PRANAM TO BABA BARFANI

The early morning we got ready to meet Baba Barfani, Shree Amarnathji, our taxi was waiting for us outside hotel at 5 in the morning. We had to reach by 9 am to catch our helicopter ride from Neelgrath helipad near Baltal, but as we were proceeding to our way, the clouds and the foggy weather following us throughout making our journey pleasant and exciting, yet making it fearful for our flights to take off as it was impossible for chopper to fly helicopter in foggy weather amidst of steep hills. So, we had to wait whole day for the weather to be supportive to us so that our helicopter might take off. Though, We had yatra permits along with us also that would help us to walk the entire path or ride through horses or take a pony,  but we were firm to wait for another day, for the weather to be clear. So, by the evening, 4 pm, it was declared that no flights would be going to take off. 

Dense fog covering our ways

Lets walk towards river for some relaxing moments

So, here started with our next adventure without wasting a day, a trip to meadow of Gold, Sonamarg. Sonamarg is indeed a beautiful place most popular for Thajwas Glacier and its amazingly picturesque beauty in the scenes of our favourite Bollywood movies like Satte pe Satta, Ram teri Ganga Maili ho gyi,  Heena, Mann, Bajrangi Bhaijaan and many more.  It is the beauty of Kashmir that we praised in movies guarded by the people over there so profusely. 

View where the famous movie Satte pe Satta shot

Thajwas Glacier was the only place in my month of travel, i.e., August where we observed ice all over. Its just the first time in my whole trip where I and Pooja actually got to trek otherwise we along with Shilpa had to take care of our parents so either had to go by their choice of way, but it was quite fun to be on family trip, you got to be extra cared of and you feel the extremely protective and innovative nature of each of them which you had never experienced before.

Thajwas Glacier

Our taxi driver Mushtaq accompanied us to icy glacier  which is waiting for us to touch us, throughout the way, the gushing sounds of river water cracking rocks filling music to our ears and the spellbound picture perfect beauty seemed pleasing to our eyes. 

In the way, the flock of sheeps took our sight on them, we tried to touch one of them, but Mushtaq warned us as each of them were guarded by a dog who was always ready to bite at you, if you did any harm to them.

Unique but different in its flock

Finally after walking for around one hour in the fascinating beauty of nature, we found our feet on ice which was just like a refrigerator. It seemed like someone had put you all inside a compressor, but I would like to mention that the excitement of being refrigerated was so high that we shred off all our warmers till we reached there...!!

After experiencing the ice so closely under our feet, there was nothing more, we could desire of now, we played there though the ice was not as much as we expected, but it was cherishable for us to find that much also. We returned quite freely as it was less tiring to climb down the mountains than to climb up.

Till the time, Shahid booked our hotel in Ganderbal (8 kms from Sonamarg), Hotel Snow Hill, it is worth mentioning here that the hotels were quite expensive and full that day because of the cancellation of helicopters, many devotees waited in Sonamarg Hotels for another day, I didnt know how Shahid managed to get the hotel on such a short notice so well. In the hotel, we were welcomed with warmth by the hotel staff, this is what Kashmiris are to be praised of, they were always so welcoming to their tourists, that they recieved you with all the affecion they had. We were served with kahwas in the traditional style kashmiri cups, that made that beverage more pleasing. In the night, we had our dinner which we ordered very light as we were already very tired, the entire night it was raining heavily making us feel the next day was going to be real tough for us.

The next day we all set to check out at Neelgrath helipad whether the flight was going to take off or not, the weather was not again clear in the morning, so it was a common decision that we'll go by horses as it was not quite possible for us to wait for another day. 

So, I called Shahid, told my plan to him, he quickly made all arrangements for us. But as the Baba listened to our eagerly pledge which mata had declined to reach to him by helicopter, the weather was cleared within 5 mins, from the dense fog, there we saw a sun shining on our head, so what we took our helicopter ride to Panjtarni, a place where waters from 5 streams merged. At that time, the only thought that comes in my mind, "Woa...bhagwaanjii ab aap bhi maze lene lag gaye..??"  But from the whole  incident, I learnt one thing, never ever take alternatives in your life because that will always make you puzzled, stick to one decision and have full faith on it and you will definitely gonna get it. Had there been no Yatra Permits with us, we never went to cancel our tickets in rush and booked them again out of our own foolishness. 

We had to spend our whole night in the tents, where we met Shastri, Union President of Tent Association, he hailed from Pahalgam and was doing such a spritual work there for the proper and comfortable settlement of the devotees. After talking to Shastri, we realised that the media picturised Kashmir as another world, but it is the crown of India which even god appreciated for, one can imagine it from a fact, the highest pilgrimage of Hindus, the holy shrine was care taken by Muslim community residing there, they do it with pride, like their own culture, they take care of our basic necessities from our comfortable stay to the food we eat, helped us through ponies or horses to walk us through the cave, the soldiers there guarding the shrine or taking care of medical facility, if needed, all of them are Muslims. They are us, they are humane, they are the most sensitive people residing on this earth, so why does this media and politicians , some corrupt people destroying the image of entire nation. The God is one, and its child is one, its just that our ways of saying prayers to him are different like the different languages we follow here. 

Shastri arranged the most expert and trained palkis and horses for us on advice of Shahid. They took us to the holy cave in the morning, finally after climbing around 489 stairs, we encountered Baba Barfani, I did not know what others in my group prayed for, I seriously thanked him for arranging this trip and letting me meet such a nice people on earth. I got prasad from inside the cave but that for me, it did not only belong to me, it was all for Shahid, who helped me out throughout the journey inspite of struggling with his own issues, he was sent to me by God so that I could fulfill the dream of my parents. So without even a second thought, I gave it whatever I got from there to him as soon as I returned. 

Holy Cave of Shri Amarnathji

Our happiness did not know any boundations after we returned from darshan, it was euphoric and that was the day in last four months when I felt like sleeping actually because I got what I wanted through this trip, the unending satisfactory smile on each of their faces. 

On the banks of Panjtarni, we got a chance to interact with an Army Officer who was on his duty there, he told us that Kashmir was a real safe place to visit, there were no as such problems shown by media, the army was always there to guide and protect it. 

At the Neelgrath helipad, Pooja met Irfan from Irfan Arts & Creations, Kashmiri with a real fascinating and innocent smile, he used to do handwork on Shawls manually, he sold pashmina and told us the value of Pashminas meant to Kashmiris that it can be resold back as we did with gold, it was new to us but as well as relishing to our ears that how much they value it. We purchased some shawls from him to gift to our relatives and friends who were waiting so curiously for us. 

In the evening, we returned back to the hotel in Lankar resort after 3 long days but still with satisfaction in our hearts, got freshed and relaxed for some time, till we all set to go for our next destination of local sightseeing in Srinagar to please our hearts to the last night in Jannat-e-Kashmir.