Sunday, May 20, 2018

Harud by the lake

We, i.e. P and I, love Kashmir. It's the place, the food, the people and the stories which have struck a chord with us. 

The last time we were in Srinagar, Kashmir; for me it was for a really short time. Only 2 days. It so happened that P was working there. When his work got over, it was a Thursday. So we decided that he would stay back and I would join him over the weekend. Those were the last few days of Autumn, sometimes in  early Novermber. It was about to rain and then the red leaves of the chinar trees would start  to fall, heralding the onset of a bitter winter.  Since last 3 years I was planning to be in Kashmir during Autumn, when the Chinars turn red!Every year something would come up and I would miss it. 

Kashmir has it's own charm during all the seasons. And we fell in love with the beautiful Harud (autumn) there. The slight chill in the air, the dry leaves in the trees, those big chinars with their red/brown leaves - everything added to the beauty of this heaven on earth. For those 2 days, we  roamed around the city at our own pace. Walked around the Nishad Garden and Chinar bagh. Sipped Kahwa from roadside small eateries,visited the famed sufi shrine of Khanqah-e-Moula .Looked for Rainbow bakery and had their amazing walnut brownie.We even  made plans with our friendly and trusted Auto driver Manzoor bhai to go to Downtown Srinagar at 5 am to have Harissa,a winter specialty served by just a handful of restaurants in the morning. But alas the last thing we couldn't do because on that day, our last day in Srinagar, there was a bandh called for and Manzoor bhai refused to take any risk by taking us there.

Slightly disheartened we came to Daal lake for a stroll before we left the city. We just sat by the lake, doing nothing just looking into this beautiful lake that defines the city. There were very few "tourists" that early in the morning. The sky was still gloomy after the previous night's shower. As we sat there, the sky slowly started to open up. There was still a light mist in the distance.For Kashmir the last 2 years had been really dismal in terms of tourism. Hotels and Houseboats were empty, shikaras were running into losses. The Shikara owners we got talking to told us how  bad the previous "seasons" were.

But still there was some hope; that the coming year would bring in peace and people will be back to enjoy a Shikara ride on Daal lake. We looked towards the lake and as we were about to leave, P said " Let's take one selfie with the daal lake". We looked out and P hit the click button on his phone, just in time to capture the Shikara in the frame too.

It was a beautiful moment captured in our minds and in P's Selfie Camera forever. 




Selfie with the Shikara

Just like this beautiful moment, there are many more special moments that we want to keep frozen in our lives forever. Here comes Mobiistar ; who has entered Indian market with plans to develop the smartphone segment in India by understanding the consumer need for a selfie smartphone and their desire to gain more enjoyment at great value. The main highlight of the Mobiistar handset is the integration of a dual selfie camera on the front with the ability to capture images in a stunning 120-degree wide-angle shot. So next time we are in Kashmir we can capture a wider image with the stunning mountains around. For that matter anytime we want to click a selfie, we can plan a wider shot with whatever we wish to capture. How cool is that! 

Mobiistar will soon be available on Flipkart. Do check out Mobiistar on Flipkart to enhance your Selfie Experience.