Don’t Just Ask A Guidebook
Posted on 14. Jul, 2010 by David in Blog, Culture, Tips
Tourists in a foreign destination like Kashmir naturally have lots of questions. Where is this, what is that, how much is this, and why do they do it that way?!
Sometimes you can find answers to your questions in a guidebook or online forum. However, searching for information and answers by asking the local community offers a more rewarding and interactive experience even if it might draw you out of your comfort zone a little.
Asking a Kashmiri about something you don’t know can be a fun experience that provides you with more than just the answer you were looking for. One of our tour participants once asked a Kashmiri man to explain how a traditional samovar was used and he ended up going to that man’s home to see a samovar and drink chai!
With this in mind, here are a few suggestions to help you get the most out of asking questions when visiting North India and Kashmir.
Ask the same question to more than one person. I think this is a common mistake made by tourists. The problem with asking only one person is you can’t be sure of the answer given to you. From my experience in Kashmir people would rather give you some type of answer than tell you they don’t know. That can lead to some pretty inaccurate answers! Also, some people give more descriptive answers than others so by asking the same thing to a variety of people you can get a more complete picture of the information you’re seeking.
Try rewording the question. If you don’t seem to be getting what you’re looking for then maybe the way you are phrasing the question isn’t being understood. We encourage our groups to ask locals how to say some basic phrases and greetings in Kashmiri. Several groups would ask people, “How do you greet someone in Kashmiri?” Almost all of them were given the answer of “As-Salamu Alaykum” which is the traditional Arabic greeting that Kashmiri Muslims use. They were rarely given the Kashmiri expressions that typically follow the Arabic greeting. So we changed the way they asked the question to how do you ask someone in Kashmiri, “How are you?” Now they almost always get the desired answer.
There may not be a “right” answer. A friend recently asked a group of about ten Kashmiri guys how much he should pay for something. He got ten different answers followed by a debate among the ten guys regarding whose answer was more correct! This might seem like a downside to asking multiple people the same question, but discovering that there are differing views regarding the answer to your question can help you learn more about a place than simply trying to find the one “right” answer. Listening to a group of Kashmiri men debate with each other is also far more entertaining than any guidebook!
Ice Cream Parlour + Art Gallery
Posted on 19. May, 2010 by David in Blog, Culture, Food/Drink, Kashmir
Ice cream and art lovers have a new place to check out in Srinagar, Kashmir. Creambell Ice Cream Parlour recently opened featuring a variety of ice cream plus an art gallery in the back section of the restaurant called Mahatta Art Café. This new parlour is located on Residency Road under Mahatta Photo Studio near the General Post Office (letter A on map below).
While the ice cream is good, the thing I was most excited about is the space for the art gallery. Currently the gallery is showing photographs taken by the late Mr. Ram Chand Mehta. Mr. Mehta founded the original Mahatta Studio in Srinagar way back in 1918. The photos on display range from 1934-1965 and are a fascinating look back in time at the Valley of Kashmir.
I had seen a larger exhibition of Mr. Mehta’s photos in Delhi a few years ago when my friend Matt Brandon first made me aware of these classic photos. While not much of a photographer myself, I certainly appreciate the history captured through Mr. Mehta’s lens.
There is a flyer inside the parlour indicating that the art gallery is open to any artist who would want to display her/her works. Hopefully this new space will help local artists display and promote their various works. If you’re in Srinagar, come check it out to enjoy some ice cream and local art.
New Books on Kashmir, the Mughals, & India
Posted on 08. Apr, 2010 by David in Blog, Books, Culture, Kashmir
I was in Delhi the last few days with the great group of photographers making up our Lumen Dei Kumbh Mela photo tour. Yesterday while they were out shooting photos I dropped by one of my favorite bookstores in Delhi, Full Circle.
Every time I’m there I notice something interesting and worth picking up. This time I found a book on Kashmir I’ve been wanting to get for a while now – “Travels in Kashmir: A Popular History of Its People, Places, and Crafts” by Brigid Keenan. The summary on the back of the book starts with, “This is the story of Kashmir as it appears in travel literature and historical writings from ancient times to the twentieth century.”
I began reading it on my flight from Delhi to Srinagar earlier today, and it shows promise of being a helpful and enjoyable book on Kashmir. I’ll try to share more after completing it.
I also picked up two other books on India while at the bookstore. One of them details the great Mughal emperors of India, titled “Emperors of the Peacock Throne” by Abraham Eraly. Apparently outside of India the book is titled “The Mughal Throne.”
When I first was looking at the description on the back of the book I wondered what my favorite author on India, William Dalrymple, thought of the book. I then happened to notice this endorsement on the front cover: “It is hard to imagine anyone succeeding more gracefully in producing a balanced overview than Abraham Eraly” – William Dalrymple. That was all I needed to know!
The third book I purchased is interestingly titled “In Spite of the Gods: The Strange Rise of Modern India” by Edward Luce. And once again, what did I find on the front cover – “Without question the best book yet written on the New India” – William Dalrymple. As I was already in the travel/history books on India mood I quickly decided to get this one too.
As I mentioned above, I’ll do my best to share more on each of these books as I finish reading them. If anyone else happens to have read any of these already, let me know your thoughts about them in the comments.
Travel In India
Posted on 26. Feb, 2010 by David in Blog, Culture, Travel
There’s a line we add to the itinerary pages of our tours which says “Although this represents the tour’s planned itinerary, due to the nature of travel in India it is subject to change at the discretion of the tour leaders.” This week I received an email asking for clarification on what we mean by this. In replying to the sender I thought this also may be good to share on the blog and see what opinions there might be.
Is travel in India more unpredictable or chaotic than other places? Some people who have visited India might say yes. Trains and planes can be late, strikes occasionally happen and disrupt things, or a government VIP visits the place you were going to and security shuts things down. Yet others may say that travel in general is unpredictable anywhere in the world.
I would agree that travel can be unpredictable anywhere in the world. So why not just say “due to the nature of travel…” and leave India out of it? Two reasons. One, while travel can be tough anywhere, in our experience tourists to India sometimes experience a higher level of culture stress than other places around the world. Two, we’ve seen that travelers perceive and expect things differently when in another culture/place than their home.
We may know that travel is unpredictable and be okay with that in the familiarity of our home culture. However, once we experience the unpredictable/unexpected in a foreign place our unrealized cultural prejudices can rise to the surface and we find ourselves thinking or even saying out loud, “What’s wrong with this place? Don’t they know how to do things the right way?!”
Our business caters exclusively to foreign tourists rather than Indian citizens. We want them to enjoy India with flexible attitudes that can adapt well to any possible changes. The majority of time we don’t have to make changes. However, when we do it’s great to have customers who already know that could be a reality and display great attitudes when adapting to any potential changes.
Tell us what you think. Is travel in India more challenging from travel in other places? By saying “due to the nature of travel in India” are we unintentionally enforcing negative stereotypes of India? What would you say?
Kashmir Cultural Heritage Tour – May 2010
Posted on 15. Feb, 2010 by David in Blog, Culture, Kashmir, Tours
Looking for a unique and authentic cultural experience for 2010? Check out our Kashmir cultural heritage tour being run from May 12th-20th.
Surrounded by the Himalayas, the Valley of Kashmir offers beautiful landscapes as well as a fun and rich culture to experience. Through this tour we’ll help you enjoy some of the best that Kashmir has to offer.
The group size will be limited to 4-6 participants, so check out the full tour details on our cultural tours page.
Don’t Tear It Down!
Posted on 24. Jan, 2010 by David in Blog, Books, Culture, Kashmir
Before leaving Kashmir recently I stopped by the office of the J&K chapter of Intach to gather some info related to heritage walks in the old city area of Srinagar. While there I checked out an interesting book called “Don’t Tear It Down! Preserving the Earthquake Resistant Vernacular Architecture of Kashmir” by Rudolph Langenbach.
The book argues that the older, traditional design of many Kashmiri homes and buildings is much more resistant to falling apart from earthquakes than most of the more “modern” buildings being built in place of the older ones. There are several fascinating pictures in the book illustrating this point.
This is a great book for those interested in architecture, especially as it relates to areas prone to earthquakes. For other tourists to Kashmir the book may be interesting just to see some of the old photos from the Srinagar area compared to today.
You find the book online at various places, including amazon.com, and on this website as an e-book.
Don’t Forget About Holidays
Posted on 27. Nov, 2009 by David in Blog, Culture, Tips
Tomorrow in Kashmir Muslims will begin celebrating Eid al-Adha, one of the biggest religious holidays of the year for Muslims around the world. If you’re a tourist visiting Kashmir at this time, or somewhere else in the Muslim world, it’s helpful to be aware of these types of holidays.
Imagine a foreign tourist coming to America the day before the big Thanksgiving holiday and not knowing about it beforehand. They might wonder why airports are so crowded on Wednesday, why so many things are closed on Thursday, or what the deal is with all these huge sales happening on Friday!
When you’re planning a trip to another country, it can be a good idea to see if any local holidays happen to fall during the dates you’re considering. Holidays can greatly affect travel plans in both positive and negative ways. If something happens to be closed on a particular holiday that you wanted or needed to visit that would be frustrating to discover when you get there. On the other hand, you can experience a culture/place in a whole new way when you’re there for a special holiday. If you’re lucky you may even get invited to share in the holiday with locals you meet!
India has lots of holidays, and many of the major holidays are religious ones celebrated by the diverse religions found in India – Hinduism, Islam, Sikhism, Christianity, etc. An important Muslim holiday may not affect things as much in a predominantly Hindu area or vice versa.
For a good list of the major public holidays observed in India, check out this helpful page from Wikipedia here.
For Kashmir the main Islamic holidays to keep in mind for 2010 are the fasting month of Ramadan and the two Eid celebrations. In 2010 Ramadan is estimated to be from August 11th to September 9th, and since this is the fasting month it definitely affects the options for lunch when you’re in Kashmir. Eid ul-Fitr is held at the end of Ramadan, estimated for September 10th, and then Eid al-Adha is estimated for November 16th.
Kashmir Cultural Heritage Resource
Posted on 10. Aug, 2009 by David in Blog, Culture, Kashmir
I’m away from Kashmir on some travel, but this week I wanted to share about a helpful resource for cultural heritage tourism in Kashmir.
The Jammu and Kashmir Chapter of INTACH (Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage) is doing excellent work at promoting and preserving cultural heritage in Kashmir. I encourage you to check out their website for more info at www.heritageofkashmir.org.
Of particular interest is the cultural heritage walks they have developed for Srinagar. They have 9 walks listed, complete with a Google Earth photo showing the route for the walk. Each walk takes you past several important heritage sites in the city. We hope to begin promoting these walks and offering guided tours for them starting in 2010.
Three, Maybe Four, Cups of Chai
Posted on 30. Jul, 2009 by David in Blog, Culture, Food/Drink, Kashmir
Kashmiris love their chai (tea). It’s an essential part of their culture and hospitality. My wife and I have grown to love chai too, and it’s one of the things we miss the most when we’re out of Kashmir. Not only the chai itself, but the chai time, when you can relax and enjoy the hospitality and interaction with your host.
Many of our tour participants also come to appreciate chai and its central role in Kashmiri culture. Soon after they arrive in Srinagar and check in on their houseboat they are served their first cup of chai. By the time they leave we are often asked, “Where can I buy the stuff I’ll need to keep making this when I return home?”
Kashmir has three main types of chai, along with a special fourth one. We like to have our groups taste each of the three main types – Lipton chai, noon chai, and kahwa. The fourth one is doud kahwa, which adds milk to the kahwa, and is usually only served at special events like weddings.
Lipton chai is the term most Kashmiris use for the simple chai combination of black tea, milk, and sugar. It’s not necessarily the Lipton brand, but that brand has somehow become associated with this standard cup of chai in Kashmir.
Noon chai means salt tea, and this variety of chai is the one some tourists might not take a liking to at first. Noon chai is green tea with salt, milk, and a small pinch of baking soda which gives the chai a pinkish color. Since most Westerners typically think sweet when they’re drinking chai, the key to drinking noon chai is to expect something more like a soup broth than sweet chai. Noon chai is my wife’s favorite in Kashmir, and she especially likes it when cream is added to the chai.
Kashmiri Noon Chai
Kahwa is also green tea, but a different type than for noon chai. In addition to the green tea, kahwa typically has cardamom, cinnamon, sugar, and slivered almonds. Kahwa also can be specially made with saffron, in which case the green tea isn’t even needed (chai without chai?!). This type of chai is my favorite, and while it can be enjoyed the whole year, sipping on a hot cup of it in the cold winter (or on a cold night while trekking) is especially satisfying.
Ingredients for Kashmiri Kahwa - cinnamon, green tea, saffron, and cardamom
When you visit Kashmir make a goal to try out these three main kinds of chai with Kashmiris. It will be a fun way to experience the culture. If you’re lucky you might even get invited to a wedding and get to taste doud kahwa.
Kashmir Cultural Festival
Posted on 07. Jul, 2009 by David in Blog, Culture, Kashmir
We had a new tour group arrive in Delhi last week. After one day in Delhi and one day in Agra, they flew up yesterday to Srinagar. Normally we don’t have much planned for our group’s arrival day into Kashmir. They just get settled into their houseboat and then can relax and/or take a shikara across Dal Lake to walk along the boulevard.
Yesterday, however, our group got to enjoy a special treat by attending a festival in the evening on Kashmir culture, music, & art. The festival was held at the beautiful Almond Villa near the edge of Dal Lake. Unfortunately we missed the first two nights of the festival while we were in Delhi, but even attending for one night was a fun experience.
The main event for the festival last night was two music performances. One was by a group of musicians from Jammu, and the other group came from Sopore. Both gave excellent performances, and even though our group couldn’t understand the language of the songs they still appreciated and enjoyed the uniqueness of the music. My only regret is that my camera wasn’t able to capture very good images of the performances. I had hoped one of the local papers today would have some good photos to share, but all I have found so far is this brief article HERE.
I spoke with one of the organizers of the festival to see if they planned to offer this type of event on a regular basis in the future. She definitely hopes that it will be possible to put on the festival again. For tourists interested in seeing authentic expressions of art, music, & drama from Kashmir this type of event would be a must see.
