Dusk at Srinagar

Greetings from Srinanagr! I am here with J&K Tourism to attend their Summer Festival. I arrived here today, slept flat through the flight, woke up only close to landing. I must be really tired because as a rule I don’t sleep in flights! It was quite cloudy. I am staying in a house boat today! Even though I have been to Kashmir before in March 2013, this is my first stay in Srinagar. Last time I just got out of the airport and went to Gulmarg. And I have seen some traffic at Srinagar even on my first day!

Like most of the places in the hills, Srinagar roads have long outgrown the traffic they see these days. Traffic jam was the norm. I have seen the same in so many hill stations and of course in plains too. Every evening in Shillong (and I love the place) I would see a clogged city center. We almost missed our flight from Guwahati because of the evening traffic. I hear that the approach road to Manali on a long weekend can be a complete nightmare! I wonder what is the solution?

We visited Pari Mahal today, which was indeed beautiful for the views it provided of the city. A narrow road leads to the bagh and it gets clogged with cars of all sizes and shapes within no time! The drive from the airport to the Dal Lake was not too bad though. Getting back from Pari Mahal to the Dal Lake was another story though.

However for this lazy Sunday (well it was not really lazy) I picked this evening shot of the Dal Lake as we were passing by. Actually it was the traffic jam that gave me the opportunity to click this picture.

I am here till Wednesday so not much blogging will get done! But I will have loads to share once I get back.