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The plane landed, why was I so nervous? ‘We have reached Guru Ram Das Amritsar airport; the local time is 6am and the temperature is 30c’. I’ve always preferred the British weather, not to hot and not to cold. People started getting their luggage’s down from the overheads. ‘Have you got the passports?’ I hear mum ask dad for like the 20th time. ‘Come on Gurmej, stop dawdling they have opened the doors and you seem to be lost in your own world!’ I break out of my revive, I had been imagining I was back at home, sleeping in my bed. Ugh this was going to be such a crap trip. I had heard so much about India and it all sounded bad. Right let’s get this over with, 2 weeks I can handle that. I start walking down the aisle with mum and dad in front leading the way. We go through immigration and are asked why we have come to India, the man working at the front makes a joke about my passport picture as I look slightly different and now, I wear glasses and then I didn’t. He tells us ‘you should check out Delhi too, beautiful place I used to live there, full of hustle and bustle, just like the Amritsar city’, he says a faraway look in his eyes, as if he was reliving those memories in a flash. ‘Thank you, we will try and go there as well. It has been a long time since we have been to India and the first time for our daughter!’, says dad. She will certainly fall in love with country. True to those words I fell in love. ‘This is the bazaar, the local shopping mall’, says the taxi driver. I am immediately captivated by a store with beautiful clothes hanging on the windows. I take in the colours. I’m surrounded by the rainbow. I pore over how beautiful the pieces of colourful fabric are around me, different shades, materials and designs. The designs so intricate, delicate and beautiful. I walk out into the bazaar again and get sucked into the hustle and bustle. What a magical place. I suddenly feel high on the smell of food which is whirling around me. I follow my nose and find a shop serving up platters of delights. A man stands at the front cooking the food, luring in the punters in the delicious aroma and another stands on the front steps enticing people with promises of heaven on a plate. I am definitely hooked and like a fish caught on a line I am reeled in. I walk into the store and find loads of little tasty beauties on display. Some are sweet dishes and some salty, I feel my mouth watering. I am lost in this food heaven. What dishes they have colourful little sweets called chum chums and salty but spicy little triangular parcels filled with potatoey goodness called samosas, served with a sweet tangy chutney. Out of the bazaar I continue walking. Fully sated but with some goodies packed away for later I continue on my journey. I walk little shops selling colourful clothing, little ornaments, footwear, bags, more food and religious items. What a city. You don’t have to go far to get anything you need from basic essentials to the strangest items like pictures of Bollywood celebrities. I see up ahead a beautiful sight. Everyone reports this to be called Harmandir Sahib, the Golden Temple. It looms over the city, in all its glory and beautiful. It acts like the head of the table and the stores around it are the other occupants, there and acknowledged but can’t quite match its magnificence. I feel a pull towards this place. I feel as if I’m in a trance, my heart strings being pulled along and my body just following. It is a white but with a gold dome on the top, that could be seen from all around. I have only just scratched the surface of seeing what this beautiful country has to offer me. I can’t wait to discover what more delights remain hidden and explore those.