Gulmarg Diary, August 14-18, on John ki Jaan

The highlight of the day was the birthday party, which was held in the party room at Nedous Hotel, the oldest hotel in Gulmarg. Nedous was also the hotel where we were staying.

Although Nedous offers rooms, we stayed in one of their three cottages. Our cottage was fairly spacious—one room with a sitting area and a king-size bed and a separate bathroom. It also contained a wood-burning stove that must’ve been several decades old judging by the its rusty tin exterior.

The birthday party was the first event held at hotel in at least 15 years. (Because of the militant problem and violence in Kashmir, most of the state had been closed between 1990 and 2005. During this time, our uncle’s house remained sealed, and he hadn’t visited it the entire time. Thanks to the caretaker, the house survived in tact.)

To mark the occasion—the birthday and the return of an actual event—the hotel celebrated as well, bringing out 100-year-old glass water decanters and importing chefs from Srinagar, who made a brilliant Kashmiri feast.

Our Cottage at Nedous Hotel

The food was fabulous—Kashmiri pullau (rice seasoned with almonds and raisins), a veggie dish called bhayn (lotus root and spinach), rajmah (kidney bean curry), paneer (cheese curry), a chicken curry, rogan ghosht (lamb curry), and mutton risthi (goat meatballs).

Naturally, we had birthday cake for dessert. The cake, carried from Delhi, was a fruit cake heavily soaked in rum and frosted with marzipan and sugar icing. And of course, we had champagne. The party carried on well past midnight, with great Bollywood music and lots of dancing.

The following morning, we made the return trip to Delhi. On the drive to Srinagar, the roads and streets were much more crowded than when we had driven to Gulmarg. The military presence was still disconcertingly heavy—army conveys continually passed in either direction, ferrying troops from point to point for who knows what reason.

The airport security proved to be the toughest I have seen anywhere (including the flights from Vienna to Israel, which are guarded by scary-looking Israeli troops wearing all black). Our check-in luggage was scanned before we reached the airport and at the airport. Then, we passed through two separate security checks ourselves.

Blowing out the Candles


Cutting the Cake	Mother and Son Dancing	The Dance Party Begins

However, the extreme security was painless compared to the three flight delays we endured. They were waiting for the plane to arrive from Delhi, but because it was delayed arriving in Delhi from Bangalore or Hyderabad, it was delayed flying to Srinagar. Our 2:05 flight eventually became a 4:00 flight.

	The worst part is we arrived at the airport at 12:00, so we ended up spending six hours in the Srinagar airport with literally nothing to do. At least we got to buy some cheap almonds and walnuts from the Kashmir Agricultural Emporium booth inside the terminal.
Overlooking the Hut		Mountain from the Meadow

As compensation for having to wait, we received a free “snack” courtesy of the airline (Jet Lite, formerly known as Sahara). The rather nasty snack consisted of a butter sandwich, an aloo tikki (a fried potato sausage), and a slice of buttery cake. The food on the flight was equally gross—a flavorless veggie biryani and some aloo capsicum (potato and green pepper).

Returning to crowded, hot, dusty Delhi was a bit of shock, but the trip to Gulmarg provided a much needed respite after dealing with a month of chaos following our arrival in Delhi. It also offered a great transition from settling in to beginning jobs and having a normal life once again.