After trekking the cold, barren mountains of Leh, it was now time for me to descend (in terms of altitude) to the greener and pleasant part of Kashmir where weather Gods do not believe in following the conventional weather pattern because after all 'Kashmir ka mausam aur Bombay ke fashion ka koi bharosa nahi.' When we first landed at Srinagar airport it was quite bright and sunny outside but by the time we collected our baggage and decided to venture out in search of a cab, it started to rain heavily. This was the first glimpse of Srinagar for me. Even from the airport I could make out the lush green mountains which eagerly seemed to be calling out to me.

 

Finally after a long wait, we got a tour guide who offered to drop us to our house boat at Nigeen lake, a little further from Dal lake. I kept gazing out of the window of the car staring at the vast stretch of greenery and feeling the cold breeze slowly soothing my senses. We hadn't prepared any itinerary for our 5 day stay in Kashmir but with the help of our tour guide we sort of sketched a rough plan to visit some of the famous places which until now I had seen only in famous Bollywood films. Nigeen lake is comparatively peaceful, clean and privy as compared to Dal Lake which is commercialized and crowded with fleet of shikaras all around. The most striking feature about the lake is that it is edged by willow and poplar trees whose reflection looks beauteous in the dark green waters of the lake. Once we reached Nigeen Lake, we had to take a shikara ride to our boathouse which was located in an isolated spot. Once there, we had two rooms to ourselves and the entire house boat was unoccupied so it nearly felt as if we were the sole owners of the boat.

 

Our very own private boat house. These house boats are made of Cedar wood, have multiple bedrooms, a dining area and a living room with carved furniture and warm Kashmiri rugs running across the entire flooring of the boat. The ambience inside the house boat is relaxing and soothing that you will feel as if you are staying in a luxury hotel. The beds are equipped with heating rods which can be manually adjusted depending on one's comfort. Another speciality of staying in a house boat is that you don't have to go the market, the market comes to you. Yes. A number of locals selling Kashmiri shawls, dresses and accessories will hover around your house boat, putting their marketing skills to use, trying to coax you to buy from them.

 

The day we arrived in Kashmir was spent relaxing in our spacious and cosy house boat admiring the weather and the gardens that made like a perfect scenery.

 

All the images © Shraddha Chauhan