunganath is known to be the highest #Shiva #shrine in the world. Its literal meaning: Lord of the peaks, speaks for it. The most amazing part is its positioning in the mountains, which forms the #Mandakini river valley one side and #Alaknanda river valley on the other side.

We almost reach the temple; stairs to Tunganath

The temple!

Returning from the temple, on our wayback...

I wish to camp in Chopta for at least 3-4 days, when I go there again!

Kashmir Memoir-I: Kashmir went beyond my imaginations; it’s a God-designed valley

"Agar firdaus bar roo-e zameen ast, Hameen ast-o hameen ast-o hameen ast"
This is a famous verse by a sufi mystic, poet and musician Amir Khusro, in Persian language, which means......

"If there is paradise on earth, it is here, it is here, it is here (Kashmir)"

#Kashmir is the most beautiful place on earth... this is an unquestionable fact!

Till last year August (2014), I had only heard about it, watched the beautiful valley in television, movies and saw those enchanting flower beds in images, while surfing on Google. The God has carved out this valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir Panjal mountain range.

My good luck that my sister invited my family and our parents for a three-four day visit to Kashmir as her brother in law was posted there that time and accommodation was no problem. Though more than accommodation, I would say, we had the best of person to guide us about the place, for he is another wanderlust types.

My sister booked our tickets. She flew a day earlier, along with our parents, my kids and her own family and I followed, the next day. It was August 14 and the security was criminally tight at the airport, both in Delhi and Kashmir. Why? We all know the reasons.

Finally, I arrived in Kashmir; all the kids and my brother in law, were there to welcome me and pick me from airport. The distance to the Airport Authority Colony was hardly five minutes as we all had to camp at bhaiyya’s place J.

Majestic Dal Lake at sun set

It was August 14^th evening and we started with #Dal Jheel, the sprawling and enchanting lake. The captivating houseboats, anchored at the banks of the lake, were worth experiencing.  

             

We hired three ‘#Shikaras’. Appeared as if that song from “Kashmir ki Kali” came alive... tareef karun kya uski, kisne tumhe banaya. The “Shikaras” are no less that a “doli” (for a newly-wed bride).

  

My sister and her husband... singing .. tareef karun kya uski... in Shikara

             

Lake hawkers started travelling with us too to sell their trinkets and some were there to showcase their photographic skills, though we all know that it isn’t about the photography, but it’s ‘the’ picturesque place on earth.        

Shopping.. no no it's window shopping actually.. while travelling in a Shikara...

Next day, started with drizzles. Taxi was waiting for us and we too were on toes for the sightseeing and capturing ourselves with images from a DSLR and Smart phone cameras, in various valleys that were awaiting us too.

We both sisters posing to eat the sumptuous green apples in an apple orchid

My father in the lap of Aru Valley

Kids and I.. my ady is missing in this pic, though ... in Aru Valley

We passed via saffron fields, apple orchids...halted at Aru Valley, Pahalgam, for Lunch and then headed towards Betab Valley, same valley where the movie “Betab was shot”.

The shade which came to our rescue in Betab Valley.. saved us from heavy rain, which continued for almost an hour

It started pouring; temperature dipped to about 10-12 degree and we started freezing, in a while....but the spirits weren’t dampened.

Thankfully, we carried warm jackets for kids as we had perceived the change in weather, when we started in the morning.  So kids were safe... and we were having our own joy drenching in the rain, shivering.. having pop corns and pakodas in that serene and unruffled valley.... the only moving part was the majestically flowing water in river #Lidder. The green painted bridge over the river gives the site a heavenly touch; as if someone would have painted it on canvas.

My sister and I...  in Betab Valley.. rain couldn't dampen our spirits!!!

The green bridge over river Lidder in Betab Valley.. Honey giving a pose..!

Over the next two days, we were blessed to realise the beauty of #Sonamarg and visited #Shankaracharya temple and fragrant gardens, in Kashmir too. And of course, did some shopping too.

I am putting an end to this piece now, but I need to delve more into my Kashmir journey... shall be back soon with another one, Kashmir Memoir-II !

traveltoembracelife: Old Delhi, the more you explore it, the more you a...

traveltoembracelife: Old Delhi, the more you explore it, the more you a...: First of all, my big thanks to #thedelhipedia, for giving me this opportunity to unmask few more lanes and food stalls/carts of Delhi 6. ...

Old Delhi, the more you explore it, the more you are jammed in it, yet you love it

First of all, my big thanks to #thedelhipedia, for giving me this opportunity to unmask few more lanes and food stalls/carts of Delhi 6. And, then the big bunch of thanks goes to the two bloggers #Ambica Gulati and #Mridula Dwivedi for becoming my inspiration to write this first blog in traveltoembracelife, my new writing space.

Old Delhi, the more you explore it, the more you are jammed in it. Yes every time, you go there, there is new lane to explore, which at times jams you up amidst crowd resulting in a new lane to exit. But the best part is that you never feel lonesome, somehow. 

Well, it was an Old Delh Exploration Trail (Chapter 1: Unearthing treasures in Old Delhi), organised by Delhipedia, on September 9, 2015, a Wednesday. The walk was documented using #delhipediadiscovers, by bloggers and the Delhipedia team.

We all met at Gate No 1 Chandni Chowk Metro Station and begin the walk with the video production team of Delhipedia. It was as if some movie's shooting was going on... People around were curious to know what's happening.

The places we visited and explored started from Natraj Dahi Bhalla Wala, Amritsari Lassi Wala at Fatehpuri, Khaari Baoli and  Mirchi Market, Gole di hatti for Kulhad palak chhole, Maliwara/Kinari Bazaar to Jung Bahadur Kachoriwala for Kachori-Aloo Sabzi and ended with a walk through Dariba Kalan, to reach Old & Famous Jalebi Wala, to savour the delectable Rabri Jalebi.

For me, except #Natraj, #KinariBazaar and #DaribaKalan, the spots visited were the unexplored food corners/lanes/mosque/shops/markets. 
......It was as if some movie on Old Delhi was being flashed. No less than an east-man colour movie... Just imagine this..
The Fatehpuri T point Chowk. Old lanes/shops. Dry Fruits. Same people. Same clad. People on carts. Black big umbrella. Ladies selling Amrak, Imli roadside. The only difference was, now, there were more cars and other vehicles on the road, honking incessantly, disrespecting people walking by.

I had never seen #Fatehpuri Masjid. I was lucky enough to see it from the roof top of the Gadodia #SpiceMarket in Khari Baoli. The mosque spelled history..... and heritage. I wondered, why no one ever thought of restoring the entire space; I am sure many would have had, like me. The view from the top showcased the aura and vibrancy of #ChandniChowk uptill #SheeshGanjGurudwara and #RedFort.
I believe I have too much to write on this exploration trail... let's take a break. More stories to follow....