A carpet of snow at Sonmarg, Kashmir, India

Bubli was standing alone in a little patch of green, looking absolutely disinterested in the crowd that had just gathered around her. She was probably missing her Bunty. In a region where every grove, forest, glacier and valley has been immortalised by every actor known to Bollywood, it came as no surprise to me that the ponies would also take the names of Bunty and Bubli. I was one of those standing around her, while she was being cajoled to take me on a ride to the Thajiwas glacier in Sonmarg in Kashmir. But she seemed more interested in grazing in the meadows than carrying me up the hills.

Glacier at Sonmarg

I stood there for as long as I can mesmerised by the meadows. The green was all consuming. There were no dark and mysterious woods here, no whispering streams, no winding paths uphill- just a never ending carpet of soft silky grass, that I wished I could run here barefoot forever . But here I was clad in an ill-fitting pair of boots waiting for Bubli to oblige while she refused to leave her favourite patch of green and trudge up the hills.

Trudging up to the glacier

The sky suddenly cleared.  On a rather rare note, the sun glided right behind the clouds, giving it a golden rim. I welcomed the warmth. It was my second day in Kashmir and I was seeing the sun for the first time here. The sun pierced through the mists and Kashmir suddenly unveiled herself to me. I remembered Nehru’s words, “Like some supremely beautiful woman, whose beauty is almost impersonal and above human desire, such was Kashmir in all its feminine beauty of river and valley and lake and graceful trees. And then another aspect of this magic beauty would come into view, a masculine one, of hard mountains and precipices, and snow-capped peaks and glaciers, and cruel and fierce torrents rushing to the valleys below. It had a hundred faces and innumerable aspects, ever-changing, sometimes smiling, sometimes sad and full of sorrow …”

Going up the glacier