Mansar and Saruinsar are two lakes (twins) that are located pretty close to Jammu city. While these lakes, especially Mansar, can be approached directly by the travellers coming in from Punjab (they just have to turn right after crossing the bridge at Samba) but the road stretch there is not that good. If, however, aim is to leave out Jammu and hit straight for Udhampur and beyond, the option still has a value. Otherwise, a better way is to approach these lakes via Jammu. In that case, Saruinsar will come first and then Mansar.
There are many myths and beliefs connected with these twins. Some people do believe that both the lakes are joined at the bottom. In more earthly terms, however, Saruinsar used to be a poorer cousin of much bigger and better maintained Mansar and it remained so throughout our childhood and much beyond. Then Saruinsar Mansar Development Authority was formed and both the places have now been transformed. While standards may not be ideal, these are pretty good.
Just sharing a few pics of our recent visits to these two places and around...
MANSAR Lake
The first thing that catches your attention at Mansar, i.e, after you have taken in the general views and ambiance, is the density of fish that scramble to receive a piece of feed (flour dough ; sold for INR 10 per 200 odd gms) that most of visitors tend to offer. Locals do it out of reverence since for a community, fishes denote their dynastic deity. Tourists, however, do it for fun. So, such a concentration of fishes is not uniform throughout the lake but only at some spots. Even then, it looks awesome...
Call it our imagination but a few of them actually appear to be begging for more...
And here, you may notice that fishes have actually come out of the water and are crawling on the concrete steps. After sometime, they actually shake themselves violently and get back in. We see it as a step towards these fishes becoming lung fishes at some point of time....seriously!!
Another view of the lot..
And Czia is fascinated...
BUT...
Nothing in life comes easy; there is a competition here....
And pretty close one on that!!
Having had their bit, the group retires for the day!
Some Value Addition
A weakness from school days (In those days, our pocket money of INR 1 would fetch us this
Nature's idea of flower decoration
Boating options are available though locals will tell you not to cross through the imaginary centre of the lake or else your boat may simply capsize. Well, it is a local belief and we leave it to the readers to challenge or respect the same!
A view of the left portion. There is a zoo on the far end
The ever argumentative Indians
Czia tries her skills with the camera
Some work has been done to beautify the place
To ride or not!!
[CENTER]
Moving on to the next one...SARUINSAR..
Smaller than Mansar but majestic nevertheless
Some rain and overnight discharge of surrounding nullahs had made the waters a bit muddy. There are fishes here too but nothing like its bigger twin
SMDA at work
From Saruinsar to Jammu
The area is actually a wildlife sanctuary
The drive back to Jammu is through ome of the beautiful areas. In fact, if we look at the city and its surroundings, this stretch is the most beautiful part of the winter capital
And lastly, one question...has anyone seen Czia standing straight in any of her pics, EVER???
There are many myths and beliefs connected with these twins. Some people do believe that both the lakes are joined at the bottom. In more earthly terms, however, Saruinsar used to be a poorer cousin of much bigger and better maintained Mansar and it remained so throughout our childhood and much beyond. Then Saruinsar Mansar Development Authority was formed and both the places have now been transformed. While standards may not be ideal, these are pretty good.
Just sharing a few pics of our recent visits to these two places and around...
MANSAR Lake
The first thing that catches your attention at Mansar, i.e, after you have taken in the general views and ambiance, is the density of fish that scramble to receive a piece of feed (flour dough ; sold for INR 10 per 200 odd gms) that most of visitors tend to offer. Locals do it out of reverence since for a community, fishes denote their dynastic deity. Tourists, however, do it for fun. So, such a concentration of fishes is not uniform throughout the lake but only at some spots. Even then, it looks awesome...
Call it our imagination but a few of them actually appear to be begging for more...
And here, you may notice that fishes have actually come out of the water and are crawling on the concrete steps. After sometime, they actually shake themselves violently and get back in. We see it as a step towards these fishes becoming lung fishes at some point of time....seriously!!
Another view of the lot..
And Czia is fascinated...
BUT...
Nothing in life comes easy; there is a competition here....
And pretty close one on that!!
Having had their bit, the group retires for the day!
]
The actual origin of the fame...there is a temple here that also serves as dynastic centre of pilgrimage for a few Nature's idea of flower decoration
Czia tries her skills with the camera[CENTER]
What the hell...lets ride. Czia remembered Hundur camels at this point
Moving on to the next one...SARUINSAR..
Smaller than Mansar but majestic nevertheless
Some rain and overnight discharge of surrounding nullahs had made the waters a bit muddy. There are fishes here too but nothing like its bigger twin
SMDA at work
From Saruinsar to Jammu
The area is actually a wildlife sanctuary
The drive back to Jammu is through ome of the beautiful areas. In fact, if we look at the city and its surroundings, this stretch is the most beautiful part of the winter capital
And lastly, one question...has anyone seen Czia standing straight in any of her pics, EVER???
