by HELEN PIDD
The view from a houseboat on Kashmir’s Dal lake. The boats became popular in the west after George Harrison lived on one learning to play the sitar.
Two years ago, the old city in Srinagar was the sort of place police would only venture into wearing body armour. A stronghold for violent separatists agitating for an independent Kashmir, it was at the centre of uprisings that left more than 100 people dead, buried along with dreams of peace in the mountainous north-Indian region.
How quickly things change. This week, carefree tourists lined up in the same streets for barbecued mutton tikka and steaming plates of rogan josh. The Nowhatta mosque, where in the summer of 2010 youths would gather after Friday prayers to lob stones at the security forces (an episode commemorated in graffiti on a nearby wall declaring the area Srinagar’s Gaza Strip), is to become a stop-off on an official walking tour focused on heritage, crafts and markets.
Down by Dal lake, houseboats like the one in which George Harrison once stayed have been booked out months in advance. In the stunning mughal gardens lining the lake’s green slopes, visitors can have their picture taken against one of Asia’s prettiest backdrops. Until the snow melted, the ski resorts in nearby Gulmarg were packed with rich Russians, too.
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(Thanks to Salim Amersi)