Where Five Valleys Meet: water weed

Sunday, 10 May 2015

People of the Lake in Kashmir

Dal Lake, Srinagar, in the Himalayan foothills is home to people who have a unique lifestyle spent living on its waters - it is where they work, shop, raise their families, and grow flowers and vegetables on floating gardens.

Their shallow shakira boats are like a fifth limb as they skim seamlessly across the water; their children learn to paddle a boat like ours learn to walk. The lake people paddle on one side of the boat only but always travel in a straight line. If we did that we would go round and round in endless circles. Elderly men sit crossed legged on the very ends of the shakira's bow or stern and can even been seen standing up in the middle of their shallow shakira's paddling effortlessly along

How they get up from these positions without rolling themselves and the boat over is a mystery to me; their limbs and balance must be incredibly

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From our veranda I counted at least 30 people clambering into this boat

I have already bought several packets of special Kashmiri tea, made with local saffron and cardamon, from this young man, but he is ever hopeful that I will buy some more.

The coat he is wearing is called a Pheran - it has a zip at the top and goes over the head like a cloak. In the winter time the men of Srinagar wear a longer loose fitting one made from kashmir (cashmere). Under the cloak they hold an earthenware container covered with wickerwork, called a Kangri, it is filled with hot embers to keep them warm during the bitterly cold snowy days. According to the owner of our houseboat all the men wander around in the winter months looking as if they are pregnant.

Do you know where cashmere comes from? I always assumed that it came from the wool of sheep. It actually comes from the downy undercoat of the Kashmiri mountain goat, only products from the Kashmiri goat are considered to be true cashmere.

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A Kangri seller

When we first arrived at the lake the water was relatively clear, but within days, and following all the sunshine, the lake bloomed with weed. The men and women worked all day long pulling it from the water into their boats to keep the waterways clear. It was then placed in large piles, and left to rot into a rich compost to fertilise their floating gardens. The way the lake bloomed so quickly indicates, I believe, a very serious and ongoing problem for the people of the lake.
The lake is an ornithologists delight - several types of Kingfisher, Herons, Swallows, Bitterns, Egrets, numerous water birds, and the ever present Kites patrolling the skies. The lake must look stunning in July and August when it is filled with Lotus flowers floating on top of the water.