For anyone coming to Kashmir in autumn nature could just not have been more rewarding.
On the majestic Chinar trees the fleshy leaves are changing from green through crimson to yellow.
Kashmiri Autumn
On the majestic Chinar trees the fleshy leaves are changing from green through crimson to yellow. Orchards are laden with ripe apples waiting to be picked. Paddy fields await the harvest and the marriage season is reaching its peak.
The fleshy leaves of majestic Chinar trees are changing from green through crimson to yellow with the onset of autumn in Kashmir. Known for its beautiful climate in all throughout the year. Has a typical European climate that can widely be categorized into four seasons as SPRING, SUMMER, AUTUMN and WINTER.
AUTUMN – September to November – (18-25 Celsius during Day) to (10-15 degree Celsius in nights)
The most awaited season in Jammu and Kashmir sets in the month of September. It is autumn, the season of mists and mellow fruitfulness. Everything turns to gold. The sight of the landscape has a magnetic appeal then. The red carpeted gardens are a treat to the eyes. Temperatures rise to a maximum of 23 degrees in the morning but the nights are relatively colder. The weather is very conducive for the tourists to take delight in the sights, sounds and smell of this idyllic land. The vibrant valleys, the rustle of the fallen leaves, the fragrance of flowers are there to enchant you. The onset of autumn, perhaps Kashmir’s loveliest season, is towards September, when green turns to gold and then to russet and red. The highest day temperatures in September are around 23 degree Celsius and night temperatures dip to 10 degree Celsius by October and further drop by November, when heavy woollens are essential.
For anyone coming to Kashmir in autumn nature could just not have been more rewarding.
Char Chinar (4 trees)
Char Chinar, also sometimes rendered Char Chinari, Ropa Lank, or Rupa Lank, is an island in Dal Lake, Srinagar. The island located on the Bod Dal is known as Rupa Lank (Silver Island), it is marked with the presence of majestic Chinar trees at the four corners, thus known as Char-Chinari (Four Chinars). Murad Baksh, brother of the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb, constructed the Rupa Lank.
Dal Lake is marked by an island which houses ancient and beautiful Chinar trees. Don’t forget to ask your Shikara to be steered in this direction to catch a view of this island.
Shopian
BATAAB VALLEY-Prasdise of paradise
About
The Betaab Valley is located at a distance of 15 km from Pahalgam in the district of Anantnag, Jammu and Kashmir. The valley owes its name to the film stars Sunny Deol-Amrita Singh hit debut film ‘Betaab’. The valley lies to the northeast of Pahalgam, in the middle of Pahalgam and Chandanwadi, and is characterised by lush green meadows and snow clad mountains.
Betaab Valley is an immensely popular tourist destination, besides being a favourite stop for camp travellers and those looking to trek and explore the mountains further. Also not to be missed are the nearby lakes of Baisaranand Tulian.
Earlier known as Hagan Valley or Hagoon, Betaab Valley got its present name after the blockbuster Bollywood movie ‘Betaab’ was shot there in 1983. A combination of picturesque surroundings, the valley falls on the way to Amarnath Temple Yatra and is one of the three angelic valleys of Pahalgam; the other two being Aru and Chandanwadi.
Encircled by mountains featuring deodar and pine forests, Betaab Valley is a perfect gateway to enjoy the heavenly pleasure of Mother Nature. The sights of colouring beds of flowers amid the lush walnut and willow vistas make the entire panorama quite stunning casting a spell of magic on this land of eternal beauty. The experience is even more heightened by the musical whispers of several birds. Being a precious jewel of Jammu and Kashmir tourism, Betaab Valley is among a handful of Pahalgam tourist places to visit that should not be missed. Situated at a walking distance from the main center of Pahalgam, the valley is also an excellent camping site for trekkers and explorers.
Flim Culture
Kashmir was home to the Indian film industry from the sixties to the eighties. Scores of films were shot in the Valley like Aarzoo, Kashmir Ki Kali, Jab Jab Phool Khile, Kabhie Kabhie, Silsila, Satte Pe Satta and Roti (1974 film), the list is endless. Film shooting almost came to a halt after militancy erupted in the Valley but with things improving now, one can hope that Bollywood would soon return to what many believe is its original home. The threat of militancy was a deterrent for over 30 years but with director Imtiaz Ali shooting for his film Rockstar (2011 film) in the beautiful valley with actors Ranbir Kapoor and Nargis Fakhri, the violence seems to be a thing of the past.The hut where Bobby was shot continues to be famous as the ‘Bobby Hut’.Many films like Jab Tak Hai Jaan,Yeh Jawani Hai deewani, Haider have been shot in the Jammu and Kashmir state.
History
Betaab Valley, which is a part of Pahalgam area – one of the several Sub-valleys of Kashmir Valley came into existence during the post geosynclinal stage of the development of the Himalayas. Betaab Valley lies between the two Himalayan Ranges – Pir Panjal and Zanskar. Archaeological evidence proves the human existence in this region from the Neolithic Age, especially at Burzahom, Bomai and Pahalgam. Betaab Valley – a part of the Kashmir region, was ruled by the Mughals since the 15th Century. In latter part of the 15th century the Turko-Mughal Military General Mirza Muhammad Haidar Dughlat ruled over Kashmir first on behalf of Sultan Said Khan of Kashgar and then on behalf of the Mughal Emperor Humayun. A polyglot and a historical writer, General Haider wrote the ‘Tarik-i-Rashidi’ – a personal memoir of the Central Asian History.
Sultan Ghiyas-ud-Din Zain-ul-Abidin known by all his courtiers and Nobles as the greatest local King ruled the entire Kashmir region for about 40 years during which he was famous for promoting peace and harmony in Kashmir’s pluralistic society. He even gave a directive to restore and restructure Kashmir during his reign – quite contrary to conventional foreign invading rulers. It was under him that ‘Kashmiriyat’ – a ‘social and cultural consciousness’ of Kashmiri people was developed.
Aru Valley Pahalgam
- Aru Valley is a small yet self-sufficient scenic village located 12 km from Pahalgam. The drive up to the village is alluring too. The location of the village among the grasslands, make this place a tourist delight. It is reachable by walking along a mountain path. The village also serves as the start point for trekking to Kolahoi glacier. Another long trek for the serious trekker is to Sonmarg, which can be covered in 3 days! Besides, the valley is also known to be a good site for camping.
- Here, you can have a glimpse of Kolohoi Peak, 5370 mtrs. Another trek from Lidderwat leads to the most desired twin Lakes, Tarsar 3794mtrs & Marsar 3788 mtrs (2-3 days trek).
- Overlooking the majestic snow-capped peaks of Himalayan Range, Aru Valley is a pristine scenic village situated in the region of Trans-Himalaya. Clear blue canopy over the head, misty surroundings, whispers of the native pines and conifer forests and beautiful meadows create a captivating diorama for travelers thronging the place. Though the village is the smallest hill station in the state, but still its breathtaking beauty and interesting activities like trekking, hiking and horse riding make it one of the most popular tourist places to visit in Pahalgam.
- An excellent choice for both leisure seekers and adventure lovers, Aru Valley enriches the glory of Jammu and Kashmir tourism by being the starting point of trekking expeditions to Kolahoi Glacier and Sonmarg. Apart from the trekkers, the village also caters to the skiing desires of tourists who love to visit the place during winters. Aru Valley is located at a distance of about 12 km from Pahalgam.
- Best Time/ Season to Aru Valley
- Aru Valley has a cool and pleasant climate in summers and very cold climate in winters and the best season for tourism is from March to November.
- The summer months in Pahalgam are cool but not chilly with warmth in the atmosphere. The hill resort is best for vacations in this period. It is good for all tourist activities, adventurous activities and pilgrimage related to Amarnath Yatra. Winters in Pahalgam offer snowfall with subzero climate. It is not good for sightseeing, but is good for honeymoon and winter sports.
Nanostructures made of pure gold
Date:
The idea is reminiscent of the ancient alchemists’ attempts to create gold from worthless substances: Researchers from TU Wien (Vienna) have discovered a novel way to fabricate pure gold nanostructures using an additive direct-write lithography technique. An electron beam is used to turn an auriferous organic compound into pure gold. This new technique can now be used to create nanostructures, which are needed for many applications in electronics and sensor technology. Just like with a 3D-printer on the nanoscale, almost any arbitrary shape can be created.
The long search for the right production process
“Gold is not only a noble metal of exceptional beauty, but also a highly desired material for functional nanostructures”, says Professor Heinz Wanzenböck from TU Wien. Especially patterned gold nanostructures are key enabling structures in plasmonic devices, for biosensors with immobilized antibodies and as electrical contacts. For decades the fabrication of pure gold nanostructures on non-planar surfaces as well as of 3-dimensional gold nanostructures has been the bottleneck. Up to now, only 2-dimensional gold nanostructures on planar surfaces were achievable by resist based lithography.
The new technology, developed at TU Wien, can now solve this problem. The principle is the local decomposition of a metalorganic precursor by the focused electron beam of an electron microscope. With extremely high precision, the electron beam can decompose the organic compound at exactly the right position, leaving behind a 3D-trail of solid gold.
The final obstacle was getting the material purity right, as the electron-induced decomposition of metalorganic precursors has typically yielded metals with high carbon contaminations. This last bottleneck on the road to custom-designed, pure gold nanostructures has now been overcome as described in the work on “Highly conductive and pure gold nanostructures grown by electron beam induced deposition” published in Scientific Reports.
While conventional gold deposition usually contains about 70 atomic % carbon and only 30 atomic % gold, the new approach developed by a research group lead by Dr. Heinz Wanzenboeck at TU Wien has allowed to fabricate pure gold structures by in-situ addition of an oxidizing agent during the gold deposition. “The whole community has been working hard for the last 10 years to directly deposit pure gold nanostructures”, says Heinz Wanzenböck. At last, the group’s expertise in engineering and chemical reactions paid off and direct deposition of pure gold was successful. “It’s a bit like discovering the legendary philosopher’s stone that turns common, ignoble material into gold” joked Wanzenboeck.
This deposited pure gold structure exhibits extremely low resistivity near that of bulk gold. Generally, a FEBID gold structure has a resistivity around 1-Ohm-cm which is about 1 million times worse than the resistivity of purest bulk gold. However, this specially enhanced FEBID process produces a resistivity of 8.8 micro-Ohm-cm which is only a factor 4 away from the bulk resistivity of purest gold (2.4 micro-Ohm-cm).
The authors of the paper Dr. Mostafa Moonir Shawrav and Dipl.Ing. Philipp Taus stated, “This highly conductive and pure gold structure will open a new door for novel nanoelectronic devices. For example, it will be easier to produce pure gold structures for nanoantennas and biomolecule immobilization which will change our everyday life”. Dr. Shawrav added “it is remarkable how a regular SEM (Scanning Electron Microscope) nowadays can deposit nanostructures compared to 20 years back when it was only a characterization device”. And with pure gold direct deposition available now, he expects nanodevices to be deposited directly and utilized in many different applications for technological revolution. Concluding, this work is a giant leap forward for 3D nano-printing of gold structures which will be the core part of nanoplasmonics and bioelectronics devices
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Materials provided by Vienna University of Technology, TU Vienna. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.
Sunset
Tired and exhausted I am Wanted to relax with calm. Went on a shore away from clamour. To see the sunset with glamour. Continue reading "Sunset"
The Bungas Valley
The Bungas Valley is located on the high sky smacking mountains of ‘Kaaji Naag’ mountain range in the north west of the valley of Kashmir, at a distance of 125 Kms from the summer capital of J&K state, the Srinagar. It comes within the administrative control of frontier district of Kupwara within the premises of Tehsil Handwara. On the map Bungas valley is confined within the latitude34.5’ south and longitude74.25’ east, elevated at an elevation of7000 feet above the sea level spread over an area of 100 square kilometres. Sky smacking mountains and hills, green coniferous forests of Deodar, Kail and Fir stand covering Bungas Valley from all sides. Infact Bungas Valley is an excellent meadowland site. It comprises of Scores of meadows with varied features. So far as land features of Bungas Valley are concerned it is contented with different soils. Chestnut soil is found in semi-arid and humid regions of Bungas Valley. Half bog soil is found in all marshy and swampy regions and Brown forest soil is found in the forest regions of Bungas Valley. High rocky hills and mountains are found dividing Bungas Valley into different parts naturally with beautiful passes and tracks. Famous and large meadows of the Bungas Valley are marshy which are mostly plain. Maximum temperature estimated during winter measures less than zero degree Celsius and minimum temperature considerably negative. Bungas Valley receives an average snowfall of the order of 10 to 12 feet normally. The Bungas Valley receives an average rainfall of the order of 30 inches a year. Extremely cool breezes accompanied by much more moisture are found roaming during daytime in the winter. Temperature begins to rise in the month of March. June, July and August are observed as the hottest months of the year in the Bungas Valley. Spring begins from mid- April in the region. Most of the parts of the Bungas Valley remain covered with snow even during spring season. Therefore evenings and mornings are very cold during springs. Summer season is the most pleasant season in the Bungas Valley .The entire valley gets dressed with variety of beautiful flowers and coloured plants. Melodies of birds and prances and dance of animals adds to the beauty of valley. Affectionate and pleasant breezes blow all over the The Bungas Valley & Constitution of a Society Thereof Pic: Javid Zargar/KN S 49 October 2015 Environment day but during the night rigorous cold leaves every creature shivering. Sky remains clear and sunny mostly in the summer and this continues up to mid-autumn in the Bungas Valley. The average maximum temperature during summer measures about 30 degree C and measures 10 degree C minimum range. In and around the Bungas Valley maximum humidity is of the order of 90% in air is seen during December to February and the lowest reading of the order of 35 to 40% is found during the months of June and July. Commonly very high humidity is found during winter and spring mornings. In terms of accessibility a survey was conducted by State Government to establish Bun gas Valley as a useful tourist destination. Final assessment was made by Government in collaboration with JKTDC and a model was prepared to work on the project In connection with the same plan a road was under construction in 1987-88 at the preliminary stage. Access to the Bungan Valley could be made by instillation of modern chairlifts on many sides. It would serve dual purpose, for accessibility and for entertainment. Entire Bungas Valley has enough conditions for constructing modern helipads for landing of helicopters. Whole area has enough conditions for conduct of aryl adventurous games like hellisking, hang gliding, parachuting etc. The Bungas Valley Development Youth Forum (Society) is a non-profit organization registered with Registrar of Societies, Government of J&K under societies registration act vide no 6254-S of 2012. The said society has been established with the vision to provide every person in the state of J&K an opportunity to strive for all round development of area of domain and positive transformation of society through collective effort with an emphasis on preservation of socio economic, cultural and ecological heritage. It shall be the endeavour of the (society) to bring in a permanent social change, the result of which shall be total transformation of society on every front. The (society) believes that occurrence of such change can happen by sharing and practising the message of perfect love and peace for total satisfaction of humanity. The (society) is committed to take up all the chances in build up of a healthy social set up through coordination with a thrust on preservation of socio economic, cultural and ecological heritage. As envisaged in the preamble of the constitution of (society) there is a need to strive for achievement of socio-cultural justice to our people, upliftment of downtrodden class of society, unity of all sections of society in addition to overall development of area of domain. (Author is Founder of The Bungas Valley Development Youth Forum)
By;Syed Rayees Iqbal Geelani
Aamir Aqeil Azfer 