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Journalism of Courage
Moored on the banks of the Dal Lake,Butts Clermont,a fleet of four houseboats,mirrors the turbulent history of Kashmirs tourism. In the pages of the visitors books of these houseboats,carefully preserved by its owners over the past seven decades,lies the changing travel story of the Valley.
The first lines in these visitors books were scribbled in 1942. And since then,15 voluminous books have been filled by visitors. Among them,the most famous was George Harrison of The Beatles band,who stayed at the houseboat in the autumn of 1966. A very peaceful stay at Clermontspecial thanks to Rehman,who served us, writes Harrison.
The other musician who was staying at the Clermont at that time was sitar maestro Ravi Shankar. G N Butt,the present owner of the houseboat,says Shankar was teaching Harrison to play the sitar.
The Clermont houseboats have been a favourite with politicians and diplomats as well. In 1953,a meeting between Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah and American diplomat and presidential candidate,Adlai Stevenson,took place in one of these houseboats. Before leaving the houseboat,Stevenson wrote,An enchanted interlude that mended body and mind and that I shall never forgetthanks to Mr G M Butt.
In fact,the fleet regularly received American ambassadors. In 1987,then US ambassador to India,John Gunther Dean,wrote: The Butt family members have contributed so much to Indo-US friendship.
The houseboats got their name from Clermont Hall of Britain. In 1940,a businessman from the UK,R Foster,bought a houseboat and put it up on the Dal. He later got more houseboats built. In 1947,when he was leaving India,Foster gifted his fleet of houseboats to his friend G M Butt,a handicrafts businessman.
In the years that followed,this fleet of houseboats continued to receive visitors. But as the shadow of militancy fell over Kashmir,tourists abandoned the Valley and the Clermont as well. As the Clermonts visitor books show,the only visitors in the following years were journalists,arriving in the Valley to report on its violent days.
