Post 5: Seeking Peanut Butter in Kashmir

 


Fin & Dianne in Kashmiri clothing as Ahad & Zuni

Between 1984 and 1989 our family lived an ex-patriot life in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. We looked forward to traveling the world on holidays. A year after our arrival in Saudi Arabia we decided to see India with our sons, Jesse (then 12) and Brendan (then 7). It was summertime, 1985, and we booked a “Golden Triangle” tour with a car and driver. Our driver, Brahm Singh, drove us from New Delhi to Agra to see the Taj Mahal, through the state of Rajhastan to the city of Jaipur and back to Delhi. Continuing our trip, we left Brahm Singh in Delhi to fly north, to Srinigar in the “Vale of Kashmir,” located in the state of   Jammu & Kashmir, Northern India. 

Nageen (Nagin) Lake

The town of Srinigar is famous for its bridges, lakes, and houseboats.  We stayed  a week on the “Nagin Princess”on Nagin (Nageen) Lake.This was no ordinary houseboat! The Nagin Princess was elegantly carved of local cedar wood and furnished with hand-carved divans, wool and silk rugs, and embroidered curtains and tapestries It was impossibly romantic!

The Nagin Princess

                                                  Our “floating palace” was owned by the Ahmed Wangnoo family, prosperous houseboat hoteliers in Srinigar. The Nagin Princess is part of their YAADAGAR group of boats. The name Yaadgar in Kashmiri mean “a home that cannot be forgotten.”

The Wangnoos were a large family of handsome men with engaging smiles, several wives, and a number of children.  During our stay there, the Wangnoos adopted our family –coming aboard for tea, sharing music with us, taking us sightseeing, even dressing us in Kashmiri outfits and giving us honorary Indian names!

Abdullah Wangnoo & Dianne with a major tan-1985

Ahmad Wangnoo & Di on the verandah of the boat

 Lake Nagin is an offshoot of Dal Lake and is surrounded by the Himalayas. Lotus blossoms and water lilies grow in floating gardens and are collected by locals for food for animals, medicine, and wrappings.
                                                      

                                                         

collecting water lilies     

Small, traditonal, wooden boats called shikaras ply the lakes. Shikaras are not to be confused with Shakira, the Columbian pop princess! These beautiful boats are unique to Kashmir and are used for fishing and transporting goods and people. They're rowed with heart-shaped paddles and appear very romantic as they float silently by. All sorts of commerce takes place on these passing gondolas. Each day a flower shikara, rowed by Mr. Marvelous, arrived at our dock, decked with a profusion of fresh flowers.

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Mr. Marvelous & his flower shikara

 We were also visited by the “Salama Barber” who arrived by shikara to attend to the gentlemen’s needs (ladies,too, if they wished). The barber’s card read:

We did not seek his marriage advice but Brendan and Fin got a shave and a haircut on board our boat!

Brendan getting a haircut on board.

Shave & a haircut...!

One day a shikara filled with beautiful furs and fur coats docked at our boatside. I invited the seller aboard and he showed us gorgeous fur coats made from Himalayan fox and lynx. I bought a full length lynx coat for a reasonable price-to take back to the heat of Arabia. Not exactly a wise purchase but certainly an extravagant one! I still have this coat, it’s in excellent condition and was perfect to wear in Chicago during a blizzard one February.We spent our tourist time swimming, water skiing and sightseeing in such places as the bazaars in Srinigar and the Shalimar gardens. We rode horses up mountain paths near the town of Gulmarg nestled in the Himalayan Mountains. The boys enjoyed rowing shikaras and exploring the lake edge.


Fin & Brendan enjoy a shikara ride.

Jesse rows on Nagin Lake-1985

Guinee cooking breakfast toast 

Our houseboy /cook, named Guinee, took care of our cooking and cleaning needs. He came each morning to make breakfast. His stove was a rustic affair. A large coffee can filled with coals was placed on the floor of an open cooking area. Guinee would make toast by piercing it with a fork and grilling it over the coals, as you do when you are camping. He decorated our dining table with fresh flowers daily and served us Indian dishes of rice and curries. Seven year old Brendan was not enthusiastic about the food choices. His preferred food at the time was peanut butter-a staple of our American family. In Saudi Arabia we spread this liberally on “aesch” the round, flat bread of Arabia, also known as “pita bread”. We generally carried a jar of peanut butter with us to foreign ports but we had run out by the time we reached Kashmir. The Wangnoo family was not familiar with peanut butter. What to do?

One morning a “grocery shikara” rowed up to our boat. The driver was selling all sorts of canned goods and drinks, vegetables and fruits. “Do you have any peanut butter?” I asked. The driver was enthusiastic! He looked about his many items and then pulled up a floorboard –reached in and grabbed an ancient looking jar of peanut butter that was floating beneath the deck in murky water. He held it aloft triumphantly! Despite its appearance, the jar was sealed and apparently safe-so we bought it! For the rest of our stay Brendan was able to eat peanut butter on chapatti and naan along with his tandori, rice and curry with apparently no after effects. I shudder as I think about this now, but at the time, this price for a happy child seemed reasonable!

Happy Brendan with a lily pad hat!

Farewell Toast ( Abdullah toasting, Guninee standing)

On our last night aboard the Nagin Princess, the Wangnoo family treated us to an evening of music. This was quite an honor. As a rule, the owners did not treat guests to such festivities but we had formed a congenial relationship with Abdullah and his brother Ramzan and their families. That evening the ladies dressed me up in authentic Kashmir finery and renamed me “Zuni” (Moon). Fin was also attired and given the name “Ahad”. Guinee decorated our dining table with flower petals which spelled out “Farewel” and  Abdullah joined us for dinner and a toast. Then the entire Wangnoo family came aboard to play and sing with us! They brought a harmonium and tablas (drums) and serenaded us with Indian folk songs. We sang American folk songs back to them: Oh Susanna and  Jingle Bells were favorites!

'farewel' in flower petals

Dianne (center) with the Wangnoo family

A Musical Goodbye

Over the years we lost touch with this beautiful family but discovered, via the internet, that they are still in business, despite the many political troubles Kashmir has had in the years since we have been there.  We will always treasure our idyllic stay there and perhaps we can return because Kashmir has become Yaadgar “the home we cannot forget. “

Reclining on the divan!What a life!

To book your own houseboat stay with the Wangnoo's go to this link: http://www.kashmirboats.com

Post Script: 27 years after this adventure, we made contact with the Wangnoo family again, through this blog (see Mohammed's comment below). In 2012 we traveled to Nagin Lake again! You can read about our recent adventure there in Post # 11.