A week ago we took a car to Kashmir. This was truly one of the most fantastic part of our journey in India. Stuffed in a minibus from Jammu we soon got to know that it is illegal to drive between Jammu and Srinagar at night. In case of a police control, we are asked to lie about our destination. We don't really understand if that's for political or climatic reasons. For a couple of hours we've been driving through the most norrow mountain roads as well as crossing a dry river, asking the locals for an alternative path. The night goes on and we have to wait on the way. People are cleaning the road from a landslide. We befriend with our neighbour, a truly kind person who offers us tea and sweets. There is only one way from India to Kashmir since the Partition between India and Pakistan. And that goes crossing a very long and old tunnel. The narrow corridors goes and goes and we wonder if it will end. But when it does, we come out in a beautiful snow landscape : we are in Kashmir!
View from our homestay
In Srinagar, no more snow. Kashmiris are known for being wonderful hosts. I wouldn't have believed how true this was before seeing it myself. The friend I mentionned earlier invited to stay at his family home on our arrival. He lives outside of the center in a big new house with his three sisters, his parents and his grandmother, a traditionnal muslim family. On our arrival we were offered salty Kashmiri tea, bread and butter. Here we traditionnaly eat and sleep on the floor. Everyone carries a hot pot of embers that one can put under his/her long coat for keeping warm. Everyday we are feeded and dressed. During the dinners we have long talks with the sisters. The eldest is very talkative. She studies sufism and speaks in quotes of the Quran. Once we asked about men and women relationships, and she explained us that the sun shows up in the day and the moon in the night and that is for the good of humankind they keep a definite distance. The second sister laughs all the time and the youngest is shy and very quiet. It was really a magical stay and we feel very thanksful.
Tince in Sherwani with a hot pot
Nicolas waiting for shashlik
On our second day in Srinagar it started snowing. A very heavy snow. That day Srinagar looked a bit like Rīga, with its buildings of wood and red bricks, and snow all around. We bravely faced the snow to explore the mosques and shrines of the old city. Mosques in Kashmir feature interesting architecture, typically with a green wooden pagoda roof. At the end of our little exploration we arrived on a small mausoleum. We can barely see a huge grave from the window. Outside a quote of the Quran (translated in English) tells us about the prophet Isa (Jesus Christ) who didn't die on the cross (according to the holy book of the muslims). There is one controversial theory that I got to know in India during one of my readings. Some believe that Jesus survived his cruxifiction and travelled then to India with St Thomas. He'd die in an old age and would be burried in Srinagar. Well. I've read the famous Jesus live in India by Holger Kersten (inspired from the works of Nikolai Notovich). It's a fine fiction. First I was quite open to this theory. But the book is a total fantasy and hard to take seriously by someone with a minimum of religious culture. Not only Jesus survived and came to Kashmir, but he also spent his teenagehood in India with buddhist monks, Abraham was born in Kasmir and brought the Hebrew people from Kashmir to Canaan and Moses is also somehow burried in Kashmir! A little bit too much.
Kashmir is not India, we are regulary remembered. It is true it feels here like a totally different country. People's behaviour and faces bring us far away of what we have seen in India so far. Kashmiris are very proud of their Kashmir and always want be sure we find their land beautiful. The food also is different. We finally get to eat meat! And a lot of it. Kashmiris love kabab, shashlik, tandoori... Street dogs look healthy, almost fat, eating meat wastes. Unlike skiny Indian dogs on vegetarian diet. During the next days, snow disappear. However important landslides prevent us to leave the country. The only road is closed, and still today we don't know yet when we'll be able to take a bus. Hopefully tomorrow. Hopefully.
This gives us more time to explore the city. We are off touristic season here, and maybe the only whities in town! The rain force us to hide our face and the rickshaws drive without noticing us. We visited the museum of Srinagar. A part of it actually, most of the museum being closed due to flood. The content of the museum wasn't interesting but the museology was amazing! Some old statues from the 7th century BC put on the floor with no protection, piles of stuffed animals loosing their hair in open showcase... On a sunny day we took a boat through the canals of Dal lake. Many people live on the lake. We are discovering a second city! Different districts (for fishermen, for shopping, etc.) are here, and also a mosque and a hindu temple. See on the pictures!
No comments:
Post a Comment