One can come to Kashmir to spend time, enjoy the cool breeze, beautiful scenery of Jhelum and, of course, relish wazwan and other exquisite specialties of Kashmir.
Away from its war sounds, the opening to new lifestyle wouldn’t have come at a better time. Kashmir was ranked as the world’s second most romantic destination, next to Switzerland by leading travel magazine Lonely Planet a couple of weeks ago.
And its summer capital Srinagar, a city of great antiquity, often referred to as son et lumiere that tells the story of the love of the Mughal emperors for the paradise vale, has this time round witnessed the opening of a chain of fairly good places to just hang out with friends, chat and get Kashmir’s traditional food and beverages and other choice delicacies at reasonable prices.
Be it a bookshop of over 8,000 covers with a reading room and a café on an island in the idyllic Dal Lake or an exquisite tea room, Chai Jai on the Bund, the fabled beauty of river Jhelum, which offers various varieties of tea from traditional Noon Chai (pink salt tea), dam tout, (brewed tea) Khewa besides Iranian and English teas. Also, about a couple of dozen new pizza huts, recreation centres and parks and exquisite restaurants and other eateries which offer casual dining options too have come up in the city with its almost medieval charms in the recent past.
The latest to add to Srinagar’s charm is an old wooden bridge spanning Jhelum which has been turned into an architectural marvel with its decks serving as resting place for locals and backpackers alike. It is now a heritage site which has kiosks and food court with spacious area to house families. Hundreds of people throng the place, mainly in the evenings to relish Kashmir’s choice delicacies and enjoy the scenery and cool breeze of Jhelum which flows underneath it.
“Zero Bridge” as the crossing is known, is idyllically located next to what is also acknowledged as “East of Suez”, among the very few addresses that have enjoyed the same romance and mystique as Srinagar’s Bund has. The Bund’s dazzle came from all across Europe with the British and stayed as long as the fag end of the last millennium. It is the mooring site of first house boats in the Valley when Kashmir emerged as an oriental challenge to Venice. Many tourists are attracted to Srinagar by the charms of staying on a houseboat, the uniquely elegant experience of living on the waters (on Jhelum and Dal or Nagin lakes) in a cedar-panelled bedroom with all the conveniences of a luxury hotel.
Until a couple of decades ago, “Zero Bridge” was in use, but when its wooden planks and piers could no longer support vehicles it was closed for vehicular traffic. Only pedestrian movement was allowed on this historic bridge after its closure in 1980.
Reconstructed at the cost of '11 crore by Jammu and Kashmir Projects Construction Corporation Limited (JKPCC), the 154-metre long bridge now has wooden decks on both sides and, with a heritage touch, a food court which has a dining hall, a kitchen, two restrooms and a lounge. The refurbished “Zero Bridge” which was thrown open to the public by chief minister Mehbooba Mufti recently has much more to offer for those who want to spend — and enjoy — their leisure time. It will be a complete walkthrough site connecting the city’s western and eastern areas.
The original wooden bridge built during the times of Prime Minister Bakshi Bhulam Muhammad in the 1950s was dismantled in 2012. For the past four years, it was revamped with deodar and other wooden decks on both sides. Though the people living in Srinagar’s Rajbagh and adjoining localities wanted it to be thrown open again for vehicular traffic, the then chief minister Mufti Muhammad Sayeed was so impressed with the facets of the refurbished bridge during a visit to the site in 2015 that he announced that it should come up as a heritage tourism spot in the city.
Following his directions, a houseboat design food court was built near the bridge which is a blend of traditional and modern outlook. “The bridge would be used for only pedestrian movement. It is a sort of picnic spot laced with traditional design,” JKPCC officials said. They added that having a seating capacity of 2,700 sq. ft., the centrally heated food court has four sightseeing decks. The roof of the court has thermo-treated flooring keeping in view the cold climate in Kashmir.
Notwithstanding Kashmir’s long history of political turmoil and the miseries it brought for its people, one can come here to spend time, enjoy the cool breeze, the beautiful scenery of Jhelum and, of course, relish wazwan and other exquisite specialties of Kashmir.
