Am I in Paradise?

Mughal rulers thought so - they had beautiful gardens designed and laid out for them on the slopes of the Zabarwan Mountain range, part of the Himalayan Mountain chain. The British Raj thought so too when they spent their summer months here fleeing the intense heat of India's northern plains.

Time to set off in our Shakira - a shallow gondola style of boat, and make our way to the Royal Houseboat which will be our home for the next 5 nights. The boat is permanently moored to an island in the middle of Dal Lake, Srinagar, Kashmir

A ten minute journey across the lake and down a network of waterways will take us to our new abode. Our Shikara along with boat-boy will be at our disposal to ferry us around whenever needed.  He has already stashed our suitcases in the stern so lets cast-off

The Royal houseboat lives up to our expectations, it has a veranda where we can sit, talk, relax and read, or simply admire the ever changing views. That's the local Mosque across the water - those two little pink pavilions

 There are five of us staying on board along with our friendly houseboy and his assistant

Come and see inside

The veranda leads to the sitting-room and then on into the dinning-room. There is a long corridor to the lefthand side of the boat with three double bedrooms on the right

All of the bedrooms are en suite and each has a small sitting area

Life on board is very relaxed - breakfast might be a savoury omelet followed by pancakes filled with fresh banana and local honey, tsot - a kind of flat bread to eat with butter and marmalade, and a pot of Qawah - Kashmiri tea made with crushed saffron, cardamon, cinnamon, green tea and a touch of sugar 

image courtesy The Guardian

Tsot bread from the bakery on Dal Lake

Our Houseboy offers suggestions for our lunch and evening meal and we choose what we would prefer - lots of spicy vegetables, fish, chicken, lamb, or samosas filled with potato, cheese, peas, chillies, and coriander

He comes from high up in a remote Himalayan Valley, and until travelling to Srinagar could not speak any English, now he is fluent. He is very keen to improve himself, but sadly his mother died leaving him alone with his older brother and a younger sister. His father left the village to live in Delhi. He comes from the kind of isolated community you might see on a National Geographic film, completely disconnected from the rest of the world. He has very big dreams but does not know the date of his birth in order to get a passport. Birth certificates are unimportant when you live away from the 'hurly burly world' but you are stuck without one in 'real life'. To return to his village is a very difficult journey as he can only travel part of the way on public transport and then it becomes a long hard physical trek for him to finally reach his valley. We have been concerned for him and his family wondering whether or not his village was affected during the recent earthquake.

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His mountain habitat is shared with the rare, shy and endangered Snow Leopard - he saw one once

A regular little visitor to the houseboat was the daughter of the boat owner.  She became very attached to me and I to her - she accompanied us on several of our visits.  She has only just turned six, but can already read, write, and speak perfect English. She is a delightful, beautiful, and highly intelligent girl whom we shall keep in touch with. On our final morning she came to bid us farewell as she started back to school following the Easter break. In a predominantly Muslim area we were surprised to learn that she goes to a Christian school started by a missionary lady called Violet Fitze in 1912. After 10 years Violet was joined by a Miss Muriel Mallinson who became the school's Principal for the following 40 years. It is said that Miss Mallinson was regularly seen riding her bicycle around Srinagar purchasing groceries at the Bazaar. She would visit her sick students or address groups of women about hygiene and cleanliness. She was always thinking of how best she could contribute to spreading education and emancipation to the girls and women of Kashmir. She introduced them to swimming, dancing and mountaineering and even took them camping and trekking - a daring and unusual feat at that time. She and Miss Fitze were great pioneers of education for girls in Kashmir - The Mallinson School is a lasting testament to them both. Today the school has exceptionally high standards being one of the most successful girls schools in Northern India. Our special little friend looked very smart wearing her brown school blazer with its school motto and badge emblazoned on her pocket. For all the world she looked as if she was setting off for the start of a new school term here in England.