Colorful canopied shikara that operate as water taxis, wait at the dock in Srinagar to take passengers to the other side of Nageen Lake where houseboat hotels are docked.
Owner Maqsood Ahmad Madarie sits on the porch of one of his three New Jacqueline houseboats awaiting the arrival of guests, whom he will receive with saffron tea and pastries.
As day breaks on Dal Lake in Srinagar, Kashmir, vendors gather in their shikaras to buy, sell, and trade produce, much of it grown on floating islands that can be towed from place to place. More than 50,000 people live on Dal Lake and the smaller connected Nageen Lake in houseboats and in houses constructed on man-made islands.
A boatman steers his cargo of lotus roots toward the floating market. In this watery place, lotus roots feature in many dishes, including the tangy yogurt-based stew, nadru yakhni.
As the market picks up, vendors arrive with produce bought on land, grown in warmer parts of India, and trucked northward to Kashmir. Some of the produce will be purchased and then transported by boat through Srinagar's canals to be sold to city dwellers.
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With its historic buildings fronting lazy canals, the old part of the city of Srinagar can feel a bit like Venice, Italy. Boatmen ply the waters with long-poled, heart-shaped paddles.
Kashmir is a land not just of lakes, but also of rivers whose waters course down from the Himalayan Mountains. Here, a temple perches along the banks of the Jhelum River on the road between Srinagar and Pahalgam.
The rivers in Kashmir are famed for trout fishing. At the Pahalgam Hotel, a heritage hotel in the town of Pahalgam, local trout is stewed with greens in a spicy chile broth.
