In what seems a long time ago I, too, went to beautiful places no tourists knew, in East Africa, and others where there were travelers, but few, and they integrated with the communities like Morocco's deep south. What you very beautifully describe can't last once there's a NYT article on it. Anyway, that's my experience.
I returned to some of those places post-tourism, from Ouarzazate to the Serengeti and many places in Uganda and Kenya, certain Greek islands, even villages in Italy and the south of France. Not a one has survived. I used to go deep into the Everglades with people who lived there. Not one of those marvels survived intact for 10 years. Whole countries were overrun, like Kenya.
The people change, their natural innocence lost. Commerce barges in. Money replaces poetry. Habba Khatoon Drama begins to be sad, nightly dances for the busloads, Massai-like.
I never took a camera, but stored the images in my head. I never said the name of the last beautiful village on the Italian coast to even friends, but it was "found" anyway.
One friend became a travel writer of Greece and Turkey. The fabulous village in which they lived was despoiled by the English. He sold the house they had restored for half a million dollars and left for Beverly Hills.
It's a dilemma of democracy.
I was fortunate to visit Kashmir as a teenager more than 45 years ago. The article and pictures brought back the happy memories of a summer adventure of a lifetime. I have often dreamed of returning.
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Kashmir - the Paradise on Earth has been diminished by India's stubbornness and indifference towards the will of the inhabitants.
Freedom from India, China and Pakistan, that's all we want.
Go back Indian forces, or we will make you leave Kashmir with humiliation.
Thank you Michael.
Gurez is a mini valley bound by mountains but blessed with abundant fresh waters and natural fauna and flora.
As I serve in this beautiful piece of land , I admire it's beauty and the untouched civilization.
I hope you will write a book on Gurez based on your knowledge gained in your previous tour and this fresh one as well.
Thank you once again.
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Thank you, Michael Benanav, for this bittersweet look at one of the world's most intriguing places, and the fortitude you and your friends showed in bringing it to us. You are vastly appreciated.
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Beautiful article. I had a fantasy of native Americans being left alone, relatively untouched by modern culture, living their lives in some mountain valley of the American West. Not so different I like to think
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Wonderfully written. A perfect blend of history, politics, and humanity, depicting a changing world with enduring beauty.
Wonderful article.
Regarding the second photo down of the village near the river: it's funny how one of the poorest regions in the world looks almost exactly like one of the riches (the Alps).
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As a freshman in Delhi University who rode a motorbike from Delhi to Kashmir in 1979, this article rekindled a desire in me to visit the area again and in particular, Gurez
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The narrative begs the question why we can't live in peace around the world. I visited Kashmir valley over three decades ago, the images and the experience is still fresh in memory. India doesn't let Indians from the rest of the country settle in Kashmir and thus preserved its culture and natural beauty. We just hope the heaven on earth remains that way. Alas, I am too afraid to visit again with all the terrorists being active there.
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Thank you for taking us to this beautiful , hidden jewel of a place.Wish I could make the trip too.
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This beautiful story is in the language of poetry rather than commonplace journalism. The place is for travelers rather than tourists. May it remain uncontaminated.
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Exquisite! Travel done very well.
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Any trout fishing in those creeks? The water looks great!!
@John Harper, yes there is trout fish in Kishan ganga river ,people particularly foreigners visit for angling there.
What a beautiful article.
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In 2007, I was posted to Kashmir on transfer from Bangalore while I was serving in Telephone Department. I was imagining how to enter Srinagar and our office which is fully guarded by security forces. Militants may fire at me thinking I am outsider and Security may fire thinking I am a militant. But after reaching Kashmir, I found no such fears. Though entire place is full of forces, I have not come across any disturbance in my stay of 2 years. Many tourists were visiting Kashmir. We will come to know some incident happening in borders only through newspaper and TV channels. I used to travel in local buses even to remote places and mingled with local people. People are very peace loving and hospitable. But I found that tourists are influenced by some TV channels that repeatedly telecast for TRP an incident of firing between militants and Army which
occured in some remote part. I experienced that Tourists were safe in Kashmir. They cut short their journey upto Jammu. They are surely unfortunate to miss the Switzerland by their side by imaginary and media created fears. Politics is also playing a major role in the plight of Kashmiris.
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Thank you for your wonderful reporting. It's uplifting to read positive coverage about Kashmir, rather than the usual, but necessary coverage of frequent militant and army uproars.
Kudos to you for spending so much time with the local Kashmiris in the valley. I hope to see more articles like this!
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I was just there a couple of months ago. Tourism is picking up- especially on the Pakistan side! You can see many new hotels being constructed and better roads to get there.
I agree with the writer, in the next ten years we hope the see this beautiful piece of land prosper.
#AncestralPlaces
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Nicely written article - but the writing is overshadowed by the simply spectacular photographs - especially for someone with Kashmiri ancestry like me. It re-awoke my long-suppressed yearning to visit the Indian side of the state for decades. (I have visited the Pakistani side many times, but we originated in Baramulla near Srinagar). It was good to see that two of those quoted share our own family name - Lone.
India will not give me a visa to visit because I have spoken of the need of Kashmiris to determine their own future - peacefully, through a plebiscite that India agreed to in the UN Security Council in 1948. If anyone reading this article and blog can help me get a visa, I would be eternally grateful!
The subhead for the article is "Ten years after his first visit, a writer revisits a remote, conflicted region that is still new to tourism." So even though this a travel article, there should have been at least a clear summary of how the conflict arose.
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@Salim Lone
Did you notice the comment immediately before yours, written by a Lone who resides in Srinagar?
Astoundingly beautiful
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May peace come to Kashmir, which I've heard described as the most beautiful land on Earth.
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I am sure Rockies are beautiful, and the Alps and the Andes, but there's nothing like the Himalayas. I spent some summers in Srinagar a long time ago, stayed in Badami Baag area. The view of snow covered peaks touching the sky, and their reflection in the water logged paddy fields is a sight unforgettable. Eating mutton patty and drinking green tea with almonds in one of the Srinagar's hospitable cafes is memory which fills me with such longing even now that tears come in my eyes. People there are so simple, nice and warm, it is unbelievable anyone one of them could ever become a terrorist, or follow any anti-humanity ideology.
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I was in Kashmir about 15 years ago. While preparing for a trek I wastched the woman do all the physical labor and care for the children and cook all of the meals for 20 or 30 of the men while the men sat around and gossiped and smoked. When do the men "work"? And what is it that they do for the good of the order? It's a beautiful place, but I'd rather be a man than a woman in Kashmir.
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Mesmerized!
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Beautifully written. You are a gifted writer. Reading & seeing the pictures felt emotionally satisfying. But left me with a tinge of sadness. Please write more such travelogue.
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Quite interesting article - my wife and I spent a week in Kashmir in 2008, on one of the Victorian houseboats moored on Dal Lake in Srinagar. We visited Sonamarg, and a side-valley off the Kargil road on the way to Sonamarg which was the southern side of the trail to Gurez. An astoundingly beautiful area, kind people who are so weary of decades and decades of tension, riots, killings, and the presence of the Indian Army. In fact that was one of the outstanding memories of the trip: wherever we went, even up the road to Sonamarg, you can almost always see an Indian Army sentinel, finger on the trigger. My wife is of north Indian background, but I am clearly of Nordic heritage, so when the guards looked at me, I could see them visibly relax,
We had to leave early when the Amarnath Land Trust fiasco erupted, and we were on one of the last, if not the last, private jeeps out of the Vale, headed down to Udhampur to visit relatives as Srinagar exploded in violence. Once there, and the Land Trust reversing its decision, violence then visited Jammu as Hindus reacted against the land not being ceded to the Trust.
The region's agony goes on. At some point, Kashmir should simply be granted independence, if India and Pakistan can be trusted to accept mutual responsibility for guarding the region's integrity. In other words, never.
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Great writing! Photographs almost do justice to the beauty of the place.
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Anyone planning a visit should understand the violent insurgency in the state and how easily this may reach a part previously untouched.
Tourists should be cautioned that they have been targeted before.
While I feel bad for the residents, far too many disturbing stories belie the hope that a resurgence of tourism can occur.
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/fallen-soldier-was-home-follow...
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Thnks for such a beautiful topic but sir from last so many years Army is not helping us during our emergency times they only take photographs and In the name of sadbhavna they just loot the money which come from India govt.and u have not given so much importance to network problem which has been faced by people espicalley during winter .
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Thank you for an excellent article and the beautiful pictures.
From Jammu and Kashmirs tourism department website:
Gurez's most formidable peak is Habba Khatoon around which quaint legends abound. Zoon (which means Moon in English) was Habba Khatoons earlier name. She was daughter of a peasant who got her married to an illiterate peasant (Habba) . Zoon was ill-treated by her mother-in-law and husband as she spent most of her time in poetry and singing.
Dejected by her plight she approached a "Peer", a sage who changed her name as Habba Khatoon and presumed her as the queen of Kashmir. The emperor of Kashmir Yousuf Shah Chak (18th century) was enamored by her beauty, intelligence and poetry. He got Habba Khatoon divorced and married her. Emperor Yousuf Shah Chak was a Dard Shin from Gilgit and entered into Kashmir through Gurez. It is believed that when emperor was imprisoned by the King Akbar, his beloved Habba Khafton used to wander near the peak to look for her lover. She wandered on the banks of river Jhelum, fields and valleys. Her songs uttered the words for lost love and said
"Ghoh choun wuchan gotti, aki latti yeham naa"
I look for you oh my love in the storms. I wish you to come just once.
Twenty years later the great poetess of Kashmir, Habba Khatoon, died in grief & sorrow and was buried in Athawajan. Her poetry still remains alive in the hearts of Kashmiri people.
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Gurez, Shiva the lord willing, I will visit you.
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Marvelous! Thank you, Mr. Benanav.
The writing--beautiful. The photographs--incredible. I am smitten with a desire--destined, of course, never to be satisfied--to see and visit those places.
My sister--many years ago--was visiting in Pakistan. There she had a number of adventures. One was a long night drive up some mountain side--full of switchbacks and hairpin turns. "Where on earth are we going?" she asked.
"Be patient, " her friends told her. "In the morning, you'll agree--it was worth it."
The morning came. My sister looked out at the Himalayas--not just mountains (as Winston Churchill put it long ago) but "a whole country of mountains."
"Yes," my sister murmured, gazing out at that incredible topography. "Yes--it was worth it."
I looked up Habba Katoon. "The nightingale of Kashmir." A woman of incredible loveliness--who introduce the lol to her people. A short lyric expressing some single, intense thought.
Here--as at other times--I felt a stab of pain, a sudden longing.
I will never learn Kashmiri--the language of that place.
I will never read--savor--enjoy the poetry of this incredible woman.
Oh well.
Thanks again, Mr. Benavav. Wonderful piece! Wonderful!
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@Susan Fitzwater
Your words are very moving for me, and I'm sure for every Kashmiri that reads your comment. Thank you...
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Just flipping through the photos one would think this is Shangri-La.
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Quality write-up. I have a lot of admiration for the author's work and his method of 'embedding' himself for longer durations.
As someone of Indian origin, reading this does make me a bit sad and wistful about the potential 'what could have been' regarding Kashmir, and India-Pakistan in general. It is a great tragedy that so many people are denied the chance for their lives and fortunes to bloom in peace, all thanks to irredentist territorial claims based on flawed concepts of religious superiority.
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@John Doe: I agree with you for the most part, except the last bit about "religious superiority". Such rhetoric is simply an attempt by the current colonial administration to thwart democracy and muddy the waters. Kashmiris have the right to self determination. They should be allowed to exercise it.
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@John Doe
A secret is that Kashmirians want to come to the USA and tour Disnryland and Winter Haven Florida.
Word is that Disney will close the Denmark pavillion at Epcot (it's a dated bore!) and replace it with a Kashmir pavillion surrounded by barbed wire / razor wire / with ear like sharp Mickey ears.
.........your work, Michael, is so very important. Every one of your steps is important........for us through our children for we hope they will not see your steps but will know you were there for them to then experience what you have and we have through you in this grand article and delicate piecing photos.
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An excellent article on scenic Kashmir valleys, however it is sad that India and Pakistan are fighting out about the control of this area on it a poet has said that it is a paradise on earth. At the militarized border scores of civilians are killed. They are poor and innocent not concerned about who owns Kashmir and who does not annex it. Let sanity prevail in Indian and Pakistan governments to settle this issue at their earliest.
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You are from karachi. Can you explain why all the reporters go to the Indian side of Kashmir. I have never heard any westerner going to the Pakistani side. India is fighting the Pakistani terrorism.@rambler
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@chip
https://www.nytimes.com/1990/02/18/world/india-barring-foreign-journalis...
@chip Foreign journalists and rights activists are not allowed by Indian colonial administration to visit the part of Kashmir under their occupation unless they have a special permit. This author was obviously given permission since the subject does not even touch on anything political.
As far as the Pakistani side is concerned, there is no ongoing genocide there to report on. Journalists are always welcome and in fact even after the supposed "surgical strikes" a number of foreign journalists were taken to LOC to show the facts.
An interesting place, no doubt.
If I were a wealthy person who could afford to the vocation of a tourist, I am sure I would find it interesting. As a youngster with no responsibility and no desire to settle down, I often sought out rugged natural beauty and cultural adventure in places where outsiders really shouldn't travel.
However, I'll have to stick with reading Arundhati Roy's "The Ministry of Utmost Happiness" (2017), which takes the reader into Kashmir violent and intractable conflict.
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@Jay David
Read the God of Small Things. You will not be disappointed. That is he finest thus far.
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A note to the author: The everyday language spoken in Northern India is actually much more akin to Urdu than Hindi.
Pure Hindi is a rich, distinct language and not readily understood unless one is familiar with it or has formal education in it. It is used mainly for Hindi news or by politicians on TV/radio, rarely used in everyday conversation. The language that you speak is likely a Hindustani, a mixture of mainly Urdu with a smattering of 'Hinglish' words, hence your ability to be understood in primarily Urdu speaking tribal areas of this part of Jammu and Kashmir..
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I am of "North Indian" descent living in the US for over 35 years. I often run into people from the Indian subcontinent and take delight in switching to my native tounge.
Although I speak in the SAME language, I often find myself being complimented on my "excellent Hindi" (by Indians) and my "exellent Urdu" (by Pakistanis)!
If you ask me, I'd say I was speaking in Hindi. You guessed it right, I am from India.
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@Agantuk
It's true that there is a lot of overlap between Hindi and Urdu. In the British days, the language was referred to as Hindustani with two scripts (Perso-Arabic vs. Devanagari). Since independence, Urdu has had several trajectories. In India, the language is used to preserve North Indian Muslim culture and many quaint words are used that otherwise would be outdated (comparable to Quebecois French vs. Parisian French). In Pakistan, it continues to develop as a modern language because its security and existence are not in question. In the UK (where it is the second most spoken language) and Canada (where it is the fourth most spoken language), Urdu is fast changing to the language of British-Indians and Indo-Canadians distinct from the language of the old countries.
So having said all this, on the Pakistani side Urdu serves as a language that glues it to the rest of the country. On the Indian side, Kashmiri is the preferred language of the majority Muslims with Urdu and English as backup. Were (all of) Kashmir ever to gain independence, I suspect that Kashmiri would be the official language with English as the backup. Kashmir would do well to kick both the Pakistanis and Indians out and seek to join NATO (?) for protection.
On a side note, "Agantuk" was the last film of the great director Satyajit Ray. His 100th birthday would have been in 2021. I hope that India (and Bangladesh) hold a big commemoration of his achievements.
The mountains of North India have unsurpassed beauty, to some it is raw to others paradise. I have been hiking them for 40 years, going back to a time when conditions were primitive but exhilarating. The mountains allowed me to visit, I was a guest of nature, leave it as I as I found it. While I applaud advancement for these simple and hospitable folk, I also wonder what civilization will curse them with. I don't want to romanticize hard lives but for a generation they will be lost, one foot in the old and the other in the new. If you would like to read more about these simple hill folk, read Jim Corbett, a naturalist long before it become fashionable.
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Incredible, beautiful, moving. I long to see more of these photos.
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Thank you for this wonderful article. Kashmir is where me and my wife were born, and Gurez is a bucket list place for us.
The spectacular beauty of this part of the world, including our birthplace, is well known. The trouble and strife that has affected the area for the last nearly 30 years has prevented the proper development of infrastructure, but probably also worked to preserve its pristine unspoiled beauty.
We recently visited Kashmir with close friends, a couple from Australia, who we had cajoled into accompanying us. They were awestruck by the splendid natural grandeur of the entire state, though time constraints did not allow us to visit Leh, yet another place of incredible beauty. We did visit the famed Gulmarg, Sonamarg and Pahalgam towns and the spectacular Mughal Gardens.
We wish to encourage more tourists to visit Kashmir, Leh and Gurez like areas and find out for themselves. There literally scores of breathtakingly beautiful places to see in the state of Jammu and Kashmir.
Thank you again for this excellent writeup...
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Michael, thank you for this. You are as great a photographer as you are a writer!
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Great article, thank you.
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Exquisite evocation of a storied land...
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