As far as eyes could see from left to the right, the majestic Himalayan range of mountains stood tall and erect creating a display wall for the green valley below; the Leader River flows with fury, the feisty current could take an elephant with ease on its wake. This was Pahalgam, way back in the eighties, a picturesque town of J&K and I instantly fell in love with place.  

As a Brand Manager of few popular brands of an Indian FMCG, it was mandated for the Brand Managers to visit the markets, every month for at least a week to understand the consumer pulse. It was in 1989, I was visiting the Jammu market and due to some local festivities, the markets were closed for 2 days so I decided to visit Srinagar and Pahalgam. My colleague, the Area Manager arranged my stay at Pahalgam and Srinagar.

In those days, Pahalgam was a sleepy town scantly populated with few hotels and shops selling local artifacts and woollen shawls. Not much of traffic except the regular movement of military convoys and trucks carrying provisions to the remote areas of the state. The town would come alive with the rising sun and become sleepy after sundown, by 9 o’clock, it felt like midnight.

Pahalgam happened to be on the route to Amarnath, a Hindu pilgrimage site, via Chandanwadi, the bus load of pilgrims going there would often shout out “Amarnath Ji ki Jai”, every time they pass through the town and the locals, irrespective of their faith would respond similarly.

The Spring has ushered in the wave of pilgrims to the Amarnath many of them had put up makeshift tents on the banks of Leader River for the night breaking the silence of the night by their constant chatter.

I loved the walk by the river and would see a young boy of not more than 10-12 years riding a large horse of Arab breed throughout the day. He would wheeze past me to the horizon and be back quickly, the routine would continue for 10-15 rounds at a time. I would be reminded of the young warriors of the bygone era who came to this land from far away and made this their home.

The hotel owner, Gurbaksh Singh, a third generation Sikh settled in Pahalgam with thriving business in timber and apple orchards besides the hotel, walking alongside spoke, “The young boy on the horse is Irfan Ali, son of Rahmat Ali. They have a number of horses that take the pilgrims to Amarnath. Although their faith is Islam, they are devout of Amarnath ji… Irfan is getting trained to take pilgrims next year.”

“The horse and the rider seem to have developed a deep understanding…their movements are well coordinated. The boy is already a seasoned jockey.” I replied.

“You should have stayed a little longer to enjoy the spring time. But if you really want to see the beauty of the Kashmir valley, come during the winter months, its ethereal.” Gurbaksh commented.

Later that evening, after a dinner of typical Kashmiri cuisine, I settled the hotel dues because my taxi would be coming very early in the morning to take me to Srinagar. There was chill in the air which prompted me to hurry up to the coziness of the room. As I was preparing to sleep, I heard the rhythmic sound of clanking of horseshoe on the road; from the window I could see Irfan riding the horse with the ease of an expert even in the chilly weather outside. He is a brat; the parents must control him. I thought aloud.

I would have loved to stay a little longer but I wasn’t on holiday. I joined with my Area Manager in Jammu after a day stopover in Srinagar, staying in a houseboat on the Dal Lake. In my mind I knew, this hurried visit was just a recce for a leisurely visit at a later day.

The leisurely visit happened after 30 years, post my retirement. My school classmates, Gora, Pulki and Topshe joined along with the spouses for a 5-night trip to Srinagar, Pahalgam and Gulmarg. Our arrangements were made on the houseboat at Srinagar, the same Pahalgam Lodge, now managed by the sons of Gurbaksh Singh. The Gulmarg was planned as a day trip from Srinagar.

The beauty of Pahalgam remains the same, in fact the winter snow has enhanced it many folds. The Leader River was calmer with trickle of water flowing due to the snow in the upper riches. The river banks were devoid of the pilgrim’s tents. We loved the long walks on the banks of the river and even venturing into the river where the water was shallow.

In all these beauties, I was reminded of Irfan, the daredevil horse rider… he must have grown up to a handsome man, married with kids, soon they will be training like him too.

We had a wonderful 2 days in Pahalgam, exploring the touristy places, the women even rode the horses along the banks of the river. The weather remained chilly all through our stay, the sun never showed up from behind the clouds creating a misty suspense, especially in the evenings. We came back in the hotel and packed up for our departure in the morning, had our dinner and retired to bed.

I don’t know what was the time but I was awakened by the cranking sound of horse-shoe on the metaled road and a roar of a truck engine immediately followed by a loud noise of collision right in front of the hotel. I got up and rushed down to the reception to find the manager sleeping on the sofa at the reception. I woke him up, “Accident happened in front of the hotel.” I shouted at the groggy manager. He looked at me perplexed for few moments then calmly said, “Nothing happened Sir, you please go back to your room and sleep.”

“But I heard a horse galloping down the road and then a truck hitting it, there was loud cry of the horse and of a child, right across the hotel”.

“No Sir, nothing like that happened” he looked at the steward who had joined us and asked him, “Did you hear any commotion outside?”

“No Sir”

“Are you guys deaf? It must be the son or brother of Irfan riding the horse at this late hour. I remember Irfan used to ride the horse at odd hours too.”

“You knew Irfan?” The manager looked at me in surprise.

“Yes, I saw him riding a large horse when I came here many years ago. He was about 10-12 years old then”.

“I am sorry Sir, Irfan died about 30 years ago while riding a horse at night… a military truck hit them from behind. It happened just in front of this hotel. That was a full moon night just like it is today. Many of our guests have witnessed the recreation of that unfortunate event on the full moon day, ever since.”

I was dumbstruck, came back to the room to find Deepika sleeping peacefully as were the others, no one had even stirred, only I was woken up by the crashing noise…why? I wondered. Is it because only I had some earlier connection with Irfan and he wanted me to have a closure by telling me about his death.