Srinagar: Kashmir’s much-loved autumn has arrived in its full golden glory, heralded by turtle doves descending on harvested paddy fields, cicadas chirping on willow trees and the first flights of migratory birds crossing the night sky over Srinagar.
This year, however, the season has come with an unusual twist. Srinagar recorded a maximum temperature of 31.2 degrees Celsius earlier this week, making it the city’s second-highest October temperature on record. The reading edged past the previous October high of 31.1 degrees, set on 2 October 2008 — eighteen years ago. Despite the warm afternoons, mornings and evenings have turned noticeably cold, with residents reaching for warmer clothes after sunset.
The signs of the season are unmistakable across the Valley. Turtle doves have come down from the higher mountain slopes to feed on fallen grain in the harvested paddy fields, building up body weight before their onward migration to the warmer plains. Cicada bugs cling to willow branches, their natural camouflage making them almost impossible to spot against the bark.
Overhead, thousands of migratory waterfowl are making their first flights into the Valley. The arrivals include bar-headed geese, mallards, pochards, shovelers, pintails, wigeons, sheldrake ducks and teals. These birds travel from their summer homes in Russian Siberia, China, Japan, the Philippines and Eastern Europe to spend the winter months in Kashmir’s wetlands and water bodies.
Bakarwals begin their descent
The seasonal migration of the Bakarwals — the hardy nomadic goatherds of the region — is also under way. Families are moving down from the highland meadows with their flocks of sheep and goats, watchdogs and load-bearing horses, heading for their winter homes in the warmer districts of Poonch, Rajouri, Kathua and Reasi in the Jammu division.
At the same time, hundreds of seasonal labourers from Bihar, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and other states, who worked through the summer as bricklayers, masons, carpenters, electricians and orchard hands, have begun returning to their home states as temperatures drop.
A season of plenty
It is a season of plenty in the Valley’s farms and markets. Farmers have gathered their paddy harvest, while orchardists are busy picking apples. Markets are stocked with grapes, lotus stems — locally known as nadru — sweet chestnuts and fresh vegetables such as turnips, spinach, tomatoes, brinjals and potatoes. Notably, despite the local abundance, prices of home-grown produce remain higher than vegetables brought in from outside the Valley — a pricing paradox that continues to puzzle ordinary shoppers.
Perhaps the most striking symbol of the season is the chinar tree. The trees that stood deep green through the summer have begun their annual transformation, their leaves shifting through shades of yellow, amber, gold and orange before eventually taking on deeper red hues. Rivers and mountain streams run crystal clear, and distant peaks have acquired an early dusting of white from the season’s first snowfall.
For visitors, the weeks ahead mark one of the finest windows to witness Kashmir’s landscape in its most vivid form. The autumn season typically runs from September into November, before the winter cold sets in fully — and this year, its golden colours are arriving alongside a record-breaking warmth that has made the season one to remember.
