Travel Diaries: Day 9 & 10: Leh City & Srinagar

The Lull Before the Storm

We get up pretty late the next morning and realize that we’re stuck looking at each others silly faces again! AND we have no one else’s leg to pull! So we decide we might as well move on to the next leg of our journey – Srinagar. So after a nice HOT shower – yea the emphasis on hot coz hot water is a luxury that we weren’t afforded the past week – we head out into the city to find a ride.

We go back to the travel guy who arranged all our previous trips. The kid there is funny. He keeps going “Tch Tch. Kya baat kar raha hain?” (What are u saying? Rhetorically). N i think the rum had still not worn off. I was openly screwing around with him. After fooling around for a while, we finally managed to get ourselves a not so expensive deal to Srinagar. We were supposed to make a slingshot trip to Srinagar. It generally is a 2 day journey but we were going to do it in a 15 hr run through. Brave Dumbfu$&s.

The day was really uninteresting otherwise. The car would leave at 5:30 so we had time to kill, but nothing much to do. Nikhil got some shopping done and we ate. It was finally time to bid adieu to Leh and all the mountains which by now had started looking wretched and forlorn. We were getting out at the right time!

Bye bye Leh!

Day 10

The Storm

The ride – Oh my god – the ride! We’re riding in a SUV which has 8 – yes – EIGHT people stuffed into it! We obviously had the most screwed up seats ever. After bout 4 hours in that position, we didn’t know if we had legs.

The ride(r) – F%&* the rider! Now i truly believe why India can’t produce world class F1 drivers. They’re shunted into the mountains to be driving these SUVs on the most inhospitable terrain ever. And they do it while singing along to weird Hindi songs and with 7 co-passengers who keep cursing him! He still thinks that he’s on a super highway and his eyes smooth over all the monstrous potholes! Imagine if he were alone and in an F1 car? I reckon he’d have done the trip in about 4 hours. Or well, he’d never be found again. So you get the idea about the driver yea??

The co passengers – The driver and his wife( OH she was HUGGGE! Wonder where the driver got his food. I imagined he makes do with leftovers – if there are any!).

One jerk off – who wouldn’t say what his name was! Until he was pestered by the film maker no end. I still didn’t catch it though. Neither was i interested. I was interested in socking him after about 8 hours in the last seat nursing my ass and non-existent legs.

A Nepali guy – This guy was sitting next to us and showed no signs of discomfort! Must’ve been used to such journeys. He’d been traveling 4 nights already now so maybe fatigue didn’t afford him the luxury to be grumpy. Otherwise, he was pretty uneventful and slept throughout.

A film maker and an English professor – Im itching to call these two ladies a couple because mid way thru the journey we were starting to get that impression. But for want of concrete evidence, il regress. Anyways, the film maker – GODDDD! She TALKED!!! N this was after our encounter with one who needed to be coaxed to talk! We so wished it was her and not this lady! But here she was, trying to make conversation with everyone from the driver to his wife to the jerk off to us and the Nepali guy. The jerk off was sooooo freaked out by her, he recoiled when she tried talking!! I loved her at that moment, but it was short lived. The English professor was alright. Didn’t talk much but was always trying to cozy up to ahem ahem….il stop now.

We were converted. From an almost Semitic attitude to  ‘die-hard, drool over bollywood music fanatics’ in a matter of 15 hours! That’s coz there was no escape. We listened to everything from 1950’s Mohd. Rafi & Kishore Kumar to Urvashi & Patti Rap to the entire discography of Himmesh Reshammiya (dunno how many m’s u have so excuse me Himmesh). So now, back in Bombay, i hum along to the radio all day and get weird looks from my co passengers who wonder what’s gotten into me. It’s nothing darlings. I like to call it the Leh effect. Made me more patriotic you see.

The journey, owing to all the above factors was in part nightmarish, in part drab and in part friggin enjoyable! We passed through Kargil & Drass & the intimidating Zozila Pass through the night but didn’t stop over. But hey 2 things which exist even in the remotest part of India – Maggi Noodles and State Bank of India!! You can find these two things EVERYWHERE here! Which is truly amazing!

So we reach Srinagar. By the time i get off, i can crack a walnut with my ass cheeks! We’ve managed a coup of sorts by managing to get a Houseboat for just Rs. 500! We were skeptical at first, but boy were we surprised!

We got off at Nagin Lake in Srinagar where our houseboat was…err… docked? It is actually THE most beautiful lake in the city. As for Dal Lake – the less we say the better. We have the mosttttt beautiful houseboat allll to ourselves. 2 bedrooms, living room with tele and radio, kitchen, a toilet with a Western pot and Hot water with a bath tub!! 5 STAR I’d say! Food is for Rs. 50 per meal for 2 people! Yup! I recommend Qadir’s Palace to anyone going to Srinagar. Drop me a line for details about this place. Great place, great host ( little irritating, but you can live with that).

After freshening up, moistening our legs and backsides, we decide to do a little recce into Srinagar. We go to the 3 most beautiful mosques i’ve ever seen – Hazratbal, Shah-e- Hamdan and Jamia Masjid. Each with its own identity and peculiarities.

Now, one of the most interesting and adventurous part of our trip. We come out of Jamia Masjid, which is in Old Srinagar. This part of the city is known to be the most beautiful but also the most volatile and violent. We experienced it first hand. There was already some disconcert in the city due to some political issues. It snowballed coz someone was shot in this part of the city the same day we were at Jamia. So, we step out of the mosque.

We’re just taking in the cityscape and being all touristy when i notice this guy tossing a big rock in his hand. Hmmm…odd! The next second he’s hurled it at a bus and BANGGGGG! Crunching glass and someone’s been hit!

Shittttt! We were rooted to the spot when another bus appears and a whole mob of almost a 100 people run towards it, stop it and start to wreck it! Thats when we know we have to scram!! So what do we do? RUNNNNNNN!! So we do…..Run till our lungs want to explode! Then we see a bus which goes to our place….But we aren’t sure we should board it….its windows are already broken!! But our guide, Qadir says its cool. So we board it. All the way back to our houseboat, we have our heads covered and ducking under the other person, half expecting a stone or a mob to burn us down alive!! Even so, we can’t help noticing how beautiful Kashmiri women are! Think about it – Mobs, riots, run for your life, shitting pants – AND YOU STILL- STILL can’t help but be mesmerized by these women!

So yea, the sight of the girls soothes our nerves a little bit and we get back to the houseboat. We’re a little stunned and then we haven’t had too much sleep the past night either. So we decide to call it a day and see what tomorrow has in store for us!

Srinagar starts off with a bang! We sleep with dreams of crumpled cars and the smell of burnt metal – aka Die Hard! Later!