Memory Flies: Travel

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High school Reunion 2019

“ Reunion reveals friendship potential that haven’t yet been emerged in the past.”

-Toba Beta

True !! Yes…it is. We really surprised when we saw the real person in our close friend. Glad to have each one of you as a nice human being, which is very difficult to find in today’s world.

A big “Hi” and a warm welcome to all my readers who missed my post. Thanks a lot for your love and support. It is only you who inspire me to write though I am not a good writer…ahh…ahh… I am not a writer. This is a place where I can hang out with my feeling and words with lot of mistake. 😅 I am trying to treasure every memory and sometime failed too but you readers get me back to drive it.

Image: www.photo-party-favours.com

At each stage of our life we came across with many friends but the school friends are always near and dear one. I want to pen it down as much as possible to treasure this sweet memory.

Let me introduce my high school friends with whom I enjoyed my school life. Yes this is my school friend’s reunion 2019 which is hit among us after having lots of trial and error 😊

This is our “10 D” batch. Some of them are in the same division from standard 5 and some of them joined from 8^th grade. Our “10 D” is always remains special throughout our school “NEW HIGH SCHOOL”, right or wrong guys? Still we missed our school days and our teachers too.

Whenever we meet, we tend to virtually sit in our school division which was on 3^rd floor beside the library. This picture comes in front of eyes and makes everyone happy. The most important thing that we are united as a whole batch till date and will remain forever.

Reunion is become a fad now days. Credit goes to Social media where everyone able to find out there dear ones. It was in 2012 when my three friends and I gathered all friend contact numbers from facebook and other social media and successfully had our first reunion. How many of you remember this? I still remember how much we were excited for our first reunion and happy to see the same excitement in this year too.

And the tradition still going on and will continue for coming more exciting years. We will make every meet up as much as exciting. The most thrilling part of this reunion is Aplana who came all the way from Nagpur.👍

This 2019 reunion is our “10 D” first official picnic, I would say it is official because after many trial and errors we successfully made it.😓 It was really annoying when you decide to go by bus and don’t know how many are really going to join us. We supposed to gather at 6:30 a.m. but somehow manage to depart around 7:45 a.m. with so many hick-ups😝 and finally reached at our destination- Pune. It was really funny because our school never had a picnic and finally we made it. Special thanks to Swapnil and Bipin who make the picnic more enjoyable.

What is Reunion?

Comment down your precious views.

For me, meeting after so many years and try to find out whether he or she is the same buddy? You will realize remarkable things about them. Some of them not even utter a single word in a school but now they are the spokesperson 😮 who gives motivational speech. Some of them used to be very naughty but now become a sincere guy. Some of them are as it is the way they were. Happy to see those guys who have achieved their childhood dreams. This is we called “FOCUS” which very few people have. 😔 We came to realize that there are vast career options, apart from regular career, like IT, Medical, Food, Education, Engineer, etc. Every one of us has a remarkable career and I wish all of you to have more success in your life.

Not every student got such type of friends group at this stage of life. I am really blessed to have each one of you. Delight to see that everyone is able to beat up the life obstacles and reached towards their goal. Be Happy and always united with our group without having any quarrels😂

Let me share some glimpse of our special day:

Re-intro session

This is the special gift to everyone. Love to see our whole group on it.

Special thanks to Jayshree and her team who made a nice arrangement. Stay tuned for every reunion as we grow old we tend to become smaller again. Don’t miss out that fun of reunion.

I would like to sum up by giving our special thanks to each of us who make this 2019 Reunion successful. Many more years are waiting for our celebrations.

Cheersss guys!!!!

Photo Credit: Prashant Marathe.

Kahwah- Kashmir Tea and Kesar Farm

Hi all,

This post is from my Kashmir Diary. We explored so many things over there. Kahwah was one of them.

How many of you know Kahwah? Wondering what is Kahwah?

It is the special tea of Kashmir which is made by boiling green tree leaves with Kesar (saffron strand) and all dry fruits.

You will not get our regular ginger-cardamom tea in kashmir but you will get KAHWAH at every place which tastes awesome. I don't know whether it will give out the same taste in Mumbai or not. We have humid weather compared to the Kashmir and every place has its own specialty. I believe the things are special due to its place and weather.

The first time we had Kahwah on Gulmarg visit in a tiny hut. The old man boiled this tea in a copper kettle on coal. Then at every point throughout the whole tour of Kashmir even on normal tea stall, we had the same drink with a little bit of variety in taste.

Shopping is always an invitable part of any tour. We tourist love to shop special things belong to that place. We followed the same rule. This is a shop - a wholesale shop where we had 😊 shopping of Kesar (saffron), dry fruits, and this Kahwah.

Once we tasted kahwah at Gulmarg we started to search it at every point. We got the stall and without wasting a time, I rushed to the stall because he was making a Kahwah in front of us on a stove. I try to collect information about Kahwah as much as possible because they did not speak proper hindi. I think it is one of the awesome drinks in the world. According to the tea stall person there are three types of tea masala, which make Kahwah i.e. Zeber, king, and pine. This was his specialty only. You can get varitey of masala all over the Kashmir. He did not add any tea leaves but added the tea masala and little bit of sugar and many dry fruits. Have a glimse of it.

cashew, almond, cardamom along with the boiling water

We all had it and purchase the Kahwah from the shop.

Behind this shop, there was a kesar farm. Yes, saffron grow in this field. But due to off season we have to satisfied with this plain farm only. 😌

And this is the KESAR, which is a highly expensive product

I love this packaging. It cost around approximately Rs. 3500/-, Rs. 2500/-. Rates are varied as per the quantity.

It was really difficult to find real KESAR. Most of the people will sell you duplicate saffron. You have to be very careful while purchasing it. The shopkeeper guided us on how to find it. We had a test for real Kesar and then only we purchased it. We put the saffron strand in water for a while and after some time the colour of the water changes to yellowish one. We kept it for some time as we spend almost one hour there to shop variety of products. We shopped some of beauty products too. 😉But the saffron water and colour does not changed at all. Finally we purchased it from this shop in a bulk.

One of the most adorable was the APPLE FARMS. Kashmir is well known for it's apple, we all know this and when you have a chance to hop in 😎, voila! On the way of Pahalegam, we stopped for our lunch and exactly opposites to it there was a big apple farm. We hopped on the farm like small kids, took so many pics and had lot of fun. These are the baby apples. We travelled in wrong season due to which we miseed many things.

Baby apple

Highway of Pahalgam.

It took almost 4 hours to reach Pahalgam from Srinagar. But the nature beauty was awesome. You will never get tired of this travel because of the nature. Just do one thing, switch off the phone and enjoy it.😊

The most interesting part was, almost for three times the Army Soldiers checked our bus. It was really a thrilling experience to saw the soldiers with the cap, metal gun. Checking was for our safety but felt conscious.😑 This was one of the most critical tour in our lifetime.

I love this apple farm.

Have you taste Kawaha in your life time? Do you like it? Have you been to apple farms?

I would like to know your experience. Please share it in comment section.

Till then,

Happy Travelling

Shikara Ride on Dal Lake

Srinagar is Largest City in Jammu and Kashmir that is lie on Kashmir Valley and on the bank of Jhelum River. The arc of Green Mountain and soothing climate surrounds the city. The city is famous for its natural beauty, Shikara ride on Dal Lake, landscape gardens and most beautiful handicrafts items. I loved about the city is that constantly a green, snowy mountains follows you wherever you go and Jhelum river is with you across all the streets. The water fountains on the Dal Lake and all sky touching slanted tress are like a painting. No wonder, from this place only the artist get the inspiration for the nature painting. Srinagar is the place where you can seat with your love one for hour and hour without whispering a single world. It is like soaking the beautiful moments where Mother Nature has gives out plenty of blessing to you.

pic source : google

You should go with your loved one; either it is your boyfriend, girlfriend or else your spouse. The Romantic climate called out to be a mesmerized with the nature by forgetting the real world. It is like a meditation on Himalayas lap. I will not stop to describe the beauty…so let’s jump into today’s post i.e. Shikara ride on Dal Lake.

Dal is the longest lake in Srinagar, which is also known as Jewel in the crown of Kashmir. The shoreline of the Dal Lake is encompassed by Mughal Gardens, parks, houseboats and hotels. The Mughal gardens are like Nishat Bag, Shalimar bag, Chasmeshahi garden which all built by Mughals Emperor Jahangir, which is Char Chand of the Srinagar.

pic source : Google

Shikara are nothing but small Oak wood boat that is floating on the lake in which you can see the reflection of Snow Mountain. While on shikara ride, you get to see the 8 points that is all built on water. The main beauty of this Dal Lake is everything including daily lives too is floating on the water. We saw the normal houses where actual people live other than tourist. We use auto or bus to travel from one place to another, but these people are using small boats. Not only male but female also sail the boat very well. You can see the doctors, museum, shops, stores, garden, fishing, etc. all in one floating on this lake.

pic source : google

Choose your boat as per your preference, lay down back on the Shikara with your family and enjoy the beauty. Cost of Shikara ride per person is Rs. 100/- to 150/-. Yes ….you need to bargain…we bargain almost for 30 minutes. To have a romantic and soothing view of Shikara ride please check out the video on my FB page, the link is :

Important tip: Do not waste your time in taking tons of photographs, ☺instead seat with a peace with your loved one to enjoy the paradise of the earth. I have enjoyed a lot with my family and friends. Hence not able to take photographs. That is the reason you see many pics from google. I took a very few photographs but yes shoots lot of videos. If you want to see, the video just let me know in the comment section below so that I will post a link on my FB page.

Dal Lake is another floating city of Srinagar. Whatever you want to buy, the boat will landed at your favorite shop so that you can get it down and buys the product. You can get many things like shawl, handicraft items, carpet, sweets, kashmiri salwar suits, gift items, medicine, milk, bread, fruits, even grocery. Yes, this is the floating market. Just have a look….

Another interesting thing is while your Shikara floating on a lake, most of the seller selling the fruit salad, kabab, handicraft items in a boat and convince you to buy them.

Looking funny na….!!!

I like this Kashmiri girl photoshoot. Yes…..the photographer sail his boat with kashmiri suits for Raja Rani with ornaments and flower bucket. He can take a multiple photos and give the hard copy until you finished your ride on the seashore. One copy cost around Rs. 140/-

Floating garden

This is one of the floating gardens, which is cultivated in the season. Right now, it is in this condition. You can see many birds floating on this lake that you never saw before. We saw the various types of plants, which are under this water. The people continuously clean this flesh. Lake is also known for fishing. We saw a variety of fisherman seating on seashore and some of them fishing while sailing on the boat.

plants /flesh under the water

So How was your ride guys….enjoy na ….!!!! Let me know in the comment section.

Don’t forget to like, share and comment. It means a lot to me.

Welcome to Srinagar

What is your Dream Destination for holiday? Everyone has a dream to visit one of the unique places. I love our India and want to explore each state and culture. You all know that Nitin and I are travel lover, we love to travels a lot and collecting our memories. Once I visited Kanyakumari one of the south pole of our India map and wished from next day to visit north poles i.e. Jammu Kashmir. Yes… Jammu Kashmir is one of my dream destinations and my hubby fulfilled my wish on this 2018 birthday. It was one of the most memorable birthday gift from my hubby…! Thank you Mr. Hubby.

Let me take you on Kashmir tour with us. Stay tuned through the Kashmir tour to feel the beauty. You will come to know why Kashmir is really called the Heaven of the Earth. I strongly recommend you; please try to visit Kashmir once in a life.

How to go:

It is very simple; just take a package from any Tours and Travels company. There are toons of Tour agent who will keep following you until you took the package….ha ha ha….Jokes apart. However, it is difficult to find one of the good travel agents who will fulfill our wish list as per our priority. We always prefer to have comfort travel with reasonable rates.

This is not a sponsored post. I am writing as per our experience. We always plan our tour with this guy and having lots of fun and comfort. Comfort in terms of travelling, travelling vehicles, hotels, food, side seen, guide, shopping, and hospitality of the hotels. He is one of the person who gave us the best hotels as per our demand at a reasonable cost. As you know we go with small kiddos so our priority to be kid friendly hotel with food stuff and all other required arrangement. We are very happy with our Kerala tour and northeast tour. Thank You Mr. Vivek Pandit.

You have to book flight either Mumbai to Srinagar or connecting flight. We book our connecting flight Mumbai to Delhi, and Delhi to Srinagar. We fly with Vistara very first time and love the service. Review will be coming soon.