Delhi Diaries: A Story of Family Bonding, Solo Growth, and Rediscovering Freedom

Delhi Diaries: A Story of Family Bonding, Solo Growth, and Rediscovering Freedom

A Trip with my dad

Kristi Flora Karki

So, this winter break has been very special to me, as I went for a trip with my dad to Delhi. On the 2^nd of January my dad came to my room and told me that he had to visit Delhi for his yearly check-up, so if I was free would I join him? As I had no plans as such and was utterly bored… I quickly said definitely yes!

 My dad has BP issues hence he avoids taking air journeys and prefers trains instead. So, after a long time I was about to travel by train. As I’m someone who enjoys the journey as much as the destination,I was extremely excited about the journey. On the 7^th of January we went to the station at 4 am, usually I hate waking up early but when it comes to trips, I can even climb the mount Everest!

Our train got delayed by an hour so we had to wait, but I was not disappointed at all as I love observing everything at the station like people rushing…kids running…tourists from different corners of the country. Also, watching people see off their loved ones is one of my favourite things about stations. Finally, we boarded the train.

 Slowly the train started and I watched the scenes change through the big window by my side…absolute Cinema! As it was the month of January I was tensed about the weather in Delhi, because it’s very cold in Delhi from December to February.

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Me and dad kept on talking for the entire day starting from family…geopolitics…my future ofcourse! and what not. As my father is always busy with his work being able to talk and spend time with him felt really good.

 After lunch and dinner, they gave ice cream and as my father doesn’t eat ice cream, I ate total four ice creams that day…and this was not less than winning a lottery fora foodie like me!

  The next day around 11 PM we reached Delhi. It was 12 degree Celsius I could feel the cold in my bones.As we were hungry, we decided to eat something in the nearby Dhaba outside the railway station.

This was my third visit to Delhi and one thing I’ve always felt is that people are not so friendly. I felt it every time I visited. Even this time when we went to eat, the Dhaba people looked indifferent to our queries and talked in a rude way.

        We stayed in my father’s departmental guest house in Mayur Bihar and it was just mesmerising.The drawing room, the dinning, the big windows everything about it was beautiful.  The next morning, I was surprised to see peacocks roaming around the campus.

Later that evening, we both went for grocery shopping and the chilling cold was making it hard to even breath. I don’t usually cook at home but in Delhi I actually made dinner every day and yes, my dad taught me how to…

The next morning, we had to visit AIIMS, Delhi. We took the metro and I was surprised to know that a lot has changed, like now you don’t use token coins but you get a ticket either manually or via Delhi Sarthak App digitally and you scan the QR.It was quite interesting! My dad consulted with the doctors and finally returned to our guest house by evening.

One thing I’ve realised is that there is so much to learn from a hospital…like watching people suffer from various illnesses broke my heart,watching people cry for their loved ones…watching people feel hopeless…really humbles you. Witnessing all that makes me feel grateful for the life I have and how trivial our problems are…and the dedication of doctors to patiently listen to each and every patient fills my heart with nothing but respect for them.

That afternoon me and my dad went to visit a Goshala near our guest house.It smelled like pure milk and the ambience was so positive and peaceful…that I didn’t even want to leave the place. We also saw many beautiful and healthy cattle.

Shortly after that, I got a text from my childhood friend Srishti, she works in Gurgaon currently.She asked me whether I’m was in Delhi  as she saw my insta story. As she got to know that I was actually in Delhi we planned to meet the next day.  I could not believe that we were actually meeting each other, the last time we were together was in the year 2018. We were in 10^th standard after that I shifted to Kolkata and since then we never got to meet each other. That night I could not sleep at all out of excitement!

The next morning, I went to the nearby departmental store and bought some essentials as my friend was coming while returning, I felt a sense of pride that I was shopping alone in a different state and doing stuff all by myself, as my father has been very protective of me and had always stopped me from going out alone.Doing things like this made me feel like a grown up finally and I enjoyed my freedom.

     Later that afternoon, I could not believe my eyes as my dear friend Srishti was just in front of me.We hugged and cried I cannot even explain how I was feeling in that moment. We both made dinner together and chatted the entire night.It felt like we were those two little girls sitting in our classroom talking. I realised that with some people things never change no matter how much time passes by.

             The next day Srishti and I decided to explore Delhi.We took the metro and went to Rajiv Chawk, then next visitedan area which was pre dominantly run by northeastern people. It was filled with various cafes and boutiques. It was aesthetically very pleasing!

We had momos and Vietnamese coffee absolutely loved it! Then we took the metro and went to Connaught Place.There we met a lady who was making braids using various colourful threads so we both tried it on our hair and it turned out to be amazing!

We went to have waffles at Wafflesome (a cute waffle shop) and it was my first time trying waffles! I absolutely loved it. Shortly we went to the streets of Connaught Place and enjoyed the evening while having an ice cream. Also, I bought some little token of love for my friends in Guwahati.

 I told Srishti that how time has changed and how much we have grown up from being little kids to exploring a city together alone!

I was enjoying my freedom to the fullest, exploring Delhi even after 7pm felt unreal.It was liberating as a woman who was never allowed to do things alone. By 9pm we were at our guest house and after having a good conversation we slept.

The next day Srishti had to return, so I quickly made her breakfast after that we hugged and promised to meet soon!It was 11 am and my father and I left for AIIMS as he had his tests to be done. By evening all the tests were done and we returned. Later that day we went to meet our relatives in Noida and it was so fun meeting them after such a long time.

The next day my dad got all his reports and by God’s grace all his reports came normal, we felt relieved. That evening, I went to meet another friend of mine Gayetri at RK Puram. We met after eight years and we spent a great time together while exploring the street foods. I didn’t like the Ram Laddu also I find Guwahati’s puchkas better than Delhi’s puchkas!

And just like that one week had passed and it was time to return home to Guwahati. While packing I felt so emotional I got teary eyes as I was attached to that guest house and the locality! It’s my habit to get emotionally attached to places even if I’ve stayed there for just five days. On 15^th of January, we reached Guwahati around 8pm in the evening it felt good to be home.

 One interesting thing happened to me at the station. One uber driver came up to me and asked me where I wanted to go in Assamese and suddenly I was blank I couldn’t reply at all as I couldn’t understand his language, but the interesting thing is I am born and brought up in Guwahati and I understand and can speak Assamese fluently but in that moment I couldn’t speak my own language, reason being me not speaking Assamese for a week and only using Hindi and English.

That is the problem with me, people suffer from jet lag but I suffer from language lag even if I have just been to a place for one week my accent changes and my own language feels foreign to me.

While returning home all the memories of Delhi started to come to my head like a montage and I felt emotional and grateful for being able to have spent such a good time with my friends and family. After reaching home I told everything I did in Delhi to my mom and my brother and relived the moments.

This trip will forever be dear to me and I can’t wait to experience such more trips in the future!

Kristi Flora karki is a student of Communication and Journalism, Gauhati University

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