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.

Pic source : NDTV com

Travelling Tips

# Try to select the flight that has minimum one and half hour between two connecting flight.

# Go with the group on Kashmir Tour, you all know Why.

# Carry a lots of warm cloth including hand gloves. Prefer to take body warmer.

# Carry umbrella as we cannot predict the weather.

# always listens to your guide because he knows the people and place better than us.

Rest of the people fly with Air India.

Kashmir is the Heaven of the Earth. Enjoy the tour of this heaven from the sky. Lets go…

Love it…? Comment below in the comment section please. I love the beauty and try to capture from my mobile as much as I can. See the mountain

Stay tuned for all my interesting post of Kashmir diary.

Till then happy travelling….!

Neeta

Zumba Fitness

Hey mommies,

How are you doing? Summer vacation is there and so our schedules are quite relaxing. There is no morning rush for school, Tiffin, classes… right? So how you are utilizing your time? Have you give the time to yourself? Have you seen in mirror? How do you look? Ten times ahead of your age, fatty, round tummy, feeling energy less.

If you are Indian, mommy and facing a lot of above problems then let’s tune in a fitness activity. Recently I posted summer activities for your little one, the link, if you haven’t read yet (http://memoryflies.blogspot.in/2018/04/summer-vacation-list.html) but how could I forget the mummies…. Aren’t we special…yes or no?  We need to take care of ourselves and have to keep fit and healthy so we are able to take care of our family. This is one of the activities of mommy’s summer bucket list.

Image :vectizzy.com

Fitness means you do not need to join Jim and do machine activity. Now days there are lots of fitness workout like Aerobic, Zumba , classical dance and many more…the list will not going to end, you just need to broden your mind and take out the time for yourself.

Zumba Program is a Latin-inspired, dance fitness class which incorporate Latin and international music and dance movements. Zumba class known as Zumba Fitness Party – combine fast and slow rhythms that tone and sculpt the body using an aerobic/fitness approach to achieve a unique blended balance of cardio and muscle –toning benefits. (Information from instructor manual)

After the age of 30, our bones tend to start reducing their strength. Our energy level tends to get decrease. We need to take any fitness activity to maintain our physiques.  It is not necessary to tone up the body but also strength the internal stamina. We are a group of eight mummies doing Zumba from last 4 months and yes, the results are tremendous. Not only our physical body tune into the shape but also losses weight in some inches and increase the internal stamina. All kind of mummy, boys, men’s and girls can join zumba. Let me share with you some pictures of zumba class.

Benefits of Zumba

#Exercise is in a party form: A Zumba class is a GREAT SWEAT (especially in summer). We are always having a blast; even we do not realize that we are doing exercise.

#Calories Reduction: Lose calories around 800-1000 in one hour. The Zumba programmer follows aerobic and high level of intense activity, which results in high calories expenditure.

#Reshaping Body: Zumba reshape all parts of body, including upper body, lower body, mid section, heart and mind.

#Easy dance steps: Zumba incorporate easy and new dance steps so that anyone can follow it. More over we are always having a party at our Zumba session.

#Weight Loss: With consistent and sensible exercise (Zumba form), well balance nutrition will definitely help in losing weight.

#Positive Self-image energy: Boost a high level of self-confidence and our internal energy. It nurtures a high level of “feeling good”.

# Last but not the least, it reduce your stress and clear your mind. Feel relaxed and happy.

We have yoga session with the supervision of our trainer.

Our enthusiastic trainer

For flexibility and toning, you need to practice yoga. There are immense benefits of yoga.

Yoga will help in building muscle strength, improve flexibility, protect your spine, increase your blood flow, etc. We practice it once a week and enjoyed lots.

Image : Businees Guitheirc Hammber .com

So Mummy….what are you thinking? Don’t feel shy, come, join us on the board and show us your dance movement.

I love dance and so I love Zumba fitness …..What is your favorite fitness workout? Tell me in the comment section below.

Summer Vacation List

Hello there,

Hey moms, how are you doing? Summer vacation is on and lots of masti will be there with your kiddos….right or wrong? Do you prefer to send your child at any summer camp? Our child irritate us most of the time , so we tend to say…why summer vacations are there….and hence try to find the escaping ways….yes or no? It is the real fact of Indian mommy…! 

I will suggest you to make a bucket list with your kid about funny activities and try to accomplish it. More you spend time with your kids, will be tighten the bond.  Once the school starts, your child does not get a spare time to seat with you. Therefore, this time is precious, utilize it properly and be with them.

Image : Freepik

Here I am sharing with you some of the activities that will be suitable for the kid’s age group between 3 to 5 years. You do not need to spend a lot of money on anything. Just be creative and try to make DIY activities for your kids. It takes only 10 to 15 minute to prepare any DIY activity.

Some tips:

@Have some patience while dealing with your child.

@Follow his or her cues and allow them to explore the way they want.

@Go as per the wish of your child and do not force him to do.

@Activity should be enjoyable and not forcefully.

@activity should be simple and not complicated.

@Last but not the list ….be child with your kid and have lots of fun.

Disclaimer: I am not professional. I am a mommy of my small doll and love to share my experience that will help you to tackle the vacation time.

I saw many time small kiddos are mostly busy on Mobile phone and not ready to play. Many parents fill proud of it, which is wrong.  Summer vacation is here and this is the right time to brush up the child’s weak subject by enduring in to a game or in a funny activity.  For e.g. If your child’s reading is weak, try to find out to improve it by initiating a game of reading. Children loves to play a game or activity rather than studying.

Here is our summer list. I am sharing a very few, otherwise post will be long. You will get the idea.

#Drawing and coloring:  My child did not like to do coloring at all in the initial stage. I try to give her lot of activity of coloring but she did not like at all. Therefore, I ended up with that and allow her what she loves to do. However, time has changed and now she loves to do it.  You will get many type of coloring book which cost around Rs. 20 /- to Rs.25/- or you can make it at home. Yes….you can make it at your own by drawing small object and off course you will be happy to draw and color the picture like a child.

# Sticker activity: Children love to do sticker activity. We have a special book for this in which we do lot of sticker activity.  Stay tune for this special post. Now days you will get whole bunch of sticker at any departmental store with variety of objects. You can make an interesting activity rather than sticking on a wall or fridge.

# Puzzles: Try to make DIY puzzles of anything. Puzzles play a very important role in your child’s thinking power. It improves many skills like problem solving technique, cognitive ability, and brain stormer. Go slowly with simple puzzles and after try to use puzzles that are more challenging. Use different kind of patterns and make DIY (Do it yourself) puzzles. You can get the puzzles in store too as per the age group. We have store bought many puzzles, but here I am sharing my DIY simple puzzle that I made when she was 3 but still we love to play with this.

# DIY booklet: Prepare a small booklet and allow your child what they want to do with that. This is our booklet where she loves to paint, write, draw….anything, which she wants to do. I am sure you will be surprise with your kiddo’s creativity.

# Unconstructive play: Always play with your kiddo whenever they want to involve us. See their imagination and creativity.  Do not give any instruction while playing with them, just observe and be a part of their game. Try to see from the child’s point of view even it looks funny to us.

My child is a girl so she loves to play with her kitchen set a lot.  We have so many kitchen set that irritate me while organizing her stuff....but what to do girls love kitchen sets. She love to prepare food for us and we enjoy by playing with her.

# Educational activity: This is the time where you can brush up their educational skills via activities. Try to make some funny and interactive notebook with lots of cut and paste activities according to the child’s interest. You can make interactive notebook of handwriting, tables, math’s concept, science and EVS concept for big kids.

# Open ended play: Most important is to allow your child to play outside. At least for 2 hour allow them to have a open ended play like badminton, cricket, or any kind of play they love to. We love to play in a garden.

This is the way you can trim their screen time and spend quality time with them, which improve the parenting bonding. You can do many activities with your kids starting from clay dough to making any kind of craft. Children’s love to play with clay dough lot.

I hope mommies you got the idea of Summer List.
Share with me your kids Summer list with picture in the comment section below.

#Happy Parenting#

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