Despite how the place you and your families visited is in a state of war, you and your families were, unaffected by the atrocities of what went on, because you were too young to comprehend, too innocent to understand the effects of war…translated…
At the Time, My Parents Kept Their Voices Barely Audible to Me. What They Didn't Discloses to Me Was, that the Guerilla is about to, Breach into Delhi………….
My father is widely read, and loved traveling, I'd gone on many trips with him since I was a young child, trekked to many places in the world.
At the time, tourism wasn't the thing back in India, but because there was that very first flight from Taiwan, my father couldn't cover up his excitement, "the world is so enormous, come, let's go and check it out!" and so, my family gotten on that virgin flight, but at the time, India and Pakistan were battling over the territory of Kashmir.
illustration from UDN.com
I still recalled my first sight of India.
Outside the New Delhi Airport, the skies were, gray, the sky full of flies kept hitting our bodies, and there was the loud honking from the vehicles from all around, the scent of urine, came into my nostrils in layers.
The tour guide boasted, "there are two people in the world, one, those who'd visited Taj Mahal, those who never been." I'd originally disbelieved his word. But, as I walked with my parents, through the noisy alleys, and the long hallway, into that darkened front gate, then, suddenly, the light cracked through, and there was that thin fog, soaked in the pure white silhouette inside the arch.
Ahhhhhhh, the Taj Mahal, we're here, at the, Tag Mahal!
My heart stopped at the very moment, I'd never seen anything so beautiful before, no words came to me, and I was, moved to, tears.
Every night in India, my father would tune in to the news, to see what cities the Pakistani army had, taken, how far it was away from us. But, the following morn, I was still greeted by the same noisy, colorful India, like it was, never touched by, the fears of, war. While my foreign face I'd not worn the sari, only my t-shirt and jeans, wherever I'd gone, I'd, caused, a huge, scene, everybody would look at me like I was, the odd duck, and that seemed to be, the unique sight.
Walking down the streets of Jaipur, there was a group of young children who'd, tagged along behind us, and were, halted by the group of protective officers who were chaperoning us. My mother turned around, squatted down, placed the candies in the children's hands, the kids were overjoyed, then, ran off. There was only this one young girl, with the rough carrying cloth with a baby, who'd gotten close to my ear, and, timidly, begged for, one more piece, "one more for baby", as she'd spoken to me, she'd, handed me a tiny yellow, flower.
The evening before we returned back to Taiwan, my family and I went to the highest and the only rotating restaurant in Delhi to dine, there were the bands and the singers performing there, they'd performed the song, "Top of the World" by the Carpenters, but, there were, almost, no one else there dining in.
the view from the restaurant...what it looks like from the inside, photo from online
At the time, my parents suppressed the volumes of their voices, what they'd not told me, was that the guerrilla was about to, breach into Delhi, that the sandbags used in war are stacked up all over the streets, the airline notified the other tourists, to try and purchase the ticket from my father to fly out, and the price of what they'd offered, got higher and higher with each and every call my father received.
The world I saw at the time, still spun around, looking own, I saw the Red Fort and the Taj Mahal.
I'd turned to my father, smiled, the singers' upbeat voices sung, "the World I Expected/Presented Itself to Me Specially/Reason is Too Clear/Because You're Here………"
And so, this is, how you and your families were untouched by the war which was going on in India when you'd visited as a young child, because you were too young, too innocent, you'd not realized the impact of war, plus, your parents sheltered you and your siblings from the atrocities of war, and this was something memorable in your childhood years…
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