Enthralling Trails

  Awanthipora We were ushered to our vehicle once again. We were to reach Pahalgam in three hours but the star attraction was the Saffron flower farms at Pampore, a small city close to Srinagar. The city is nourished by the river Jhelum and the climate here is ideal for growing saffron, so it is called the Saffron Capital of India. As we left Srinagar we saw many of the saffron fields lying forlorn but the meadows were green and beautiful. We were told that the fields bloom from July to October. On reaching the farm we were ushered to a huge hall equipped with a seating arrangement for sixty people. We quickly took our seats. The place was bustling with beautiful fair girls dressed in long attires with their heads covered with scarves. They had aquiline noses and fair skin with dark eyes. We were uncertain about what would be presented when a lean tall fair-skinned man exclaimed, ‘Everyone, I’m going to share something about saffron.’ The doors were closed, and suddenly a baby tumbled

  Kashmir was a far-off dream for many years as we always feared sudden outbreaks of violence. Two years ago, my husband said “Should we visit Kashmir?”. I said, ‘ Let’s visit Leh, a little away from Kashmir.’ Then, after visiting Leh and Ladakh that year, my thoughts turned to Kashmir. After the abrogation of Article 370, we heard Kashmir tours were safer. We took the 2.05 pm direct flight from Mumbai to Srinagar. The flight was a bit late and we landed at 5 pm at Sheikh Ul Alam International Airport in Srinagar. The airport was a small one and the security was tight. We stepped out to be greeted by sunny greenery and pleasant winds. We were led to a traveller and there were ten of us in it. The roads widened and we crossed places like the Laal Chowk and crowded locales. There was progress visible but we felt the city was crowded with tourists. We could now see a large lake near the road. There were small boats filled with tourists at numerous harbour spots called the ghats. Each of t