Aahana Kumra recently treated her followers with some beautiful pictures of herself from her trip to Kashmir. The actress had gone there for a 10-day trip to celebrate the holiday period and bring in the Christmas and New Year there. Aahana returned to the city on January 2, but has been unable to get out of the hangover of Kashmir since.
“I planned the trip because I wanted to be somewhere beautiful for the New Years. I had never gone to Kashmir before, so it was my first time there and it was absolutely gorgeous. I stayed in Srinagar Gulmarg and Pahalgam, and was completely blown away by the beauty of all these places. I also stayed on a houseboat for a while and it was quite enchanting,” shares Aahana.
The actress insists that she did everything that would have been expected from her as a first time tourist in Kashmir. “I took the gondola rides and did all these snow sports. I also befriended a lot of local young boys and girls who told me about some lesser-known activities and asked me to visit these some not-so renowned but beautiful places,” she says.
Aahana Kumra also got to see such a heavy snowfall for the very first time and as expressed in her pictures from the snow, it brought out the child within her. “It was snowing very heavily when I reached, and the next day when I woke up, we had three feet of snow there. It was something that I had never seen before and it was so gorgeous,” she informs.
Talking about her rest of the trip, Aahana reveals that she saw the valleys in Pahalgam while in Srinagar, she did a lot of sight-seeing. “I went to the Hazratbal and the Shankaracharya Temple. I also went to a famous restaurant to eat the authentic Kashmiri meal, while also exploring many local places to eat. I also went to the Dal Lake and the Nigeen Lake while I dedicated one day to shopping. There was a wonderful gentleman there by the name of Usmaan, who was a local and he took us on this walk of the city to this old side of Kashmir, called Downtown Srinagar, where he told us about the history of each place and each lane, and it was phenomenal,” she insists.
The actress admits that it was quite a wonderful trip for her and it is quite difficult to pin point just a few memorable moments, as every moment was extraordinary for her. “I got to meet the 3 RR batallion where I met 70 jawans. I wasn’t allowed to take pictures with them but it was really surreal meeting them and to be in the cantonment area. It was that day only when my mom’s health got very serious and she had to be admitted to the hospital for Covid. I was in tears that day and the Major there and one of my friends suggested that I visited a mazaar, where ‘Bhar Do Joli’ from Bajrangi Bhaijaan was shot. There, what the Pir said to me, really calmed me. Eventually everything went smoothly with my mom but it was a crazy day. I have never prayed so hard in my life, but that day I did for my mum’s health,” she avers.
Aahana Kumra also has some more beautiful memories from her trip that she insists that she will carry with her throughout her life. “My last sunset of 2021 on the Dal Lake was magnificent. To be able to witness the sun disappears in the mountains for the last time in 2021 was pretty phenomenal. Also, I will always remember the most glorious morning in Gulmarg that I witnessed. I will take that to my grave and it will always be special. It was the most beautiful morning I have ever seen. It looked like a set from The Beauty And The Beast. Everything was white, and suddenly I saw the break of the sunlight on that and that was just gorgeous,” she smiles.
Aahana’s travelogue from Kashmir is enough to make anyone want to take a trip to the Northern state and the way the actress describes the beauty and serenity of the place, it is clear that she has fallen in love with Kashmir. Now it remains to be seen when the actress does decide to plan her return to the ‘heaven on earth’.
