India Tour 2022 — Kolkata, New Delhi, Jammu & Kashmir

Date: 28 October to 02 November 2022
Route: Chattogram > Kolkata > New Delhi > Srinagar > Jammu > Srinagar > Sonamarg > Srinagar > Pahalgam > Srinagar > Delhi > Dhaka > Chattogram.

 

The last few years have been very challenging for me. Managing a full-time job at Green Leaf Air and managing my own digital marketing agency, Deftyled, while continuing my graduation meant there were very few occasions where I could “take the day off’. So, I had decided early on that as soon as I graduated, I would take a big vacation.
Tanvir, Sabbir, Diganta, and Sreekanta had also expressed their willingness verbally, but when it was time to apply for visas and other permits, they kind of fell on their backs.
But Shakawat bhai had finished all his formalities with me for the visit. So, in the end, it was just the two of us, which turned out to be for the better. Fewer people meant fewer clashes and disagreements. That’s why it was kind of like the perfect vacation.
Initially, we had planned to visit Darjeeling and Sikkim. But since it was just the two of us, we decided to visit Kashmir instead.

 

It started on Friday the 28th of October. Since our flight was at 11:15 am, we arrived at the Shah Amanat International Airport in Chattogram around 9 o’clock. Surprisingly, the security there was very poor. We didn’t even have to take off our belts.
The immigration was slow, but we crossed without any hassle.
After passing the immigration, we had about an hour and a half to waste. So, we just walked around the airport and finished our breakfast.
We landed at Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport in Kolkata around 11:45 am local Indian Standard Time. For accommodation, we wanted to get a hotel near Victoria Memorial since it was the best part of the city according to my research.
So, we got a cab and drove there. After looking at a few hotels, we were taken to Hotel Hillfort on Park Street and met Shabbir bhai. We checked into his hotel and got out to buy a SIM card with the hotel staff Parvej. I desperately needed the sim card because I blew my Grameenphone roaming data pack on our way from the airport, and I needed to be online to communicate with my employees and clients.

But the shop we were referred to was closed. Luckily, we met one of Shakawat bhai’s friends there, who came to Kolkata for treatment. Rubel bhai offered us their Jio SIM. So, I put it in, hoping to use data on the go. But turns out, there are no recharge shops in that area that can recharge Jio SIM. Right then, I realized how stupid India’s SIM situation is. Seems like each telecom company dominates a specific region, and that part of Kolkata was dominated by Airtel. That’s why we couldn’t find a Jio recharge store there. So, I had to purchase a new Airtel prepaid SIM after we had our lunch at Abdul Khalique & Sons Restaurant, which Rubel bhai recommended.
An interesting thing about Kolkata—I thought there wouldn’t be any beef in restaurant menus. But not only was there beef in that Muslim-owned restaurant, its price was shockingly cheap. The vegetable item was 40 rupees, and the beef was just 50, which led us to double down on the feast.

After a heavy lunch and SIM purchase, I was relieved to have connected to the rest of the world. With a relaxed mind and a well-fed body, we took a cab and roamed around the city of Kolkata and Howrah.
We first went to buy a phone for Shakawat bhai’s friend, but we didn’t find that exact model. So, we went to an Apple-authorized chain, Imagine, to buy the 2nd Gen AirPods Pro I needed. I thought it would be cheaper compared to Bangladesh. But turns out, no. They are pretty much the same when you convert the rupees to taka. But I bought it anyway because AirPods bought from here are more likely to be genuine and intact.

We next went for a coffee at Starbucks. After hearing that name for years in American TV shows and movies, I was excited to see for myself what the fuss is all about. But it was packed. So, we left and went to a Baskin-Robbins to try out their cheesecake ice cream.

Next, it was time for sightseeing. Even though it was almost sundown, and we couldn’t enter the tourist spots, we still went to see Victoria Memorial, Fort Willian, and Eden Garden, among other places and took photos from outside.
We also saw the famous Howrah Bridge. Shakawat bhai was fascinated by how much iron it had used. I was more intrigued by the question of how they were able to handle and raise these long, undoubtedly heavy, metal bars at a height like this in 1943.

 

@rifat5670 Views and sounds from the city of places, Kolkata… #Kolkata #India ♬ Festive Music – ricardomss

 

After our city tour, we returned to Park Street and decided to visit the New Market for shopping. I had to buy some medicine for my cousin, which was only available in India, and Shakawat bhai had some shopping to do for his nephews.
His part was easy. But finding the medicine and 27 packs of it turned out to be a daunting task. After looking into dozens of shops in Kolkata, we were only able to manage 13 packets.
It was getting late at night, so we decided to return to the hotel, as we had an early flight to Delhi the next morning.

The flight to Delhi was at 7:40 in the morning. So, we checked out of the hotel at 5 am and left for the airport. We reached there just after 6 and snacked.

We landed at New Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport around 10, and the connecting flight to Jammu was at 10:50. So we just waited in the plane.

On our way to Jammu, we got to see the Himalayas and perhaps Mount Everest. We took some good photos, but even the iPhone camera could not do justice to the view we caught from the aircraft window.

 

 

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We first landed at Srinagar airport on our way to Jammu. But we didn’t know that. On the map, Srinagar is after Jammu when tracing a route from New Delhi. So, we didn’t know that the flight would land in Srinagar first and then U-turn to Jammu. There was no mention of it.
We had already booked a flight from Jammu to Srinagar. If only we had known this flight would land in Srinagar first, we could have saved hours and thousands in airplane tickets.

Anyway, like fools, we went to Srinagar airport, then took a U-turn to Jammu Airport and again returned to Srinagar’s Sheikh Ul Alam International Airport on a 4:30 pm flight.

We landed around 6 and immediately started looking for a SIM card since the prepaid Airtel SIM that we bought from Kolkata doesn’t work in Jammu and Kashmir state.
The cabbie told me he could get me a postpaid Airtel SIM that works in Jammu and Kashmir, but he couldn’t. So, our only option was to get a SIM with the hotel staff’s help.
We checked in to Shamyana Lodge in the heart of Srinagar, just by the famous Dal Lake. There we found a hotel staff who took me to a store to get me a postpaid SIM which will work in J&K.
The shop staff clearly took advantage of our situation and charged me unreasonably. But I did not have any other option.

After I was once again connected to the rest of the world, we went to sleep for the night as we were pretty tired from the 4 flights that day.

The next morning, we freshened up quickly and got out to see Gulmarg. We even took a cab. But the driver, Mehraj-Ul Din bhai, informed us that we needed to purchase the ticket for the cable car in advance. He also told us that we might not see any snow there. So, we scraped Gulmarg and decided to go to Sonamarg.
On our way, we finished our morning breakfast at a local 100% veg restaurant which none of us were a fan of.
We also stopped at Waterfall Ganderbal and Sind River. Even if I tried, I couldn’t describe how beautiful the roads and sights were. Everywhere I look on the road, it’s like a modeled heaven ready to be clicked.

Once we reached there, we took ponies for our trek. Mine was named Tufan and bhai’s Badal. We got pretty excited when we started seeing snow on the ground.
Shakawat bhai vlogged the whole way, and I don’t blame him. Everywhere I look, it’s like a picture-perfect frame.

The topmost place we visited was called Thajiwas Glacier. For lack of a better word, it was like the foothills of the Himalayas. We took some photos and climbed midway to enjoy the snow.

My asthma caught up, but I plowed through. After we took some incredible photos, which I can confirm that they do not do justice to the actual view, we climbed down to enjoy Maggie made in a local tent shop in almost freezing temperatures.

We returned to our car on the back of ponies and returned to our hotel after a quick lunch.

After freshening up, we got out, primarily to look for medicines and shop for Kashmir’s famous Shawls. Since it was Sunday, most of the shops were closed. But we found a few opened ones. We bought some and surprisingly found out that people in Kashmir like Shakib Al Hasan.

Then we started looking for medicines. We could not find them in any local shop, but one of them promised to arrange the lot for me the next day. We called quits for the day and returned to the hotel.

The next day, Mehraj bhai came to the hotel to pick us up. We checked out from the hotel the night before because we were leaving very early the next morning and planned to stay on a houseboat the next night. Surprisingly, despite being a 3-star hotel, they didn’t take any international cards. We had to walk a mile to withdraw cash for them.
Anyway, we left for Pahalgam that morning with our baggage in the car. The road, the view, and the spots we stopped at on our way were indescribable.

On our way, we tried Kawah, of which I am now a fan, and bought Kashmiri Saffron or Kesar or Jafran, whatever you want to call it. We also bought Shilajit, not knowing what it was, and Shakawat bhai bought some almonds for home.
Once we reached Pahalgam, we took two horses named Bahadur and Dewana. I climbed the latter, and we started exploration.

We went to several tourist spots, among which Kashmir Valley and Mini Switzerland-famed Baisaran Valley were most memorable. In the latter, we zip-lined from one end to another while the view of humongous Himalayan mountains was right in front of us.

 

@rifat5670 Ziplining along the ‘Mini Switzerland’ famed Baisaran Valley in Pahalgram, Jammu & Kashmir. #Ziplining #Kashmir #India ♬ Adventure (Inspiring Cinematic Epic Trailer) – musicagrando941

After spending some time with that magnificent view, we returned on horseback.
To pay the pony’s master, I had to stand in an ATM line for almost half an hour. How come a big tourist destination like this has only one ATM in the entire area?

We stopped at a trout farm for lunch on our way back to the hotel. It was called Abbi Hayat Trout Fish Farm, where we picked live trout, and they prepared and grilled them for us right there.
I am not a fan of fish, but this freshly grilled fish tasted better than anything I had there. Fresh trout in a plate in just 10 minutes, a one-of-a-kind experience I’ll always remember.

We also stopped for apple juice, where fresh apples were juiced right in front of us. It was super refreshing, unlike anything I ever had. There we also met the son of the shopkeeper who, despite having a Ph.D. in Chemistry, had to sit in his father’s shop, which is a solid example of the employment problem in the Jammu and Kashmir territory.

Anyway, once we reached Srinagar, we went to the pharmacy that promised us to get the medicine. But unfortunately, he could only manage 4 packs, and we were still short 10.
So, we went to another, much bigger, pharmacy that told us they could manage them for us the next day. We also learned that the other pharmacy just took the medicine from this one and sold us with a very high markup.
Anyway, we explained to them our urgency and told him that our flight was tomorrow. They understood and promised to get them for us.

Then Mehraj bhai introduced us to his younger brother Shafi, who was a Shikara boatman. He took us to a houseboat named Dream Palace, where we met Miraz bhai and Faruque bhai.
We spent the night there but with several concerns, the first of which was the lack of a lock in the washroom, which led to a routine guard of one of us while the other one was using the facilities. And more importantly, the heater broke down.

I could not explain how cold it was even if I tried. It felt like my testicles were frozen.

After spending some time on the edge of that floating boat in Lotus Lake, we went to sleep with two thick blankets on. But it wasn’t enough as I noticed my voice had broken the next morning.

We freshened up with hot water and packed our bags. We, along with our bags, got on the Shikara boat.
Our target was to enjoy Lotus Lake, Dal Lake, and the famous floating market.
These boats have shade and comfy beds. The second Shikara started moving, we realized we could spend several days here just lying on the boats.
We finished our breakfast afloat in a floating cafe and enjoyed the view of the ginormous lake while sipping Kawah. Did some shopping at the floating market too.

 

When it was time to get off the boat, both Shakwat bhai and I wondered what if we spent the whole day here. But it wasn’t possible as we had a flight back to Delhi that afternoon.

We bid farewell to Shafi bhai and got into Mehraj bhai’s car for the airport. On our way, we picked up the medicine and got off to see the Jawaharlal Nehru Memorial Botanical Garden. It was, simply put, heaven on earth.

We reached the airport early on and bid farewell to our 3-day companion Mehraj bhai. Both Mehraj bhai and Shafi bhai were very kind and polite towards us. These two basically guided us everywhere. The people in Kashmir are truly as wonderful as the place.

On our way inside the airport, we talked about how amazing the people were and how beautiful the women and men were. I jokingly suggested I would give away everything I own, including my company, Deftyled, for a chance to marry a Kashmiri girl. I had to change my mind pretty quickly after what happened next.
Shakwat bhai was worried about our baggage weight, but we were under the limit and had no problem checking in. But after we checked in, we went to an airport shop for lunch. I ordered a sandwich and bhai asked for a burger. We then noticed bottled Starbucks coffee. Since I couldn’t taste the Starbucks coffee in Kolkata, I thought I would make do with this. So, I ordered two, not knowing the price.
Three Kashmiri girls were in that small shop, and everyone could hear everything. The shop was at most 10 feet by 6 feet, and I assumed everyone had heard our order. Couple minutes later, one of the girls asked for 950 rupees as the bill. I paid, then took the food and sat right across from the store, merely 6 steps from them.
Since I wasn’t looking at their faces, I did not know to whom I ordered the food and to whom I asked for the coffee, or to whom I paid the bill.

Just as we were about to sit down, one of them called us. I went to her immediately, and she just started interrogating me about my order. I told them what I had ordered. Turns out they billed for just the coffee and not the food.
Clearly, it was not my fault as I did not know their price and didn’t even ask. I just paid whatever they told me to pay. They billed me and gave me the food right on the counter where I was paying the bill. It was definitely their responsibility to bill me correctly. But they started acting like I came all the way from Bangladesh, and spent lacs on the visit, just to rip them off a sandwich which cost like 200 rupees.
Their rude attitude turned me off to the idea of tying knots with a Kashmiri girl, not that anyone was lining up to be my bride.

Anyway, with the bitter taste of the food and accompanying experience, we also found out that our Go First flights had been delayed several hours.
Our 7:15 pm flight departed at 11 pm.

By the time we reached New Delhi airport, it was midnight. So, everything was closed. But we took a cab anyway and roamed around New Delhi and Delhi.
New Delhi is supposed to be the most polluted city in the world. But the late night and the lack of people on the street made the cab ride across the town enjoyable.
We saw India Gate, Qutub Minar, Gurudwara Sri Bangla Sahib, and other famous places and streets in Delhi. For dinner, our elderly cab driver, Raj, took us to Delhi’s famous Jama Masjid, where we found a few open curbside restaurants. It was 2 in the night, and yet the restaurant was filled. According to the driver, we wouldn’t have been able to even enter by car if it were in the day. That’s how famous and crowded the place was.
Anyway, we went inside for dinner and invited him. He declined, most probably because it was a Muslim diner.

After a heavy dinner, we went back to the airport. The airport itself was fascinating. It had runways over the roads of Delhi, and it was so big that we could not walk from one terminal to the other.

After passing the long immigration line, we started walking toward the gate. Along the way, a Bangladeshi lady, who was also returning on the same flight, tagged along for directions.

Our Delhi to Dhaka’s Vistara flight was at 6:30 in the morning, and we landed at approximately 9 in the morning at Dhaka’s Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport. Of all the flights and airports we had been through that week, it was the most difficult and uncomfortable one.
The immigration line was big, and on the other side, we were being questioned about whether we brought any gold bars. They were shouting at passengers that if we did bring gold and did not inform customs, we would be penalized as if we were smugglers of gold.

After exchanging the currency and claiming our baggage, we went to the domestic airport from the International, which was a challenge of its own.

We just came from freezing cold, and the sun was burning in Dhaka. We sweated like pigs in just a 5-minute walk from the international to the domestic airport.

 

I wasn’t gonna take the flight to Chattogram because I wanted to meet Ali uncle, who returned to Bangladesh from Saudi Arabia the day I was going to Kashmir.
But Shakawat bhai wanted me to check in so that he could take his baggage without any problem. His baggage was slightly over the limit, so I, too, checked in so that he could take the baggage on the two-person limit.
After checking in, we bid farewell, and I snuck out of the airport.
When I reached home, I started getting calls from US-Bangla airlines asking where I was. They were making sure I was not missing the flight since I checked in. I explained everything to them.

I returned to Chattogram later that afternoon, which concluded this 6-day India Tour.

 

My takeaway: half the beauty in the world was given to women-kind and the other half to Kashmir. So, even if it costs you a lifetime of savings, you should visit Kashmir at least once in your life.