Paris – the city every tourist dreams to visit. The city of love, the city of lights!
I am no different! I too imagine myself roaming in the crowded streets of Paris, clicking myself under the Eiffel Tower, witnessing the magic of lights under the open dark sky – somethings I have only read about.
What happens when I get the same experience – here – in Pune?
Aeem.. Are you thinking I have lost it? Comparing Paris to Pune?? 😐
Don’t know really. But the emotions I felt that evening weren’t any less than of being in Paris.
I think the inner happiness is felt from the moments we live, the emotions we feel in a certain situation – place is just a plot of the entire experience.
We started from home at 4 in the evening. It was a small plan – taking my son to a park, dinner in one of the restaurants nearby and back to home. A simple family weekend.
While on our way, I saw a newly opened amusement park. A temporary one built on a playground, huge hoardings of exciting rides, balls and balloons, ice creams and chocolates – a vibrant environment. The tall colourful lights on every ride were surely the most powerful attraction of this park. A lot of kids were standing in front of the park with their families and friends excitedly waiting for their turn to enter.
That momentary sight tickled my mind. Reminded me my childhood memories. It had been years visiting such a place. My father used to take us to amusement parks after our exams – a simple way to distress our little brains. 😎
Would it be a good idea to take my soon turning 2 years son to this place? A thought pricked. Well why not – I said to myself. But isn’t he too small for this place? Caring mom in me peeped.
After a couple of thought exchanges between my caring side and my practical side, we made our way to the amusement park.
We entered the amusement park. Every ride had a queue of kids waiting desperately for their turns. The Mary-go-around, the Columbus boat, the dash-the-car, the jumping jack – all were full of joyous screams! I must say – those innocent smiles have an extra ordinary power of refreshing our lives!
Out of the few rides suited for my son, we made him sit on a play car ride. A simple one with 5-6 cars rotating on a small horizontal wheel like structure.
His way of holding the steering, the joy in his sparkling eyes, the way he waved his little hand every time the car passed by us – the complete experience was a speechless delight!
I think more than he enjoying his first time visit to such a park, we were amazed seeing his play. 🙂
He played few more rides – a bike ride, a small dragon ride, a helicopter ride – with the same enthusiasm and energy.
At last we went to the jumping balloon ride. It was a huge balloon with a netted flat base where kids can keep jumping. They had kept some balls inside to add more fun.
There were few more kids inside the balloon – between 2-5 years of age. I was scared initially – fearing he will get hurt if another kid falls on him while jumping. So I stood a bit far while my husband dropped his inside the balloon.
At first, he didn’t understand what to do. The moment he used to try standing, the balloon would shake by the jumps of other kids and he used to fall down. He tried couple of times, then just sat in the middle of the floor wondering what to do next. My husband read his mind, made some signs asking him to crawl and come to us, which he perfectly understood and followed. Then my husband holded his right hand and said – jump. He jumped and yay!! – he was doing exactly the same as other kids. He was happy for his success!! He kept jumping, losing his balance, kicking the balls that came near him. Adventurous – for him and for us.
Ahh, what a heartfelt experience was this!! 🙂
After the rides section was a small market area. We bought some toys for him, which he proudly carried. We got our family photo clicked in sketch style – that has become a frame in our bedroom now.
Wow, a great evening spent!!
I don’t know when I will go to Paris, but I am sure when we have our loved ones with us, every place has a Paris in it!! 🙂
A Silent Self Wave.. 