Almost every year my family and I go to India over the summer. But the last time we went was a little different.

During the summer of eighth grade, everyone in my family was more excited than I could remember excited to get on the plane. The flight was about 16 hours long, but we stopped in Germany to make it seem shorter.
When we reached the airport in Delhi, I saw my two of my older uncles waiting in the arrivals area. It seemed as if they ran to the arrivals area.
“We didn’t know your flight was landing tonight. We thought it was tomorrow morning,” They told us.
I wasn’t shocked. Everytime my family travels, theres always a mixup in the timing since the timings of India and America are different. Forgetting all of that, we placed our luggage in the car and headed towards the house. Although it was almost 2 AM, everyone at home was awake. They were all waiting for us and I was shocked that they had prepared dinner at this hour. The only thing I wanted to do at this point was lie down in comfy bed and go to sleep.
Almost everyday we were in Delhi, we went somewhere. The weather was either hot and dry or raining all day. There was no in between. There was a lot of traffic and Delhi was extremely loud just like most cities. Although there were lanes on the road, no one used them. There was a lot of litter in some areas and some areas were extremely clean compared to others. Many stray animals roamed the streets. One day, I even saw a random cow in middle of the road, although I didn’t notice it until my cousin had to grab my arm so I wouldn't run into it. I had spent the whole summer going to my relatives’ house or shopping.
One day, I went shopping with my cousins. I was more excited than I could possibly imagine. Although I went shopping with them almost every other day, I had so much fun going there. Even though we went there often, we didn’t buy things often. Sometimes we just sat in the food court or cafe and sometimes we just walked around. The mall had about five or six floors and right when you got inside, the cold air from the air conditioner felt refreshing.
When we got to the mall, we split up. My two oldest cousins Nanci and Mindai decided to go to a department-like store. The store “Lifestyle” had a huge sale causing it to be crowded. The main floor had the accessories, the second floor had the men’s section, and the third floor had the women’s section. Mindai and I went to the third floor and Nanci decided to look for a new purse.
On the third floor, we grabbed many shirts and pants and rushed to the fitting rooms. Without any doubt we already knew there was going to be a huge line.
“I’m gonna go get Nanci so you wait in line,” Mindai told me when we got in line. She gave me her pile of clothes and made my hand overflowing. “Don’t get out of line!” She told me as she walked away.
“I know,” I told her.
As soon as she left, it seemed as if the line was starting to move faster. It had been 10 minutes since she left. 15 minutes. 20 minutes. I was almost at the actual fitting room and she still hadn’t came. It would’ve been a smarter idea to bring a phone with me because I was starting to get worried. Nanci had clearly told us she was going to stay in the purses area but Mindai still hadn’t come back.
When I got in the fitting room, I tried on my clothes and got out quickly. When I got out of the fitting room, the pile of clothes in my hands had shrunk since I only had half of my clothes and a couple of Mindai’s shirts. I looked around to see if Mindai or Nanci were anywhere near the fitting room or the line. There was no sign of them. Not wanting to get lost, I decided to wait near the fitting room for about 15 minutes. It wasn’t before long when I realized I was lost.
I hid the pile of clothes behind the neatly folded clothes in the women’s section. The women who saw me hiding them looked at me as if it was her clothes I was hiding. When I got to the purses and shoes section, I looked around for Nanci. There was no sign of Nanci or Mindai. I waited about 10 minutes on the first floor hoping for someone to come.
Then I remembered that my brother and my other cousin were in the store next to “Lifestyle.” I walked around in the store next to “Lifestyle” hoping that I would eventually see someone. Almost everyone in Delhi spoke Hindi but I didn’t know how to speak it. This meant I couldn’t ask anyone for help. I walked out the store and walked back into “Lifestyle” onto the third floor.
By this time I wasn’t even scared anymore. I was pissed at both Mindai and Nanci.
“Knowing them, they probably walked into a different store,” I thought to myself.
I walked out of “Lifestyle” again and started to walk around the mall. About five minutes later, I saw Nanci walking in front of me. When I caught up to her, I saw Mindai and instantly felt like smacking her head into the wall. But I didn’t.
“Aman!” she said with a huge smile on her face. “Where were you?! I’ve been looking for you everywhere!”
“Nowhere,” I told her. I wasn’t in to mood of fighting with her so I just ignored how mad I was. I knew if i would get in a fight with her, she wouldn’t talk to me for days and I didn’t want that.
That day, I learned to always carry my phone around. I also learned to only go places with people who won’t ditch me and say they’ve been looking for me. Although I was extremely mad at them that day, when I think back at the incident, I laugh. Even though they ditched me and I was extremely mad, that didn’t mean that I didn’t love them and didn’t consider them my older sisters.