A Trip to Heaven

Yes ppl, I have been to heaven. I will tell u how one feels like in heaven but only if u promise me of not spreading the word around…bcoz I don’t want news channel ppl flooding my house & covering me 24*7 , tagging this memorable trip as “ BREAKING NEWS – A Girl Back from HEAVEN.”

Some 2-3 months ago, I casually mentioned my desire to travel through the beautiful valleys of Kashmir & snow covered ranges of Himalayas to one of my cousins. And most unexpectedly I got the reply “ Mast idea hai…you ppl just come to Ambala & together all of us can go to Leh-Ladakh.” The entire planning, the route we would follow, the bookings for the night stay & every other minute detail was taken care of by my cousin(cho chweeet f him).

And thus 7 of us – my parents, my brother, my cousin, his parents & myself started our “trip to heaven”. After a drive of 6 hrs we reached Pathankot , halted there for the night and set out for Srinagar early in the morning (the only ‘not so good’ part of the trip—my cousin literally pulled me out of my bed at 5 am daily…huh..). However, leaving early paid off & we were at Srinagar Army Base by 5 in the evening( ohh btw did I tell u my cousin is in Indian Airforce…so we were welcome in all the army n airforce stations—another imp thing which Kashmir is known for now-a-days).

I was awed by the sight of still & serene water of Dal lake…lined by tall pine trees & surrounded by mountains…colorful shikaras add to the beauty of Dal lake… we hired 2 such shikaras & floated around for 2 hrs and gazed down in wonder at the floating gardens, floating markets & floating tea stalls selling ‘KAWA – the kashmiri tea’ (the best beverage I have ever had!!). Intrinsically carved wooden houseboats (each one costs around 1 crore so u can well imagine its beauty) covered almost 1/4^th of the lake. Even the Mughal emperors appreciated the beauty of this valley of flowers, visited this place often & built many gardens…Shalimar bagh, Nishat bagh to name a few…and the sight of colorful flowers and fountains are sure to touch the hearts of old and young alike.

Next morning we started for Kargil and this was the day when we had our first encounter with the deadly n beautiful (yeah…I know its contradictory but its true..) mountains, winding roads(even the most optimistic person wud describe it as rocks flattened enough just for a car to pass.. ) and deep valleys. We had to cross the Zojila Pass which was at a ht of approx 12000 ft (I m really bad at memorizing exact figures but my approximation is decent enough..hehe..). The road was just wide enough and our Innova fitted in there, in a way similar to trains on railway tracks - deviation of even a cm from the tracks would have resulted in an accident. My parents were petrified at the sight of the deep valley from the Zojila pass. I felt as if I was on the top of the world not knowing that this was just the trailer. We crossed some of the world’s highest motorable passes later during the trip..

Winding thru the mystic peaks, we reached Kargil by evening. I had always associated Kargil with terror & war but believe me, it was the most peaceful & beautiful place of the entire region. Surrounded by bare, high mountains (both Indian & Pakistani) , this place becomes really windy in the evening .

Next morning we left Kargil and entered Ladakh (the land of high passes) , a cold desert , with little or no signs of life…snow covered peaks were our only companion. And believe me this place is no less than Switzerland!!! All of us were dazzled by the sight of shining, snow covered ranges all around.


We saw glimpses of Tibetan culture in Leh, the only town of Ladakh. China border is nearby and situated there is the Pangong Tso lake (a dream destination). 2/3^rd of this serene lake lies in China and 1/3^rd is in India. Far from the maddening crowd of this competitive world, Leh has innumerable Gumphas & monks form the major chunk of Leh’s population.

For me heaven is a place blessed with natural beauty where your mind, heart & soul find ultimate peace. The Gumphas built at the foothills of Himalayas, is the best possible combination of beauty & peace. My mind, heart & soul experienced a divine peace (which I had always craved for) in the company of monks. However hard I try, I can never put into words, the peace I experienced there. It was then I understood the real meaning of heaven --- a place that is much more than beautiful…