letter to your friend inviting him to spend time with you during the summer vacation in informal letter writing in jamshepur city
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was in Kashmir with my family for three days on a holiday earlier this month. On our return, there was so much interest from friends in knowing details about the trip – most who spoke to us had never been to Kashmir, a few were there many years ago, before the militancy problem emerged – that I thought it worth writing a blog about our impressions.
Movies, poets and storytellers have shown and described the splendour of Kashmir in ways I can never hope to do. Let me just say that it’s one of the most outstandingly beautiful places I have seen on Earth. We were in Srinagar, Gulmarg and Pahalgam. The last two offer positively stunning views. Gulmarg had snow, and Pahalgam offers an unforgettable horse ride up a fairly steep mountainside, that leads to a magnificent meadow ringed by trees and snow-capped peaks.
Srinagar’s Dal Lake, houseboats, shikaras and gardens are an absolute treat, made nicer by the politeness and friendliness of the locals. As you go around Dal Lake on a shikara, you come across other shikaras from who you can buy stuff like seekh kababs and rotis, or you could go to a houseboat that sells Kashmiri textiles and artifacts.
We stayed two nights in a houseboat. It was one of the older houseboats, with fairly basic, but comfortable rooms. The owner was a delightfully pleasant old man. We were told there are more luxurious houseboats available at higher tariffs.
We could not go to Ladakh, which is 250 km from Srinagar, but that would be another must-see place if you have the time and willingness to spend. As many who have seen 3 Idiots would know, the spectacular lake in the final scene is in Ladakh.
An army officer who we met in Udhampur in Jammu said the most beautiful place that he had seen in Kashmir was along the new road passing over the Pir Panjal mountain range. “It puts Gulmarg to shame,” he said.
This road, used extensively by the Mughals and therefore also called Mughal Road, remained abandoned after 1947, but the Indian government has been reconstructing the road since 2005. Since 2010, it has hosted some motor rallies, and is expected soon to be opened for public use.