Off to Kashmir

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Returning back to Goa we found the tourist season winding down. Slowly, some of the shacks and restaurants started to close up, and in the case of the beach sacks, disappear completely leaving little trace of ever existing other than a few confused previously well-fed dogs. Our friend Sanjay left for Kashmir leaving his uncle to tend their shop for the last few weeks. One of our normal haunts, Electric Cats, closed completely although Ramesh's other restaurant in Calangute stays open all year. A couple of familiar new faces though were Clive and Vanessa who returned for another fortnight, again staying in Park Avenue where we first met last season.

The temperature had risen since we left for Delhi, and although the days were uncomfortable the nights were absolutely unbearable - especially when the power went off as it did sometimes several times a night. The high humidity made the heat feel far worse, yahoo weather saying the 35 oC felt more like 43 oC. Although we had enjoyed our time in Goa, it definitely felt time to leave and we looked forward to our trip to Kashmir.

We had our last night in Calangute Electric Cats, along with Gianne, Babu, Vanessa and Clive, and Ramesh dropped us home for our last night in the house. The next morning we said a sad goodbye to Toby the dog, and left for the airport leaving him staring after us at the gate.

We flew first to Mumbai, stayed one night there and then early the next morning flew to Srinagar, the summer capital of the state of Jammu and Kashmir.

Having left the simmering heat of Goa, our first real feeling of chill came as we opened our window blind about 40 mins from landing, and saw for the first time the snow covered peaks of the edge of the Himalayas. A fantastic sight, everyone on the plane (mostly either Kashmiris returning home or Indian tourists - there was only one other westerner on the flight) seemed as excited as us. Anyone outside the plane would have seen a face pressed hard up against every window.

We'd been warned that there is a massive military presence in Kashmir, but even so the anti-aircraft guns along the runway were a bit of a suprise! It appeared that we were landing in the middle of an army base. The airport was full of armed soldiers but most seemed friendly if a bit tense. The guy with a machine gun on the tarmac at the bottom of the steps saw us and gave us a beaming smile!

Every foreign visitor has to fill out a registration form. We didn't know Sanjay's address so the clerk followed us outside to get all his details. Apparently when we leave Kashmir we have to fill another form. If we didn't and so weren't accounted for, Sanjay would be held responsible for our disappearance. Another twenty yards further on, a soldier again took our and Sanjay's details. Only then could we get into the car for the half hour journey to his house in Shivpora, a suburb of Srinagar.

Kashmir has been a point of conflict between India and Pakistan since partition (India's independance and the creation of Pakistan) in 1947. Several princely states which had never been under the direct control of the British were given the choice whether to align with Muslim Pakistan or Hindu India. The Kashmiri Maharaja, who was Hindu, hesitated because about 90% of his subjects were Muslim. Then, facing a Pakistan supported tribal invasion, he decided to side with India to the disgust of many of his people. Since then Pakistan has seen Kashmir as unfinished buisiness. The portion on the Pakistani side of the UN imposed line of control is known (to the Pakistanis) as Azad or Free Kashmir. Most kashmiris see the other, Indian, side as being under foreign occupation. There seems to be little love lost between the locals and the massive Indian military presence here.

You're never more than a few feet from the aim of a watching soldier. They're everywhere. If they're not walking the streets, they're poking out from the turret on an armoured landrover, or peering out from a concrete pill box or what in calmer times would pass as a garden shed - although for now decorated with loops of razor wire. And they are all armed. Next to every set of eyes watching your everymove, there is always also the muzzle of a gun. The soldiers on patrol aren't lazily carrying their weapons over their shoulders like in Goa (or holding hands as in the night market!), but carrying them combat style in readiness. We get a feeling of how it must have felt to live in Belfast during the troubles there.

Walking the bare kilometer from sanjay's house to the local shops we passed probably twenty soldiers on patrol or in bunkers. And he lives in a quiet, peaceful, suburb. To us though, their presence doesn't seem intimidating or unnerving. Many times we hear a voice calling to us from some previously unseen hideout, and if we say hi we nearly always get a broad grin in return. Many of the soldiers are little more than teenagers and they seem as excited to see a gora (white man) as any other Indian, especially somewhere that doesn't get many western travellers.

Kashmir is calmer now than it has been for sometime, the last 18 years have been particularly troublesome. Still however, there are daily encounters between the Indian army and militants, and several are killed each week. Kashmir is a big place though and we've seen no trouble at all, although at night we've heard some distant machine gun fire. There's only been one riot since we've been here as well, although it was the other side of town and we only found out about it in the paper the next day. It was over a hilltop fort which was opened to the public for the first time in 17 years, but when the locals went inside they found a mosque missing.

Jammu and Kashmir is being promoted more and more as a tourist destination and although we haven't seen too many westerners (although there are a few) there are loads of Indian tourists here. There is the normal quota of slimy salesmen here, and Claire in particular is attracting a lot of staring, but in general the people here are extremely friendly. Everywhere in India people come up to us to say hello, and we've become a bit cynical as the polite greetings very often lead on to asking us into their shop, or to see their hotel or give them some money or a pen, but the ratio of people just being genuinely interested in us and wanting to welcome us to their country seems much higher here. It seems that lots of the locals are pleased that some westerners have made the journey here and are thrilled that we want to see their beautiful state.

We stayed with Sanjay and his mum for three nights, then moved into a hotel near the famous Dal Lake. More details on our next blog, along with hopefully some photos.

One consequence of the conflict here is that it seems only Kashmir issued sim cards work, so we can't use either our UK or Indian mobile phones. To get a phone here takes several days of security checking to try to prevent militants from being able to communicate with each other. So if anyone needs to contact us, its only possible by email.

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