Delhi, India

India is my home. Even though I am an American citizen by birth, I will never forget my heritage, my country, and my roots. Despite all the trips I have taken to foreign countries, my favorite will always be India. Going to see my grandparents is a huge pleasure for me. I hope that I can help you understand how much this place means to me.

The highlight of my trip is going to see my grandparents. My Nana (my maternal grandfather) and my Nani (my maternal grandmother) live in Delhi. Whenever we fly to India, we spend the majority of our time with them. It is always fun to come to the baggage pick-up, grab some liquor for my Nana at the Duty-Free section, and try to see over the tall people to spot my grandparents as we leave the airport. Even though I have been to India more than 10 times, the feeling of running up to my Grandparents and giving them a big hug never goes away and it never will.

My Nani is the best cook on the planet (sorry Mom :)). Anything and everything my heart desires will be specially made for me by my Nani. All the Indian delicacies, be it saag chicken, chicken tikka, or dahl and rice, anything she makes turns out perfect. She is the best. One thing I love that she makes is called Nimki, a sort of cookie. She is great at making them and they are so good. Whenever I come home from India, I always make sure to bring some Nimkis home to remind me of the taste of India. These Nimkis are so good that when we come home from India, we always make sure to have some extra for my friends! She truly has a gift for cooking that is simply unparalleled. I hope that I can be half as good as she is when I grow older. Her dedication to her cooking inspires me to put my maximum effort into doing activities. She is something special.

My Nana is a hilarious guy. He never fails to entertain us with his jokes and his sense of humor. The interactions between him and my little sister never fail to amaze me! My Nani often says that those two are the biggest drama people in the house :). He also is a huge history nerd :). Ask him about any major world event and he is guaranteed to have something to say about it that you have not considered before. Every conversation I have with him, I feel like I have grown smarter than I was before. He is so knowledgeable and well-read and I hope that I can take after him in his regard as I grow up. After all, being specialized and skilled at your job is great, but if you cannot connect to people outside of that one interest, it’s a pretty narrow vision. I hope to take after him and be more worldly, something that I hope everyone will strive  for.

Going to India also means going to see my Grandparents helpers. My grandparents are old and they need help doing certain things, so they employ two people two help them, Amarjeet and Prem. My sister and I, however, call them Amarjeet Bhaiya and Prem, Bhaiya which means “brother” . They have been helping my grandparents for many years now. Amarjeet Bhaiya is a great cook and he helps out my Nani a lot. His rotis are something special! One of my favorite things to do with him is to play cricket. Most days my sister and I come downstairs from my grandparents’ apartment and head to the local park to play cricket. While Sneha and I are really not great at cricket, we all still have lots of fun. I miss those days.

India is truly my second home and I always love to go there and visit my family. I am proud of my Indian heritage and it’s a big part of my identity. While other Indian-American kids may struggle with balancing their American and Indian identities, I have had no issues due to the wonderful times I have spent there. So many times my friends are reluctant to go to India as they find it “antiquated” and “boring”. Yet, I can’t wait to go back. COVID-19 has taken away the ability to go to India and I had not seen my grandparents for three years. I missed them a lot. 

Thankfully, they are now with us in America and I can see them in person. I still remember that after trying to bring them over here during COVID for so long, my parents finally managed to book a flight and I began to cry. I do not cry very often but knowing then that I would see them soon was enough to break me. I hope I can go back to see India at least one more time before I graduate high school and get super busy with college . 

Thank you all for reading this post. See you all next time on Pranay’s Seattle Departures! Next time I will take you on another journey in India with my paternal Grandparents 😊