Picnics are liked by everyone, but children especially jump for joy when the word is mentioned. That is what happened to us when we learnt that a few families from our colony had planned on a day’s outing to the nearby Rajaji National Park.
The exciting day arrived and we packed ourselves and all the picnic gear into a van and set off. We had already booked a guest house for the day. We children quickly freshened ourselves and ran to play in the grounds.
When all our parents were ready, we walked to a small river nearby to picnic in its banks. Then the elders chose a place where the water was only two or three feet deep, and we all held hands and crossed over to the other side. What fun it was! We slipped on the stones and kept falling into the water. The stones hurt our feet but we didn’t mind.
After that we had a hearty lunch of some of the tastiest things that our mothers had ever prepared. We then went around the National Park itself. it was very tiring, but we were thrilled when we saw a herd of elephants in the distance. We also saw several colorful birds and even a green snake.
We returned to the guest house and played some more games till evening. By then we were thoroughly tired. The warm bed after the ride home was very welcome. It was one of the happiest days of my life, and I will always cherish its memory.