How I fell in love with Kashmir.

Getting out of that plane to the first breath of the Kashmiri air, I smiled as the sun forced my eyes shut and the cold breeze touched my skin and gave me a welcome kiss. They say, beautiful love stories begin with a perfect first kiss. And so began my love story with Kashmir.

Once we were out of the hustle bustle of the city, and into the mountains before Pahalgam  we realized that our exhaustion was left behind somehow.

I don’t think my mind had grasped what beauty really is, until now. Here you could keep blinking; coz there wasn’t an end to the beauty and so there was no fear of ‘I might miss it if I blink’. You didn’t need to stop the car to capture a particular gorgeous spot coz every sight your eyes captured were mind numbing. It felt like nature was consuming us, like we didn’t exist anymore. Isn’t that what falling in love feels like?

Pahalgam our first home in Kashmir was gorgeous. Very crowded, but that didn’t disrupt anything for us. Traffic was also welcomed, just for the pause to witness the beauty that surrounded us at every second. The sounds of people and cars were also drowned by the ever flowing rivers that flowed everywhere our car went, like it intended to keep us company.  You know, even now, when I miss the feeling of Kashmir, I can close my eyes and hear the rivers flow. Isn’t that what falling in love feels like?

Every encounter we had with the people, right from our first stop at Pahalgam was memorable. The people were extraordinary. So hospitable and even though, generally on trips I have my guard up, these people felt safe. They felt warm, welcoming and seemed delighted to be around us. They looked, sounded and felt like my people and they made us feel at home. It is strange how similarities make falling in love so much easier. I remember what one of the waiters in Gulmarg said to me when I told him I loved Kashmiri people. He said everyone calls this place Jannat (heaven), so the citizens of Jannat have to be worth being called that right? Right!
Another rare quality that I witnessed in Kashmiris was their faith. Whoever, you asked how is life treating you, he said shukr allah (thank god) and with a smile that was even visible in their eyes. Any job, money, financial related question was responded to with a thank you God and it wasn’t a superficial gratitude, it was genuine, you could see it in their body language, in their eyes.

Strangers, drivers who took us around, shop keepers, darga caretakers, whoever we interacted with, had something to tell us about Kashmir. About the history, the pride, the pain, the Iranian connections, the youth, their faith.  We learned a little bit from every one we met.
And then there was an old connection restored in Kashmir, I met an old out of touch friend after a decade, thanks to Facebook! He just restated my opinion of Kashmiri people.
Kashmiris are hospitable, warm, polite, courteous, smart people with faith. He not only gave us a tour of his city, and his beautiful home, but gave us a clearer perspective of Kashmir, and joined all the dots that we had made, talking to people around us.
Intellectual conversations, words and stories, history, politeness, faith, and good food, these are all the things that win over my heart in a snap of a finger! So wouldn’t you say I was already in love by now?

Talking about food, my mind stops functioning every time I remember the flavor of the meat there! The last time I tasted such delicious meat was in Iran in 2006. Taste buds are some genius tools I tell you! Every time I took a bite of the meat, I was transported back in time to that little restaurant my dad used to take me to in Mashhad.  Memories like these are divine.  I want to go back to Kashmir just for the food if not anything else.
The taste of kashk (dry yogurt) in the Goshtaba, felt like my body saying “Girl are you freakin sure we are not in Iran? that was kashk for God sake!’
Maybe mom is right, maybe its coz the meat there was so fresh and not frozen that food tasted so good. Or maybe it was magic! Whatever it was, I am stuck with that flavor. It wasn’t how Indian food leaves me…feeling stuffed and “oh god I shouldn’t have had so much”, it was more like ‘I wish I had a kangaroo pouch inside me to store more of this meat for later.’ I have a special place in my heart for my kind of slurping food…and that’s checkmate! I am in Love!

In Sonamarg, we drove up mountains for a couple of hours, on very dangerous roads. But maybe since I have experienced such kind of roads before, I am never scared but enjoy every dip and every edge and every thrilling turn. It gives me a kick so to say. After a long bumpy road trip we reached a frozen point. It was like God just decided that even though the sun will shine bright and tan everyone around, the ice in this frozen zojila pass will not melt. We drove through narrow lanes with walls of ice. You could stretch your arm out of the car and crush the ice on the walls with your nails. It was such an amusing feeling, felt like driving through a 'drive through' freezer. And there I did what I was afraid of doing…I held my bestie’s hand and walked in ice. I sat in Ice, and almost slipped in ice, and thanks to the Sun, God, Love and Magic, I did not turn blue even for a second.  I believe in miracles and I fall in love with them every single time. And here I was in love again.

Kashmir, I am one amongst the millions who are in love with you. Your still forests, and gushing rivers, your traffic made of sheep and shepherds, your snow-capped mountains and paddy fields, your old town buildings that transported me to how I imagined you to be as the princely state; your horses running freely on your lush green highlands, your silent nights, your twinkling skies, the smell of rain, the juicy fruits, and your tea and kahwa.

Your mystical stories of dervishes and Sufis; your hundreds of dargas and khangahs with their beautiful pigeons as symbols; your uniqueness and your likenesses to my kind.  There are millions of reasons to love you, and maybe a million more.  I was blessed to touch you once and to do so in the company of my mom n dad was an absolute dream come true.

Gar firdous bar rouye zamin ast, hamin ast o hamin ast o hamin ast. (If there is a heaven on earth, it is this, it is this, it is this)

Be omid e didaar (with the hope of seeing you again) my love…