My first experience in a place like New Delhi

Posted by Chris Pratt on August 29th, 2018

I was 10 when I first visited Delhi. It was a 4-day family trip during the summer vacations which promised to be a lot of fun!

We visited many of the old monuments, which were fascinating, to say the least. But I was too young to actually appreciate the beauty of what I was beholding. So my brother and I - we amused ourselves in observing the colourful flowers in the gardens, and the way the dogs curled up around water sprinklers to keep cool in the hot May sun.

But one place we were really excited to visit was the Children Amusement park Appu Ghar. 

Back then there was this system of wristbands which cost a particular sum of money, and if you had them on your wrist, you could take any ride you liked any number of times. I remember they were costly then, so my parents didn't enter - they just bought two for us kids (my brother was barely 6 then, so I was supposed to be his guardian), and for the first time in our lives, we were on our own!

I remember we had LOADS of fun, played around to our heart's content. It was when we were waiting in line to get on one of the water rides, when some guys who were a lot older than us got talking - first to my kid brother, and then me. Our conversation went something like this :
The Terraces Kanatal
Random guy : "Hi kid, so where are you from?"
Kid Brother : (Mouth stuffed with chocolate) Assam
Random guy : Eh, what? Where?
Kid Brother : Assam.
Random guy : Where is it? Never heard of it?
Me : (Acting all mature and taking control of the situation) He means Assam. It's a state in the North Eastern region of India.
Random guy : (Confused) North East? Where?
Me: Have you heard of West Bengal? Assam is near that, but only to further East.
Random guy : Oh Bengal? (To his friends) They are from Bengal. 

Then one of the guys bent over and pulled my brother's (already puffed with chocolate) cheeks and said "Bongali babu, Roshogulla khabe?" (which translates : Bengali Babu, will you have some Rasgulla? - which is again (an extremely tasty, I must add) Bengali delicacy)

I had a really short temper when I was young, and flared up instantly : Assam is an independent state. It's not a part of West Bengal!

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