Friday, December 26, 2014

Mission Kashmir 2014 - Day 07

Pahalgam – Achabal – Kokernag – Verinag – Udhampur – Katra 

All good things come to an end and so did our stay at Pahalgam. When we left, the sun shone bright as the temperature read -5 in the Car. As soon as my brother sprayed the cleaner water on the windscreen, it froze. It was better off with dirt than with ice. After we had dispatched a security guard to get some hot water to pour over (like our Dad did during 1991 Shimla Trip), one of the elder stewards vehemently advised us not to lest we wanted the windscreen to crack due to the contrast. We were not sure about this but we followed an easy policy – When in doubt, take the zero risk way. The sun was anyway shining bright and our departure got delayed by no more than 4 minutes when the ice melted away.
 
Frozen Water sprayed over Windshield

Starting to Melt even at -5 degrees

Modern Art by Leaking Pipe

Kokernag

Verinag

Fishes

For Open Public Use

Thanks to directions from Mr Tasadiq (Pahalgam Hotel), our Kokernag-Verinag venture would take us just for 30 km extra before joining the NH1A. So we took the left from Pai Bugh to meet NH1B at Achabal. The name “Kokernag” reminisced us about the 1968 and 1976 month long Kashmir Camping Road Trip stories of our dad and granddad. Standing in front of the Tourism Office, I wondered where must they have put up their camps – where must have my mom-grandmom got water to cook food from – maybe that same corner spring that we would not dare to even drink from today. From the outset, the Kokernag Garden didn’t seem to be extra-ordinary so this time we did mind spending money for the entry ticket. I made another dream promise to myself that maybe someday we would drive along the Chenab from Keylong to Kokernag via Kishtwar & Sinthan Top. Sinthan Top was showing 48km on the Milestone.

The internal one-half lane road to Verinag was scenic despite the barren apple orchards (imagine what would it be during full bloom). The Chashma-Verinag made a much better impression on me vis-à-vis Chashma-e-Shahi. Firstly, it was not so hyped and secondly, the Water was in abundance and evidently flowing naturally from beneath the ground. Many a fishes were fast asleep. In retrospect, I feel Verinag’s sunny weather also had a part to play in contrast to Srinagar’s foggy weather. It also seemed better maintained than its capital city counterpart.

As we joined NH1A, my eyes raced on the road ahead trying to catch the first glimpse of Jawahar Tunnel. Today will be the first time I shall pass it. As the Communication Jammers made their presence felt on our Cellphones, the Entry to Tunnel appeared blaring 2531 and 2547 in the yellow-black. Baglihar Hydel Project was visible in its grandeur (Isn’t it true that every time we travel – we come to see and know so much more and then we realize how little we have seen or known so far?). As we settled in Katra for the night, I quipped to my brother – how possible it came about that we drove around Kashmir valley yet never touched Anantnag.