19-May-2012 DAY 5

I got up late and had a leisurely breakfast. Just wanted to laze around and do nothing. That was just a wish. We had to pack our stuff and push our luggage to the tour manager. We were going to Pahalgam. But wait, we had not done our Shikara ride yet? That was the plan for the first half of the day. We had a fantastic morning in store for us. We assembled at a small pier. At Rs. 300 per head many of us had a go at water surfing.

We have to stand atop a small plank which is tied to a pair of ropes. This will be pulled by a motor boat taking us for a spin around the lake. With no safety gear it was a risk… but that’s the fun part. This was followed by a 2 hour absolutely relaxing ride on a Shikara – a small covered row boat with wide tastefully decorated seats. We will be going around the Nagin Lake free of any disturbance for the next two hours … so I thought… I have heard of going to market… but never heard or seen market coming to us. This is exactly what happened. Just as my lids were drooping somebody nudged me and wanted to peddle some stuff.

I literally fell off the boat. Another Shikara had noiselessly glided next to us and my wife was busy negotiating! I felt as cheated as a Kingfisher who thought it had caught a fish but had weed in its mouth! For the next two hours we were accosted by wares as varied as wooden handicrafts, Paper mache, Jewelries, Cloth, Flowers, seeds…you name it. Instead of fighting them, I did the next best thing…I joined the shopping frenzy. I was to later rue this decision. I bargained a “Walnut wood” handicraft and later found in Pahalgam market that the same stuff was available for 1/5th of the cost! I should have done one of two things …either not buy at the floating market or more importantly not enquired the price in Pahalgam market! …a case of curiosity killed the cat?

After lunch, we started for Pahalgam approximately 96 KMS from Srinagar. Our buses were parked outside the city as buses are not allowed within the city limits during daytime. Local vans were arranged to transport us to our buses. All of us were much more relaxed after the Shikara outing. Enroute to Pahalgam we passed Saffron plantations at Pampore. Saffron farms are unique to Kashmir valley and does not grow anywhere else. (Saffron was selling at Rs. 200 per gram).On the way, we stopped at a cricket bat factory. This place is famous for Kashmir Willows. These bats are used till the Ranji level in India. We passed the ruins of Avantipura temple built by Raja Awantivarman. We stopped at the Sun temple (not the ruins) before proceeding to Pahalgam.

Pahalgam is one of the tehsils of the Anantnag district. We reached our resort late in the evening. We were warned of unpredictable weather in Pahalgam. Our resort was nestled amongst the hills and was decently maintained. In winter, Pahalgam gets inundated with snow. The snow has retreated to the greater heights during our visit. The melting snow contributes to the Lidder River which flows around Pahalgam. One can discern the purity of the water as it descends majestically from the heights.