Darkrock
DAY 3 Photion Darkrock The day started early for my mother and sister who were awake by that time. The previous evening. my mother and my sister hired a local boatsman cum shikhara person to tour us around the majestic Dal Lake. Much to their dismay, it had rained badly previous night and early morning therefore there was a gloomy overcast in the sky above and we could do the work (posing for the camera ) properly. We left our room and made our way for the dining hall where we consumed a simple breakfast. Our ferryman came at the appointed time and said that instead of touring and then coming for the luggage we should instead take the luggage for the trip and be done with it. Though my mother was little apprehensive of the idea and thought the luggage might tip over and fall into the depths of the lake . the ferryman assured her that no such thing would happen. And hence we saw all the small, little, and major things of this lake. Like where some of the scenes from mission Kashmir were filmed here. We even saw the floating post office and then stationed our shikara near the ghat.
From there went to the Shankaracharya Mandir. Yes, it is hard to believe that a man from the south would stay that long in a cold place like this, especially when coming from God’s own country will come to paradise on earth! Unfortunately, the one-lane road leading up to this temple of religion was packed with tourists and their vehicles. So, we had to walk a good 700m up the slope, and get frisked by the 61st battalion (a fun fact the 61st battalion has a slogan that says “sixty-one, mighty one ” get it ? Boy, should one make this officer the Gulzar). We then climbed up 300 steps (much to the exasperation of my already tired cousin). We did the usual things a pilgrim does at such a reverent site, stand in a long queue with endless other pilgrims, barefoot in one of the coldest parts of India for 3o minutes before we were ushered in a dark room which was cramped by tourists from all the four corners of India. My humble request do not come here for the temple but for the 250 degree view of the Srinagar. Descend was much better now and straight we went for lunch at Afdoos where we had Rogan josh, nadru Yakhni and kashmiri saag. We were right on time there as we took an exit we saw long snake queue with most of our co-tourists from temple. Before we went for any place my mom decided to shop certain essentials. Now we headed to Hazrat bal mosque believed to be hair of islamic prophet Muhammed. We then went to Harvaan gardens where we had another photo session before we decided to stop for the day because next day would require our full energy.