Dal Lake

Nature often gives us what we can enjoy. Learning its depths is indeed nice but leaning too much …. Can cost you something to anything. Enigmatic isn’t it? Well my experience at the visual of Dal Lake is amazing. A water body with snow capped hill in the backdrop on one side, green life cladded hills on the other side, the capital city thriving around and in it. Decorated shikars lined up at the coast and floating here and there, make the view colorful and cheerful.

We had a booking in a houseboat. To get to the house boat we need to take the shikara boat. Luggage is boarded and once in this little decorated boat, it slowly and steadily drifts across the waters. Unplugged from city life, it was just an awesome feel to soak the soul in the beauty of nature and drift slow. You can opt to sit or lay at leisure on the couch in the shikara just for you. What more comfort can you ask for? As we drifted, we had Knock! Knock! Wondering who can knock at a boat with your luggage? LoL! Not the pirates but the merchants who are on a small boat knocking at different shikaras trying to sell what they have. They try to sell tea, snacks, shawls, dry fruits …. Well it’s a market. Seems crazy and funny but could get annoying with too many which usually does not happen.

There is a floating market area where you actually have to stop by your boat to step in to the shop. There is an entire colony of people who live in the Dal lake. Yes! their houses are floating in the water. People residing in the lake move in boats to run errands like get vegetables, attend school ….. May be getting to a boat is as simple as wearing footwear before stepping out for them.

We reached the houseboat floating in the water. This is a small but richly decorated place. There is literally nothing you could do other than relaxing and gazing at the beauty. Watch the same picturesque space in different hues of the day. For lunch and dinner, Yes! Yes!! Row to the banks and get to a restaurant. This was enjoyable but seemed restricted mobility to us. Being there for an experience is worth but killing time in days needs a taste for it.

With nothing much to do in the house boat we set off on a Shikara ride of the lake. Was surprised to learn that there is a seasonal grass that grows and floats on the lake (as seen the picture) that would also provide a base for growing vegetables in the lake. May be a kindaa native hydroponics. They showed us few places that are guarded by fences for the lotus bloom. There was not a single lotus we could see but yes when there is bloom in the area that is shown to us, yes it would be spectacular.

Coming to the enigmatic expression!! As I looked down into the thick dark waters of Dal lake I could see a lot of water weed swaying. There are people who are deployed solely to pluck the weed. Their boats are on the patrol to rip the weed and load their boats. But somehow looking at the deep waters gave me an impression that it would have its crime fossils on the lake bed. Well this is true with any water body.