Malvika's Ramblings

Picnic at Hauz Khas Monument

Woke up, rubbed my eyes
MJ: "Ahh what a nice Sunday morning!"
NG: "Let's have a picnic!"

Watched movies, Been to lounges
Been clubbing, seen plays
But so long since we
Picked a cane basket
Rolled a wicker mat
And had a
SunDaY PicNiC!!

Quick phone calls to 15 people
10 showed up
The closest oldest pals
Rainbow coloured sun umbrellas
Sports shoes and sunglasses
A happy party, we picked our way through Hauz Khas monument
Walking through cold ruins
Big heavy blocks of stone
Roomy domes
Narrow stairways leading to dungeons;
Throwing the stuff over a gate
And swinging a leg over over barricades
A hop and a jump and some scraping down
Not in the most elegant way
We continued our hunt for the perfect picnic spot.

Walking along a ghost lake
With egrets, bent trees and crooked branches
Forgotten floating boats
And murky green depths
A large lake reflecting the sun
And twinkling and blinking;
Walking along that lake
We came across a hillock
A decision point
A topographical difference to acknowledge and encounter
Up we went and on the other side of the hill
Were rolling lawns of green
We set down our basket and our badminton rackets and our mats and our umbrella and ourselves
Under a shady tree
Looking upon green lawns over one shoulder
A wide lake over the other
A compact monument looming above us right on the peak of the hill,
We decided it was officially picnic time.
Lathering, smothering bread with cheese spread
And fussing over snacks and dustbin bags and orderliness
The picnic began!