The sightseeing tour took me to the iconic and gorgeous Mughal gardens – the famous Shalimar Bagh and Nishat Bagh. Situated on the banks of the Dal Lake, these gardens look absolutely enthralling with a vast variety of the most vibrant coloured flowers, sky-high chinar trees, amazing fragrances and the mesmerizing Zabarwan hills forming the backdrop. It’s just surreal. I really had to cross-check multiple times, if I had my camera filters turned on. Nopes. Maybe the concept of filters originated from Kashmir.
During my last visit to Delhi, I spent half a day at Humayun’s Tomb. I’m not an architectural/ history fan girl but was really fascinated with Mughal heritage and landscaping. Seeing me reading (and not posing), one of the security guards approached me very enthusiastically and gave me the best-guided tour ever. Remembering this and connecting the dots made me smile. This is exactly how I fancied travelling.
Humayun’s Tomb 
Charbagh
For those interested (and for my own future reference), here’s a brief digest.
Mughal gardens are heavily influenced by medieval Islamic gardens and are considered to be a reminder of paradise. The root word for Paradise, pairidaēza (in Persian) means “walled garden”. The concept of a planned garden, known as the Charbagh, was introduced in Asia by the Mughal Emperor Babur. It’s a layout of quadrilateral gardens which are divided into four parts by flowing water and pathways. They have high walled-off enclosures, are very private, and encompass flowing water streams, pools, vibrant aromatic flowers, fruit trees etc. Mughals loved symbols and used them heavily in their gardens. I was told that numbers eight and nine were particularly considered auspicious.
Shalimar Bagh is built on 3 terraces,
- “Diwan-e-Aam” – public audience hall,
- “Diwane-e-Khas”- private audience hall, and
- “Zenana terrace” – for the harem ladies.
The central water channel, known as the Shah Nahar, is the main axis of the garden and connects to the mighty Dal lake. This garden is known for Chini Khanas – arched niches behind garden waterfalls. In the past, these chini’s were lit up with oil lamps at night which gave the garden a fairy tale feel. Now, they are replaced with bright coloured flower pots. It was built by Mughal emperor Jahangir to please his favourite queen “Noor Jahan” and is aptly called the “Crown of Srinagar”.
Shah Nahar 
Nishat Bagh is a UNESCO world heritage site that has been termed the Garden of Bliss and floating gardens and is the second-largest Mughal Garden in Kashmir valley. It was designed and built by Asif Khan, empress Nur Jahan’s elder brother in 1633. It is built in 12 terraces representing 12 signs of the zodiac and is adorned with flowers, fountains, cypress and chinar trees.
The gardens in Kashmir are just exceptionally beautiful and are nothing like I’ve ever seen. Unlike any other Mughal architectural sites, the gardens here were created, well, just as gardens, and not to accompany a tomb. The mountainous topography also gave rise to the terraced garden design style. It feels as if Kashmir was the ultimate gardening playground of the Mughal Emperors.
The gardens, though filled with tourists, were spacious enough for everyone to enjoy some quiet alone time. I picked a corner spot. It was so peaceful yet deserted that it made me feel a bit afraid. After all, it was my first day here. But regardless, I decided to endure the discomfort and sit a little longer. I heard some footsteps but couldn’t spot anyone. The noise grew a little louder and felt closer. I looked suspiciously at every passerby. And then just when I was about to leave, I saw a bird walking on dried grass. What?? How am I able to hear it so clearly and why was this sound so loud? The bird wasn’t scared of me and kept doing her business.
I was blown away. Wait, why don’t I hear any traffic sounds? This is situated on the main road and is the capital city. Gosh, we live with that much noise on a daily basis. That’s crazy. I wanted to sit in silence with myself and soak in all the glory but O boy, it’s really really hard. I ended up calling my friend and then my grandma, telling them all about my 24 hrs in Kashmir. The more I heard the nagging voice to do nothing, the more I wanted to do the opposite. But after spending 2 hours in the tug of war, I finally gave in.
I went to the topmost terrace floor – massive grasslands bordered with larger-than-life chinar trees. Quiet time is so underrated. A family with a toddler was playing cricket nearby and even though I couldn’t see them, owing to the silence, I could hear everything crystal clear. Suddenly, the toddler appeared in front of me out of the blue and looked straight into my eyes and smiled. I was startled and embarrassed. Almost felt like I was caught red-handed for eavesdropping. He came to pick up the cricket ball. He smiled and waved a quick hi and was out of my sight before I could even lift my hand up. I smiled and tried to truly sit with silence and did a pep-talk for trying the self-reflection thingy. I had the kaizen book, notepad and a pen in my bag. But then, I heard the kid’s voice again. He was very happily running and almost screaming –
“Chalo chalo, mujhe potty aa rahi he”.
I tried covering my face to control my laughter. Such innocence and cuteness. I raised my head once I was composed, and there was this little guy. Beaming with mischief and happiness and he said –
“Hum potty karne ja rahe he. Aap bhi chalogi?”
Startled yet again, I said no. And he ran away saying – “chalo chalo, hum potty karne ja rahe he.”
What a treat for sitting in silence. Self-reflection can wait. Let’s explore this majestic place.
The vegetation here is just spectacular. I’ve recently started gardening and thus, was keenly observing all the blooms. As we become increasingly isolated from nature in our air-conditioned environs, a reconnection with plants and trees becomes all the more necessary. And seeing such a wide variety of flowers in all their glory was indeed a luxury.
I desperately wanted to grow all these flowers back at home but wasn’t sure about the name of the plant or the weather conditions required for it to survive. “Thak”, I turned and saw a gardener cleaning his tools. I happily rushed toward him and started asking a bucket load of questions. He answered all my queries and then gave me more tips. His friend, apparently, is the only guy here who sells “genuine seeds”. Unknown to him, the Marwari in me had already enquired about the prices of the seeds from quite a few “only authentic gardeners” in the last 2 hours. But he was quite generous with his time, and hence I decided to buy from his friend.
The amusing thing about Kashmiris is that, even if they are trying to dupe you, they are so polite and kind that it’s really hard to tell them no or be mad. I bought a set of 10 varieties of flower seed packets. The gardener kept saying that this won’t be enough. At first, I thought, of course, you want to oversell. But then I realized that unlike him, I don’t have the luxury of massive garden space. Ah damn!!
“Chacha, mere ghar me zameen nahi he, pots me plants rakhte he”.
He looked perplexed. Wow!! He is actually living such a luxurious life. I wonder who is the indigent person here?
To be continued…
Your blogs transport me to Kashmir sitting on my couch. It seems children of Kashmir have a fondness for you as much as you have for them. “ The more I heard the nagging voice to do nothing, the more I wanted to do the opposite.” – this is so all of us
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Looking forward to exploring more of Kashmir through your writing. Please don’t keep us waiting.
Haha!! Thank you, woman – for constantly pushing me. Point noted. Will try to be more frequent.