April 15, 2004

Better than Heaven

There had been reports of rebel strikes in the east. In the mountains of central Kashmir, a small Indian security force watches over the pilgrims on the old trail up to the holy cave high above the village of Pahalgam. One soldier nods off at his post, accidentally firing a round from his loaded rifle. The security force panics and opens fire on what they take to be a rebel incursion. There are no rebels. Instead thirty-five civilians are killed - pilgrims they were there to protect.

An inquiry found that the whole incident was a tragic accident. There was no more violence in Pahalgam. But it was enough to effectively put an end to tourism in the area for the better part of 2 decades.

The Kashmiri people say that Kashmir is Paradise. Before the 'dark times', Pahalgam was one of the hubs of Himalayan trekking: whether day walks, or 3 week walks up to Ladakh. And the area really is beautiful. We stayed in our own little cottage on the edge of the village, surrounded by green meadows and snow-capped mountains on all sides. When our guide, Ibi, took us further into the mountains to his favourite little hamlet, Aru, he told us that this is "Better than Heaven!" And he wasn't far wrong. We did a day-hike from the hamlet, through one of the green valleys. If we had more time, we could have camped, then gone on further to see the glaciers and the blue lakes. But we contented ourselves with a few day walks in the mountains and around the village, and one (and definitely only one!) day of horse ridding.

Posted by Andrew Wallace @ 10:05 AM