A two-day-long winter festival, showcasing traditional artworks and cuisines of the Kashmir Valley, began in Pahalgam on Saturday. Wooden and paper artworks, along with traditional carpets, were put on display for the visitors. Folk music and dance performances were held to enthrall the tourists. Pahalgam is a popular summer destination but since the past few years, efforts have been made to make it a winter tourist attraction also. The government has started winter adventure sports like ice climbing, drag lift and skiing courses to entice visitors. During winters, the holidaying crowd from the plains throngs the state to experience snowfall.
Hundreds of people from Jammu and Kashmir and outside the state walked a kilometre to get a glimpse of the local culture and heritage. Local artists also performed at the Pahalgam Club to entertain the audience.
Young, restless and creative kids are set to give a promotional push to Pahalgam – the stunning but forgotten river-valley of Kashmir.
This weekend, dozens of boys and girls drove to the famous picnic spot and put up their exhibits in an effort to re-sell Pahalgam and hope to grab eyeballs and get tourists.
Their skills in photography, water painting, instant portrait-making, singing, music, book reading, radio jockeying and stand-up comedy are creating quite a buzz on social media and is expected to pull in a lot of local families and tourists for the Pahalgam festival, which begins this Saturday.
The two-day festival, held near the Lidder river, gave a peek at Kashmir’s street theatre, cuisines, ethnic foods, folk songs, wood, willow, papier mache, crewel and other hand art forms.
Event planner for the festival, told that 40 stalls put up by young entrepreneurs showcased Kashmir’s culture, heritage and uniqueness.
Ali said ethnic cuisines, art, music, song, theatre would draw young, old, children and curious tourists to the place – something the programme aims to target.
“Each item that was presented had local flavour and character. Music, food, theatre, comedy was celebrate and rejuvenated Kashmir,” said Ali.
Shows like Laddi Shah (a jester who critiques government), Band Pather (folk theatre), snacks like barbecue, munjgool (fried lotus stem dipped in basin floor) and many more attracted people during the festival.
Before insurgency broke out in Valley, Pahalgam was top destination for leisure vacationers and backpackers. Those willing to bend their backs and test their stamina would scale the hills of Aru, Laderwan and Chandanwari. The lazy ones would rest their backs on the greens gazing for hours at the Lidder and Shikargarh, which is a horse track that would lug you up a hilltop.
Bollywood too, untiringly, shot lilting numbers for decades together in the sylvan surroundings.
Actors romanced around the tall pines and played with foamy and bouncy waters, flowing in the narrow plain valley closed in by mountains from all sides. During the turmoil Pahalgam lost its charm of the halcyon days and the tourist traffic ebbed considerably.
The tourism department is doing whatever it can to bring back the sightseers and trekkers to the mystic valley.
The festival is expected to generate quite a buzz. The chirpy RJ anchored the festival shows and said he is more delighted to be at the place with his family.
Mehmood Shah, director, Jammu and Kashmir Tourism Department, said everyone knows Pahalgam as a great spring and summer destination, but now the place offers so much in winters too.
“Ice climbing is great fun and the place is just a mile beyond Pahalgam main town. It is so near and such a big hit with the people.”
Shah said ice slopes are available in Kargil, Zanskar and Leh but those places cannot be accessed in winters. “It is available in Pahalgam at cheap rates,” he added.
“People should shun negative perceptions and ignore the news shown on TV about Kashmir. Let me assure them that Pahalgam is as safe as any other place in the country,’’ he said.
Because of prolonged turmoil in South Kashmir, Pahalgam, off late, has lost the numbers it once used to brag about. Tourism planners insist Pahalgam is a peace island with zero violence reported from the area.
