Kashmir In The Backyard

  Kashmir in the backyard

      In many of Deepak Chopra’s books, he mentions and quotes poetry by Rumi. He also says that Rumi found the world in a grain of sand. As I grow older, I am beginning to find the world in my garden For example here is my Paris, here is my Tuscany and now it is time to present Kashmir.

      In the summer of 1981, I had been to Kashmir with my family on a wonderful and unforgettable vacation. Kashmir is also called the ‘Switzerland of the East’, with its natural beauty, mountainous terrain and greenery. Tourism is the main source of revenue for this state. Its cash crops include apples, walnuts and roses! The Mughals created many beautiful gardens here e.g. Nishat Bagh, Shalimar gardens and Chashmashahi. All of these have an abundance of roses and when you go there the locals tempt you to buy them.

      Here in the Northeast of America, we are enjoying just the right mix of sun and rain. This has created perfectly calibrated outdoor temperature. It is so pleasant that when you open the windows, it feels like the cool A/C air! In the midst of this great weather, the roses in my backyard are at their peak. Looking at them, I feel like I am in Kashmir. Legend has it that when Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru saw Kashmir for the first time, he was so smitten by its natural beauty, that he said:

If  there is a heaven on earth

it is here

it is here

it is here.

  Steps to heaven

      As I wrap up this post, here is a close up view of the petals. They look like steps to heaven, my Kashmir in the backyard.

Ratna

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Discovery consists of seeing what everybody has seen, and thinking what nobody has thought.

- Albert Szent – Gyorgyi Nagyraplt