A promise of fun

Aaji was promised a trip to the amusement park. But lockdown is declared. What’s next?

My Aaji never forgets anything. She remembers things that everyone else has forgotten! Want to know how many times I threw up on a bus ride to Shimla when I was three? Ask Aaji.

She never forgets promises either. I once promised her 10 ice-creams if I passed a surprise Maths test. Of course, I passed. Aaji should have been happy and bought me ice-creams, right? Instead, she made me buy her the ice-creams and then ate them all herself. So, I’ve learnt to be careful what I promise. But my father hasn’t. He heard Aaji say she’d like to see an amusement park and promised we’d go on my 10th birthday.

Soon after I turned nine, Aaji began to talk of amusement parks. At first, Baba was puzzled. When he understood why his mother was talking about roller coasters, he came to me and said, “Your Aaji wants to go to an amusement park!”

“Promises,” I told him, “are meant to be kept.” He’s always telling me this, but he didn’t like hearing it.

“I know!” he snapped. “But how? There’s a pandemic…a lockdown!...”

Telling Aaji she couldn’t go would mean a lot of sad sighing, unhappy sniffing and stories about how people who broke promises were punished. But, how could we take Aaji to an amusement park?

“If Aaji can’t go to the amusement park, the amusement park will come to her,” I said.