Kashmir, a picturesque valley nestled in the Himalayas, is also referred to as “heaven on earth”. The stunning landscapes, snow-capped mountains, serene lakes and lush green valleys have attracted tourists for centuries. As an avid traveller, I had always been intrigued by the beauty of this place, and so I decided to embark on a trip to Kashmir to experience its magic first-hand. Little did I know that my journey would turn out to be an experience of a lifetime, full of adventure and life lessons.

My trip to Kashmir started with a flight to Srinagar, the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir. As the plane descended, I caught my first glimpse of the snow-capped mountains. The view was awe-inspiring, with snow-capped mountains standing tall against a backdrop of blue skies. I felt a sense of calm and tranquillity that I had never experienced before.

As I stepped out of the airport, I was greeted by the fresh mountain air and the warm hospitality of the locals. I had a local guide pick me up from the airport; he introduced me to the local culture and traditions, and I got a taste of the famous Kashmiri cuisine.

The next few days were spent exploring the city and its surroundings. I visited the iconic Dal Lake, which is surrounded by the beautiful Mughal Gardens and houseboats.

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She sat upset over the fate of her home state Kashmir. Nighat Shafi Pandit, born on 16 January 1951, had shielded her children from militancy. But when she moved from New Delhi to Kashmir in 1995, she was saddened to see how families had been torn apart by war and internal strife.

Militancy has captured many of the youth. The constant firing between Pakistan and India has turned many wives into widows and many children into orphans. When she visited the inmates in the sole mental hospital in Srinagar, Nighat realised that the damage was not merely physical, but also emotional.

Being the wife of a bureaucrat, Nighat lived a comfortable life. But she questioned: what about the lives of others in the Valley? As an ordinary housewife, what can she do, she wondered.

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The splendid Kashmir region is a heaven on earth for its beautiful landscapes, lush green valleys, stunning multi-coloured tulip gardens, dazzling lakes, and for its uncanny resemblance with the Garden of Eden described in religious books. Therefore it acquired the name ‘Paradise on Earth’. It is resplendent with white beauty in winter and the glorious colours of nature in autumn, fall, spring and summer.

People

Although Kashmiri people live in different parts of India they are mainly settled in the Valley of Kashmir, Doda, Kishtwar and Ramban thasils of Jammu Division. Their language is highly influenced by the Sanskrit language and mostly spoken by Kashmiri Muslims and Kashmiri Hindus.

Culture

The culture of Kashmir is a blend of multiple customs and came from Northern India, Northern Pakistan and the Chinese territory of Aksai Chin. The state enjoys a mix of religions and that’s why Kashmir is famous for its cultural heritage. It merges Hindu, Sikh, Muslim and Buddhist religions which make Kashmir more beautiful by adopting their culture.

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Kashmiri saffron has a Geographical Indication tag (GI), marking its ingenuity and making it illegal for anyone outside the valley to sell a similar product under the “Kashmiri saffron” name. Jammu & Kashmir is the only state in India that produces saffron, also known as ‘red gold’. Pampore is known as the ‘saffron bowl’; the town’s saffron is considered to be of superior quality because of the high concentration of crocin (8.72%) — which gives the saffron its darker colour and medicinal value — as compared to the Iranian variety (6.82%).

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Amir Khusrau put into words what anyone with a beating heart feels when stepping into the heaven that is Kashmir: “Agar Firdaus bar rōy-e zamin ast, hamin ast-o hamin ast-o hamin ast.” (If there is a heaven on earth, it is here, it is here, it is here).

For my family and me, Kashmir has been home for decades. In the 1980s, when Dachigam was still relatively unknown, I was privileged to trek the Himalayan forests in the company of the legendary forest guard Qasim Wani. We would spend hours birding, watching the antics of langurs and waiting with baited breath for sightings of brown and black bears and, of course, that magical creature, the hangul.

I also recall sitting late into the night with the late Mir Inayet Ullah in the company of General R. K. Gaur and Brig. Moti Dar (who went on to become Vice Chief of the Indian Army), speaking about the good fortune of breathing in Himalayan air, drinking water straight from the river and listening to the rutting calls of hangul deer.

Wild wonderland

Every Kashmiri child now knows that the crystal waters that flow from Upper Dachigam, through the Dagwan river to the Harwan Reservoir and then into the Dal Lake, are vital to the health (and economy) of Srinagar. As the life-giving Dagwan makes the journey from its glacial source in the high Himalaya, it also feeds countless creatures, great and small, including snow leopards, brown and black bears, the endangered hangul deer Cervus elaphus hanglu, amphibians, reptiles, fish, birds such as the Koklas and Monal Pheasants and uncountable smaller life forms including insects and spiders, some surely yet to be discovered by science.

As may be expected, Dachigam is fiercely protected to safeguard this ecological wonderland, however, the Government of J&K encourages trekkers, birders and naturalists, and issues permits liberally, provided they have advance information. Speaking for myself, I have never once been to Kashmir without walking Dachigam’s wilds!
But there is vastly more to J&K than this. The state supports as many as 73 mammalian species, 358 species of birds, 68 species of reptiles, 14 different amphibians and as many as 158 types of butterflies. It’s a wealth that cannot be measured in financial terms.

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