Home to the royal Mughal gardens

रेखा पाल एक पेशेवेर पत्रकार हैं. रेखा ने हाल ही में धारा 370 हटने और कोरोना काल के प्रतिबंध कम होने के बाद कश्मीर की यात्रा की है. रेखा ने अपने दिलचस्प अनुभव हिलांश के साथ साझा किए हैं. ये पहली कड़ी है. रेखा पाल की कश्मीर यात्रा की अगली किश्त जल्द हिलांश पर पब्लिश होगी.

Popularly known as the "Garden of Joy" or "Garden of Bliss", Nishat Garden or Nishat Bagh is the second-largest Mughal garden in the Kashmir Valley. Situated on the eastern end of the Dal Lake, with the Zabarwan mountain range forming an idyllic backdrop, this garden has a beautiful water channel flowing through the middle, which further adds to the romantic charm of the garden. Nishat Bagh is famous for its 12 terraces representing twelve Zodiacal signs.

Being a nature lover, I could not stop myself from sighing at the very first sight of it.I quickly took out the camera and captured everything. As this was not enough that after entering the garden, the first thing I did, was to lay down on the ice sheet, for which I had waited for this long.

It seemed as if I should fill these incredibly beautiful valleys in my pockets. I will hardly forget Kashmir in my life ever. Suddenly I noticed a small boy staring at me holding a broom in his hand. He was smiling at me. I immediately (in a very kind gesture) offered him, 'Come and you also get photographed with me!' As if he was standing there waiting for this, he smiled and without any delay straightway sat down near me.

I asked him many questions. I fondled him, but he didn't utter a word. He would just smile as if he has nothing to say. Only after putting in a lot of effort in, he became ready to tell his name, - 'Rahim' and then soon after he left along with his friends. For a while, I kept thinking about that boy. Maybe, his parents work in this garden...Who knows, whose son was it.

There is a famous story about the scenic beauty of Nishat Bagh that Mughal emperor Shah Jahan was greatly mesmerized by the stunning beauty of the garden and once due to his resentment against Asif Khan, he had ended the water supply to the garden. However, later Shah Jahan himself had started the water supply. The design of the garden is identical to that of the Persian garden. This garden consists of a variety of flowers and is designed in such a way that water should reach every part of the garden.

After this, our convoy left for Shalimar Bagh. On the way, side by side the conversation with Faiz Saheb was also continued. Faiz is actually a young man of 31 years old, who has been in the business of tourism in Kashmir for a long and often stays near his car. Earlier, Faiz was keen to do a government job, but the decline in jobs has reversed this idea. About five years ago, Faiz started driving a taxi, and now this is his only profession. Many youngsters of Kashmir, look at tourists with great hope. Amidst the series of talks, we had reached Shalimar bagh. Shalimar Bagh has its own history, whose roots go back to the 16th century.

Jahangir had built the existing Shalimar Garden to please his begum Nur Jahan, but this garden has a history even older. It is said that this garden was Jahangir's dream project. When we reached Shalimar Bagh, that time there also the entire garden was overrun by the snow. There was a kind of silence all around, which often spreads across the mountains after the snowfall. We left Faiz outside and headed towards the garden. My ‘Prabhu’ (in love) was wandering in different gardens with me whereas on the other side I was totally drowned in the love of Kashmir. This was the perception of two different people, was their distinct desires.

People were roaming wearing pheran, which is basically a Kashmiri outfit. Pheran was the thing that was differentiating Kashmiris from the non-Kashmiris. I noticed that people are smiling looking at my bangle-filled hands. On seeing me they say, -' Kashmir welcomes its daughter. Stroll around till your heart desire. You will not have any problem here.' And really, I didn't have any problem there.

As much intimacy, as the people would meet me with, that fast many of my prejudices regarding this place get eradicated. Originally, Kashmiris are very quiet and cheerful people who know well to attract tourists. After Shalimar Garden, we moved towards Chashma Shahi. This is also a Mughal garden which comprises a small temple as well. There was hardly any place left in Kashmir where snow could not be seen.

To be continued ...