The Kashmir discovery - Part 2
Grey blanketed the city. Not from smoke, thankfully, but with the weathering of the leaves on trees, the mist accentuating the cold and the drab colours of the pherans. But women still brought the much-needed cheer with their brightly coloured wrap-and-hang-along head-gears.
The bus came - a short, narrow colourful tin-on-wheels with closely set seats. Found a nook beside a window, and off we trundled - across the bleary Jhelum, along the Manasbal lake with its tempting nadrus (lotus stems - a local delicacy), and also past one of the largest fresh-water lakes in Asia, the Wular, which unfortunately had been reduced to one huge mass of algae. All this while, people came in and stumbled out at various stops - all eyeing me curiously, no one asking me anything. Amidst the chattering and the clattering, Bandipora we arrived.
Well, I did not see much of the town. The bus simply dropped me at a 'taxi-stand' where I contemplated for a while whether I must find something to eat, but, dropping the idea, instead enquired about a taxi which could take me to Gurez. "There, there's the Sumo going to Gurez...", and I felt I'd already reached the destination! Bandipora was already colder than Srinagar (my phone reported a 5°C at 12 noon, along with a slow breeze coming in from the mountains which surrounded three sides of the town). I really wanted my thermal shirt from inside the rucksack... but did not want to lose time. Amidst further questions about me not feeling cold, and some fare negotiations, off we left for Gurez... a policeman going home for holidays, a teacher reporting back for work at the local school, a college student returning home after an interview, some common village-folk, and me.
"मौसम काफी ख़राब है, वहाँ। आप काम से जा रहे हैं ?" - The weather's quite inclement there, are you going for work? Nobody seemed to understand that I was simply travelling. I somehow managed to convince them that nobody had forced me to visit Gurez, that I was not going there to explore lending to local businessmen, and also that I was not a journalist researching my next project. This job done, they warmed up to me, we began chit-chatting more normally, and the rough ride actually became a pleasure.
The bus came - a short, narrow colourful tin-on-wheels with closely set seats. Found a nook beside a window, and off we trundled - across the bleary Jhelum, along the Manasbal lake with its tempting nadrus (lotus stems - a local delicacy), and also past one of the largest fresh-water lakes in Asia, the Wular, which unfortunately had been reduced to one huge mass of algae. All this while, people came in and stumbled out at various stops - all eyeing me curiously, no one asking me anything. Amidst the chattering and the clattering, Bandipora we arrived.
Well, I did not see much of the town. The bus simply dropped me at a 'taxi-stand' where I contemplated for a while whether I must find something to eat, but, dropping the idea, instead enquired about a taxi which could take me to Gurez. "There, there's the Sumo going to Gurez...", and I felt I'd already reached the destination! Bandipora was already colder than Srinagar (my phone reported a 5°C at 12 noon, along with a slow breeze coming in from the mountains which surrounded three sides of the town). I really wanted my thermal shirt from inside the rucksack... but did not want to lose time. Amidst further questions about me not feeling cold, and some fare negotiations, off we left for Gurez... a policeman going home for holidays, a teacher reporting back for work at the local school, a college student returning home after an interview, some common village-folk, and me.
"मौसम काफी ख़राब है, वहाँ। आप काम से जा रहे हैं ?" - The weather's quite inclement there, are you going for work? Nobody seemed to understand that I was simply travelling. I somehow managed to convince them that nobody had forced me to visit Gurez, that I was not going there to explore lending to local businessmen, and also that I was not a journalist researching my next project. This job done, they warmed up to me, we began chit-chatting more normally, and the rough ride actually became a pleasure.
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