MY DAYS IN ZANNAT-PART 3

The Glacier.

I was already married and also had two kids when I joined the Bank. My batch mates would teasingly sometimes call me Aunty! I didn't mind it, most probably because I simply had no choice! I simply accepted it.

While I was posted at Srinagar, my children were looked after by my parents in their house at Delhi. In the summer of 1976, my parents visited me in Srinagar with my kids. My son Anurag was 4 years old and daughter Chaitali was one and a half year old.

All of us living at this wonderful house in Srinagar decided to trek to Chandanwadi. Chandanwadi was the first stop on the way to Amarnath, the famous pilgrimage cave in Kashmir. We were neither sufficiently charged nor courageous enough to go all the way to Amarnath, so the trek up to Chandanwadi was decided upon.

Vinita, Kamal Kalra, P R Suresh, my parents, my brother Ujjwal, who had just given his school final, his friend Vipin Maira, my kids and I set out from Pahalgam. The distance of the trek was about 16 kilometers each way. We set out with water, and some sandwiches. I must admit that we were quite poorly equipped! My children walked with us. Soon Chaitali tired out, so Ujjwal carried her on his shoulders. Everyone took turns and we walked along the beautiful road full of pine trees and the Lidder River flowing alongside. We were moving uphill and would often take shortcuts through the forest areas avoiding the motor-able road. In those days traffic was very little and we had a very pleasant and relaxing trek. Soon our water supply depleted and Anurag became very thirsty. As traffic was poor there were no shops on the way. There was no way to get water, bottled water was not available then. We were looking out for mountain streams. After a long time we found an Army jeep on the way. They helped us to fetch some water from a stream and we could quench the thirst of the little boy.

The path was memorable, beautiful and full of pine smell. We met a lot of people returning from their pilgrimage of Amarnath cave. They were either on pony or palki or walking. When we crossed them they would shout Baba Amarnath ki jai! My father a staunch atheist would reply, Lala Amarnath ki Jai! Lala Amarnath was a well known Test cricket player. Once we reached Chandanwadi, we were amazed to see the glacier over there. It was all ice and a small stream of milky white water trickled out from the glacier. It was extremely beautiful and also cold. We were to return back soon after as we had not planned to stay at Chandanwadi. Another stretch of 16 kilometers was ahead of us and we were all tired. My mother's footwear started giving her trouble. Chaitali had to be carried and little Anurag all of 4 years old had to walk back all that distance.

Pine forest

Ujjwal was very gallant and gave his shoes to mummy. He actually walked barefoot from then onwards. It was not easy as the road was filled with pine needles, stones and was quite rough. He was also carrying Chaitali on his shoulders most of the time. I was filled with amazement and gratitude for his selfless and helpful attitude.

We reached Pahalgam quite late in the evening and the best part was that Anurag walked all of the 32 kilometers! That was quite a feat!

The trek was memorable and beautiful. The Lidder, the pine trees, the blue sky, the fresh breeze, small mountain streams remain vivid in my memory as if it happened yesterday, although it was actually long, long ago. Time passes but beautiful memories remain fresh forever. One only has to look within and out come tumbling all the freshness, beauty and purity of the place.

The basic goodness of human beings, the unbelievable beauty of Kashmir and the fresh smell of the pine forests remain etched in my mind forever. Those were the days my friend when everything looked good, beautiful, pure, and peaceful. Preserving memories and re- living them like the reel of an old movie on a projector is one of the ways of keeping those memories forever fresh and beautiful. These are the days my friend when I rewind the reel in my mind and again see everything looking good, beautiful, pure and peaceful!