Mughal gardens at Srinagar in watercolors

The Shalimar Gardens was built by  Emperor Jehangir for his wife Nur Jehan in 1619. The garden is built in 3 different terraces  with fountains and canals lined with polished stones. On either side of the fountains are the huge Chinar trees The leaves of the chinar trees are just starting to turn yellow and fallen leaves yellow, orange and brown all beckoning  the autumn.The center canal runs through first the terrace for the public audience(Diwan e aam) and the next terrace is for private audience with the emperor(Diwan e khas) and higher to that is the terrace for the royal ladies. Since the summer was over and fountains being repaired the gardens did not look its best but I could imagine how it used to be. The best part is the mountains which is seen  in the distance . It adds to the calmness and romance of the whole place.  The lawns are embedded with bright colors of flowering plants  to enhance the beauty of the garden.

The black pavillion at the top of the garden  has the famous inscription in persian meaning' If there is paradise on earth ,it is this,it is this,it is this' written by persian poet Amir Khusrau.

My painting posted today is a small attempt to memorise that paradise  in my mind.

Holiday in Kashmir

Hello  Friends

I am back home after a wonderful holiday. Had lots of fun with my old friends ,made new friends and had some adventure too.

We were a group of 8 women on a packaged tour. After my Ladakh trip with the same travels I wanted to explore India more and the next one place I wanted to see was kashmir. I was on the lookout for good landscapes and subject for my paintings. Someone suggested that I write my travelogue with paintings of the places I visited. Well I thought that is exactly what I can do in my blog.So first I will give my experience in each place I visited and share some of my photos with you. Soon I will follow up these with some paintings.

Our First day was in Srinagar.It was slightly cold but pleasant. Srinagar is at an altitude of 1730 m.It is a valley and the Dal lake  , mountains  and the trees make it a post card picture.

We visited the Mughal gardens. Layout of the garden was very impressive. The huge chinar trees are awesome.The canal in the middle of the garden lined with stones and line of fountains were beautiful. But the flowering season was already over and plants were already affected by the cold. Since time was limited we decided to come back to chasmashahi Royal spring on the last day in Srinagar.Here is some photos of my first day in Srinagar.