One cold afternoon in mid December my family
and I were sitting next to our warm and cozy fireplace watching How I met your mother and all of a
sudden my mom blurts, “We are going to India next summer!” In shock, we all
looked at her like she was crazy and questioned, “Why?” She exclaimed, “I’m
tired of the cold and I miss the mother land, so no matter what, we’re going!”
I looked at my dad with a skeptical look on my face wondering if he would agree
with my mom. Evidently, he did and he booked our tickets the next day.
I
woke up at 4 in the morning the day of our flight, which was at 5 o’clock in
the afternoon. I was extremely excited and I still had some last minute packing
to do. I went into my parent’s room and woke them up at 10 am, they scramble
out of their bed and my dad yelled, “Why did you wake us up this late!” and
went straight into the shower. My mom
went downstairs and started making breakfast; I, on the other hand, went
downstairs and started playing Battlefield 3 on my Playstation 3. An hour
later, after we all ate, my parents did a last check on our luggage and we left
for O’Hare airport.
We
arrived at the airport at 2 o’clock and went through security; they made us
take off our shoes and anything metal we has on us. Then we went straight to
get our boarding passes; we waited another hour until our plane was ready. At 4
pm we started to board the plane and we found our seats; I sat down and got
ready for the 13 hour flight.
We
arrived in India 9 o’clock at night; we got off the plane and got our luggage.
My uncle found us and took us to a taxi, there we waited an hour and finally
got a one; it was another two hour trip to his house. Once we reached his
house, in the city of Bombay, I went straight to bed.
The morning had come
upon me like a B-2 Spirit; I got up and had the most amazing breakfast I have
ever had. My uncle and his family could not stop laughing because I had made an
unforgettable face while I took the first bite of the tapalu (Indian spiced
tortilla). In the afternoon my cousins took me to see the Gate of India (a
massive arch in the center of Bombay). I was shocked at how many homeless
people were on the street begging for money. Nobody gave them attention or
bothered to give them money, I felt so bad and asked my cousin, “Why doesn’t
anybody give them money?” she replied, “There are so many homeless baggers in
India, and if you give one of them money all of them will come after you asking
for some.”
The next day my
family and I went to a town called Umreth; there we stayed at my grandmother’s
sister’s house. The streets were very small and tight, it was very hard to
walk. My family and I went to a local Temple and on the way I saw at least 200
homeless people. I only had 100 rupees, which is equivalent to two American
dollars, and I gave it to a lady that was sitting next to her child who would
not stop crying. We continued walking to the temple, when we got there I was
surprised at how many homeless people were inside. I couldn’t help myself; I
went up to my dad and asked him for another 200 rupees, I split it and gave 50
to 4 of the 30 homeless people that were in the temple.
Overall,
I had a good time in India with my cousins and my family. My cousins took me to
exciting places and I had the best food in my life. There were a lot of
homeless people in India; seeing so many homeless people changed me. It taught
me not to take advantage of the things I have because you can lose those things
easily, like my dad always says, “If you abuse it, you’ll lose it.”
