A Mermaid In Dal Lake That Kashmir Missed

SRINAGAR: A Californian two-some claimed they have had the first mermaid shoot in Dal Lake. They have posted a couple of photographs that shows the lady in Dal Lake in a mermaid costume.

“A couple weeks ago my partner and I ventured half way around the world to Srinagar, and decided while we were there we had to try and take mermaid photos in the famed Dal Lake,” Iara Mandyn said on her Facebook page. It shows a photograph of her in a Shikara in the mermaid costume.

Iara is an underwater model and lives in California. “The story behind these photos is way crazier than the image could ever convey,” she wrote in another post. “They were sooooo close to not happening. The region is insanely gorgeous but there’s a lot of tension in Kashmir right now, so we were quite wary the entire time we were there. We almost scrapped the idea but then by luck found an awesome guide, and a boatman who was willing to take us out.”

They were quite upset over the local culture that might take an offence of what they wanted to shoot. “Almost all of the women there cover up from ankle to neck even in the blazing heat of summer, and don’t swim,” Iara wrote. “We didn’t wan’t to cause a stir, so we rowed out to a remote part of the lake to be able to capture these. So many thanks to everyone who made these happen.”

But the details that were shared by her partner Jamie DeWolf were more revealing. It was he who shot the postcard pictures of Iara. He also shared details of his visit on his Facebook page. “Our guide found a boat that would take us out to a secluded area and Iara Mandyn transformed and stunned us all with her fearlessness to leap in the lake. It was a profound, transformative experience and shook me to my core but I’m so grateful we did it. And look at this beautiful shot!,” Jamie wrote.

Jamie is slam poet and circus ringmaster from California. He is reported to be the great-grandson of late American author L Lon Hubbard who founded a new religious movement called the Church of Scientology in 1954, according to Outlook.

But the story is slightly longish. Here it is:

“Few weeks ago, some of you may know I went to Kashmir. Almost no one knew the real reason why,” he wrote. “It’s the most militarized zone in the world, one soldier for ever 7 citizens. Guns everywhere. Not exactly a top tourist location.”

Here is the real reason: “My partner Iara Mandyn and I were flying in with a cover story of doing a mermaid shoot. We scattered various film gear across our suitcases and checked in the mermaid tail. But what we were REALLY doing was secretly filming dozens of interviews with torture victims of the Indian state, protesters who’d been beaten, blinded, amputees missing fingers and legs, horror stories end upon end. There were grenade attacks while we there, a citywide strike, protesters ran over and killed. I won’t lie that it was a shaky experience. Watching people get snatched off the street in front of our hotel while I had explosive footage hiding in my room was intense. The interviews will be coming out for the world to see in the next two months to be submitted with one of the first comprehensive reports on human rights abuses in Kashmir. And on the last day, we did the mermaid shoot!”