We were up early. When the alarm went off at 04:00 hrs. we dressed quickly and walked through the gloom to the bus station. People were still asleep on crude wooden beds by the roadside and the only sign of life were the armed security patrols. We got the 05:00 hrs. bus to Jammu and arrived at this destination despite much shrugging of shoulders and talks of a strike.
Jammu is the winter capital and the largest city in Jammu district of the Indian union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. Lying on the banks of the river Tawi, the city of Jammu, with an area of 26.64 km2 (10.29 sq mi), is surrounded by the Himalayas in the north and the northern-plains in the south. Jammu is the second most populous city of the union territory.
We got a Srinagar bus straight away at a station that looked like something out of a Charles Dickens tale. The fare was 27 Indian Rupees on the 11:00 hrs bus.
Srinagar is the largest city and the summer capital of the Indian union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. It lies in the Kashmir Valley on the banks of the Jhelum River, a tributary of the Indus, and Dal and Anchar lakes. The city is known for its natural environment, gardens, waterfronts and houseboats. It is also known for traditional Kashmiri handicrafts like Kashmir shawls and also dried fruits. It is the northernmost city of India with over one million people.
Immediately we began to climb into the mountains and the country was green and cultivated in terraces on either side of winding road. Progress was slow as the road was narrow and in places it had been pushed down the hillside by landslips. Sign warned of the danger of speeding around the blind bends with witty rhymes such as “Reckless drivers kill and die, leaving kith and kin to die”.
We stopped a couple of times at the usual transport café-type shacks for chai, but we now felt quite at home in these grubby sheds. As the night wore on it got really uncomfortable in the cramped bus. Every few miles the road was blocked by flocks of sheep and goats and the woman behind me kept hawking and gobbing betel juice spit uncomfortably close to my back.
Paan is a preparation combining betel leaf with areca nut widely consumed throughout Southeast Asia, South Asia (Indian subcontinent) and East Asia (mainly Taiwan). It is chewed for its stimulant effects. After chewing, it is either spat out or swallowed. Paan has many variations. Slaked lime (chuna) paste is commonly added to bind the leaves. Some preparations in the Indian subcontinent include katha paste or mukhwas to freshen the breath.
The habit of spitting out the chewed betel is also believed to aid the spread of diseases like tuberculosis and betel stains teeth dark red and causes tooth decay. The purple spit from chewing betel nuts is often considered an eyesore and could be seen everywhere.
We passed through the Jawahar tunnel, which opened in the 1950s, and is just short of 3km long and is an essential enabler of connectivity between Jammu and Kashmir's summer and winter capitals, and into the Kashmir Valley where we picked up a French harlot and a local houseboat owner. This young upstart soon upset one of the passengers who had already offered us a houseboat on Dal Lake for the night.
Dal is a lake in Srinagar, the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir, India. It is an urban lake, which is the second largest in the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. It is integral to tourism and recreation in Kashmir and is named the "Lake of Flowers", "Jewel in the crown of Kashmir" or "Srinagar's Jewel".
When we reached finally reached Srinagar we caught a 3-wheeled taxicab to a jetty with our “benefactor” and were paddled out to a houseboat, grandly named the Gosani Palace, on a wobbly shikara (The shikar is a type of wooden boat found on Dal Lake and other water bodies of Srinagar in Jammu and Kashmir, India. Shikars are of varied sizes and are used for multiple purposes, including transportation of people. A usual shikar seats half-a-dozen people, with the driver paddling at the rear).
Safely aboard we settled down with some Persian tea (just hot water!) and an omelette. The power had just gone off and we are writing by the light of a storm lantern. It is very cold at the moment, but at last we have some peace from the blaring Indian music that assaulted our ears on the bus. The driver had one audio cassette which he flipped from side to side on continuous replay throughout the journey.
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