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Mason Robertson looked out the car window on his arrival in Kashmir and gawped at a seemingly endless posse of Kalashnikov-toting Indian soldiers guarding roadblocks.

The 24-year-old defender instantly believed he had made the biggest mistake of his life in swapping the relatively safe streets of Peterhead for the simmering, tension-filled alleyways of Srinagar.

But fast forward five months and the son of former Aberdeen and Rangers defender David Robertson believes signing for the Real Kashmir club his dad manages was the best decision he has made in his career.

Robertson had just agreed a new deal for another League Two campaign with Jim McInally’s Blue Toon when he got the offer from his father to join him in the far north of India.

(Image: Umar Ganie)

Former Scotland full-back David had jut led Kashmir to the I League Second Division title and was offering his son full-time football in the top league of one of the world’s biggest countries.

But Mason admits no amount of research could prepare him for the shock of arriving in the most militarised zone in the world.

The only Scottish player in India said: “I stepped off the plane and I just thought, ‘Oh no, what have I done? What the f*** is this?’ You see every second guy with an AK-47 and you’re in total shock when you drive into town.

“But ever since then when I started to actually meet people it has been brilliant.

“I was talking to Jim McInally in the summer. I told him I wanted to stay at Peterhead but my dad had just won the league and said he would talk to the owners to see what he could sort out in terms of a contract.

(Image: Umar Ganie)

“So I told Jim I had this opportunity to go to India and play full time for my dad’s team and he was great and said yes.

“I googled everything about India and Kashmir and I must admit it didn’t look too great. But I just thought maybe getting away would do me the world of good.

“Part-time football wasn’t doing me any good with my fitness. I couldn’t go to a higher level because of my size. I was only training once a week and I wasn’t as fit as I’d have liked to have been.

“So I decided I’d give it a go in India, go full time, get myself fit, lose weight and do as well as I can. If it didn’t work out I could come back or go back to America. But so far it has been going brilliantly.”

Robertson, who played for Stenhousemuir before moving to Peterhead, has been showered with praise after his three I League performances so far, which has seen Real Kashmir win one, draw one and lose one.

Srinagar doesn’t exactly offer much opportunity to go off the rails, with Kashmir one of the world’s most disputed hotspots sitting between India and Pakistan.

(Image: Umar Ganie)

There are no pubs, no cinemas, just tanks on the streets, stray dogs and endless roadblocks set up by the various security forces.

But Robertson believes the lack of any kind of social life is actually a good thing and he explained why he found it important to move out of his dad’s hotel and in with his team-mates.

He said: “All there is to do in Srinagar is eat, sleep and play FIFA 19. No one drinks here so it’s not like we can go out nightclubbing every Saturday.

“If we were in Goa, say, it would be different because of the beach culture down there. But this has actually been good for me.

“It helped me blend in with the boys and got us a team spirit which is really important.

“At first I was staying with my dad at the owner’s house but I felt it was horrible that I was heading home with him after training instead of going back to the team hotel with the rest of the boys.

“So I decided I needed to stay with the boys and move into the team hotel. We have a lot of nationalities, my room-mate is a Zambian international and we all bond together. Nothing happens here actually.

(Image: SNS)

“Everyone thinks Kashmir is a horrible place but I walk down the street and sure, everyone stares at you, but they want to take selfies with you.”

Robertson was courted by Dundee United and Queen of the South and joined Kilmarnock for pre-season, but each time concerns about his size and fitness thwarted the move.

He has now shifted the weight and reckons it’s the sharpest he has been throughout his career, which started when he combined his studies in Phoenix, Arizona, with playing football.

He added: “I did pre-season training at Kilmarnock but I was overweight compared to now.

“At Peterhead you played a game on Saturday and you only got a couple of days training.

“Here we are training every day and it has improved my game. My passing is better and my movement is better because I’ve lost all this weight.

“When I was at Killie for pre- season I was 15st 13lbs and now I’m 14st 2lbs, so it’s doing me a world of good. Everyone has to take a step back in their career to move a step up.”