Gardening on Water: The Dal’s Ancient Floating Gardens

Gardening on Water: The Dal’s Ancient Floating Gardens For thousands of years, Kashmir has been called jannat (heaven) by Urdu poets, travelers, and tourists. The Dal Lake in Srinagar is a jewel in its crown. Flamingo pink lotuses carpet the waters, and shikaras —small wooden boats— row upon it, making the destination a favorite for Instagram-loving honeymooners. However, deep in the Dal is a world less visible: its floating gardens. In Gardening on Water, Meher Varma, returns with a two-part audio dispatch from Srinagar, introducing us to the political complexities that challenge the reductive depiction of 'Kashmir as heaven on earth.’ Join us as we row you through the majestic and complex world of Dal's Floating Gardens. This episode was made possible by the support of @heirloomcities

You can listen to Gardening on Water: The Dal’s Ancient Floating Gardens online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

Gardening on Water: The Dal’s Ancient Floating Gardens is an episode from Bad Table Manners by Whetstone Radio Collective.

This episode is 29:41 long.

This episode was published on Aug 13, 2025.

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