Kashmir Diary

Not many people I know have visited Kashmir in last 20 years. Golf tourism has attracted some people in the last few years. I was part of the group which visited Srinagar last week to play ‘Greater Kashmir invitational golf tournament’ organized by Greater Kashmir newspaper and J& K tourism. The offer was irresistible. A 3 night stay in a good hotel; Air fares and all meals included; sightseeing of Srinagar; and last but not the least-2 rounds of golf at Royal springs golf course. All for Rs 7250.00. Did I say irresistible? I would like to rephrase it- it wasn’t just irresistible, it was a steal!

The initial fear of visiting Kashmir disappears as the bus enters the city. Srinagar is not a ghost town, as certain sections of media would like us to believe, but a throbbing city. It is like any other small city of India. It is overcrowded, over constructed and dirty. The slow traffic, blaring horns, broken roads and air pollution made it into very familiar surroundings. It made us feel very comfortable and feel at home.

Security and all that






(Bobby Kochhar with BSF soldiers)
The Airport is like a fortress so this is comforting. The security forces are present at each step in the town. At first their sight is unnerving but then in a day’s time one gets used to them. The local population seems to have got used to their presence and appear pretty indifferent towards them. The people go about their business seeming oblivious to the gun toting army and CRPF. The locals say that economy is good and one can see that markets are crowded. We were greeted by one and all with warmth and we could see no animosity. On Sundays all the famous gardens ‘Nishat’, ‘Shalimar’ and ‘Chashma Shahi’ were full of people, picnicking with their families. We had to change our route as boulevard road starting from Dal gate had thousands of people enjoying the lake side shopping creating traffic jams. Those dependent on tourism rue the fact that just as tourism season is about to begin, there is some incident which keeps the tourists away.
They do not know whom to blame- successive governments, Pakistan or will of god.

Once outside Srinagar, the beauty of valley comes into view. Many from our group went for days’ trip to Gulmarg and Pahalgam. They came back praising the views, mountains, rivers and the breathtaking landscape. Their love story with Kashmir had just started.

Royal spring golf course


The visual beauty of the Royal spring golf course stuns you the moment one enters the playing area. The first view is that of lofty green mountains with ‘Pari Mahal’ nestling comfortably on one of them. You just try to take in the mountains, lush green fairways, the exquisite trees and water bodies all at once and realise it was just too much beauty to take in at one go.
The golf course was a dream of Dr Farooq Abdullah and on my last visit 20 years back, it was under construction. At that time it was being criticized by one and all for wasteful expenditure by the chief minister.
Farooq sahab played with us in this tournament and made an extra effort in meeting people and asking what they felt about the course. Each compliment made him smile and one could see how proud he was of his creation.

Killer Hole ?
Each hole on the course is special and the practice round was spent admiring the course rather than playing on it. The breathtaking view of Dal Lake from the 5th hole was very special. It was a difficult course to play on and the fairways were narrow and the roughs were treacherous. The roughs troubled us all 3 days and each person had stories to tell about them. As the play progressed, the caddies broke fruits from the trees for us to eat. It was the 4th hole which took the cake. A par 4, index 1 hole, at first sight it did not look as menacing as it was. The caddies referred to it as the killer hole as it was slanting upwards all of 400 yards and made sure that you were out of breadth as you walked to the ball. It was indeed very special to get a par on this one!

‘Dal’ Enigma


(view of Dal Lake & golf course from Pari Mahal)

‘Dal’ is the heart and soul of Srinagar. Just as all the lakes of India, this one is polluted too. So much so, that the grass of the golf course is getting affected by the polluted waters. The blame has always gone to the house boat owners. Now, they have shifted the blame on to hundreds of hotels around Dal. ‘Why blame us only?’ is the refrain by the president of Dal house boat association. The golf course management has realised that a polluted lake is part and parcel of democracy. They have given up the hope of clean Dal and are planning to install a water treatment plant for upkeep of the course.

Group management
Being a group leader of 44 people is not easy. Our group had families and children too. Major(retd) Lalit Kapur (a Delhi Golf Club veteran) was the right man for the job. He was the main reason why the trip turned out to be pleasurable for all. He was unflappable, good organizer, accessible and adaptive. He was open to all suggestions except allowing people boating or gallivanting into bazaars after sun-down. I didn’t see him lose his cool all of 4 days. With a group as varied as this, I would have lost it at least twice daily.

Foodies
The golf tournament organizers gave us one of the most delicious Kashmiri foods prepared by wazas on the presentation night. The main item that they served was Rista (meatballs). They are made by finely smashing mutton and cooking it in gravy. In fried variety there was tabak maz which is fried till the time it gets a very crunchy and crispy texture. Other famous and mouth watering dishes that were served were Roganjosh, Yakhni and Gushtaba. Many have asked me how the vegetarian food was. I really can’t answer this one. I never reached the vegetarian section.