Poloview market, just off Residency road in downtown Srinagar is the place to go for all your shopping; from Kashmiri embroidery worked sarees, scarves, stoles to bags to shoes to even aromatic oils. It’s the latter which intrigued me as I am obsessed with smelling good and burning incense and what not in the home to infuse it with rich fragrances.
Kashmir does have a monopoly of sorts on natural beauty; it abounds in great fertile soil, abundant water and perfect weather for a bountiful spring which sees flowers of every hue and variety bloom in every nook and cranny. This in turn makes for great organic produce like honey, aroma oils and cosmetic products like creams, soaps, etc
Yasmin’s mom recommended a great store for such items and off we went to explore it further. I entertained Harry potter notions of visiting an apothecary in my head, en route to Poloview. Not quite but Saqlain’s Coterie is quite a charming little boutique, stocked to the gills with potions and brews of great variety in glass encased shelves which lined both sides of the narrow alley like shop.
There were aroma oils like Vanilla, Juniper, Jasmine, etc for burning and massage oils like walnut, almond and apricot.- arrayed in glass/plastic bottles with very attractive stickers proclaiming their contents. (I couldn’t resist opening the caps and sniffing at the glorious smelling oils and picked up at least four for myself)
Then there were products like Henna, face packs, creams, lotions, shampoos, conditioners, soaps and of course honey and saffron – evergreen items of this beautiful state.
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The gracious proprietor informed me that they do have an outlet in Chatterpur, New Delhi as well and also courier products for an extra charge all over India. They claim to grow it all on their farms and have an in-house workshop for making all their products.
Do make a note of this little shop on the corner for its awesome
products and shop there, whenever next in Srinagar.
I am writing daily this month as a part of the Ultimate Blog Challenge. This is my post for day 29
Read about my other posts on #KashmirTravelDiaries 2017 here
I like the apothecary point 😉
Learnt something new about Kashmir through this post. Will check out the other posts in this theme too 🙂
Thanks Mithila- this was a new discovery for me too. I have bookmarked this shop for future visits too as I have really loved the stuff I brought from here.
This looks like a great shop to visit.Will check it out when I am visiting next time
You must Amrita- you will love the fresh products; I am loving the apricot oil that I got for my face routine for the night! Its amazing
I’m pretty sure these fragrances would give the branded ones a run for their money !
Hey Atul – these oils were just mind blowing fresh and amazing! You are right about saying this!!