Flat Stanely Goes to India

Dear Alaina,

I can’t wait to tell you all about the adventures I had in India with your Aunt Leslie! She was so excited to take me with her on her trip to adopt her new son (your cousin!) Naveen. It was my first trip to India and I loved it so much.

First of all, we met Aunt Leslie’s friend, Sandy, at the DFW airport in TX.  She was going with us on the trip. Aunt Leslie calls Sandy “Sandwich”. Isn’t that funny? Do you have a nickname that your friends call you? 


 Well, Aunt Leslie, Sandwich, and I boarded the plane for a long flight to India. Can you guess how long it takes to fly to India from Dallas? 19 hours!  That's almost an entire day! Fortunately, we had a short layover (that’s what you call it when you take a break from flying) in a city called Frankfurt. That’s in Germany. Do you know what continent Germany is on? Europe! Europe is also where your Uncle Simeon is from!

This is me on the airplane

When we were in Frankfurt, Aunt Leslie met up with an old friend from high school named Christoph. He took her to eat at a restaurant in the airport. Do you know what type of food they eat in Germany? A type of sausage called Bratwurst, fried potatoes, and homemade sauerkraut. It was delicious! I’ve included a photo of me with my huge plate of food.

This is the plate of German food that I ate with Aunt Leslie and Christoph. Yum!. 

Here I am with a Kinder Egg. These are chocolate eggs with toys inside of them!

Finally, after a long sleep on the plane, we arrived in New Delhi, India. Do you know what continent  India is on? It’s on the continent of Asia. And New Delhi, India is in the northern part of India. We had to spend the night in the airport so that we could catch an early flight to Pune, which is where your cousin Naveen lived. While we were waiting, we ate a restaurant and I had my picture taken with a neat statue outside. I’ve included a picture for you. 

Namaste, Alaina!

Do you see how his hands are folded? That’s the sign for Namaste. Can you say Namaste? You can say it like this…. Nuh-Muh-Stay. There you go! You did it!

Namaste is what people in India say to each other when they meet each other or have to say goodbye. It’s kind of like our “hello” and “goodbye”.

We eventually made it to Pune, India. Pune is in the state of Maharastra. Can you find that on the map? Pune is a beautiful city. Your cousin Naveen lived in an orphanage there and Aunt Leslie travelled to Pune to adopt him. Now he lives with her and Uncle Simeon and Noah, Eli and Nandini in Texas!

 A shrine to the Hindu god Ganesh. Ganesh has an elephant head!

 Naveen holding me. Isn't he sweet?

But, before we made it back to Texas, we had lots of adventures in India!

We made some new friends there and had lunch with them in their home. They had a real banana tree in their yard and grew baby bananas! They were delicious.  See the two beautiful girls holding me in one of your pictures? That’s their daughters! one of them is even your age!

Me spending time with L and I. 

After meeting with our new friends, we flew back to New Delhi because Aunt Leslie had  to do some paperwork at the US Embassy. We were there for five days. We stayed at a beautiful guest house called "Shamnath Villa"  and had so much fun! We went shopping in a part of Delhi called “Old Delhi” Old Delhi was founded a long time ago… in 1639. It’s such an amazing place. We took the metro (which you might know as a subway) to a place in Old Delhi called Chandni Chowk.  Chandni Chowk means “market” and it’s one of the oldest and busiest markets in Old Delhi. Do you see the photo of me with two store mannequins? That was taken in Chandni Chowk!

The store owner was so excited to take my picture!

Then  we went on food tour in an area called Chawri Bazar. Our new friend, Dhruv, showed us around. The food in India is delicious! Dhruv let us taste something called aloo chaat. “Aloo” is the word for “potato” And “Chaat” is an old Hindu word that means “tasting”. So, basically, it’s a potato snack! Aloo Chaat is fried potatoes mixed with salt, lime, and spices. Because the food is so spicy in India, many people cool down their throats with a sweet yogurt drink called “Lassi” We were able to drink lassi in a traditional clay jar. It was delicious. 

After all the food tasting we went to Dhruv’s house. He lives in a type of house called a “Haveli” It was a huge house with a courtyard in the middle. It was beautiful. We met Drhuv’s family and we climbed to the roof of his house and flew kites and lit fireworks. Did you know that many of the houses in Old Delhi are three and four stories tall? And they have flat roofs, so you can climb to the roof and relax or play.  In the evening,  people all over Old Delhi fly kites from their rooftops. The entire sky was filled with colorful kites. It was magical!

On the rooftop at Dhruv's House

Our new friend, Dhruv.

Later in the week, I went with Aunt Leslie and Naveen on the metro to a place called Dilli Haat. It’s an open-air craft and food market that sells things from all over India. I bought you some bangles and a mirror there!

 One of the wood carvings at Dilli Haat. Can you believe someone carved the entire thing out of wood? It's beautiful!

 Me hanging out with Naveen and eating chips!

This is the sign at Dilli Haat. It's written in English and Hindi. Both are the official languages of India.

On our last day in Delhi, Aunt Leslie took Naveen and me on a boat ride on a lake! The lake was at a place called Purana Qila.  Purana Qila is an old fort that was completed in 1538. That’s nearly 500 years ago!  No one lives in the fort anymore and it’s fallen to ruin, but it’s still a beautiful place to visit. We took a boat ride around the fort and ate ice cream. It was so much fun!

 On the boat at Purana Qila "Old Fort". It's a popular place for families to spend the day.

This was one of my favorite things on the entire trip! Here I am with Aunt Leslie.

After that, we went to the airport and took the long flight home  to Texas. I miss India, but I'm glad to be back home for awhile!

I want to thank you so much for letting me go with Aunt Leslie and Sandwich on their trip to India. I loved getting to know your new cousin, Naveen, and spending time in such an amazing country. I can’t wait to go to India again. Maybe you can join me next time!

Namaste!

Flat Stanley