Picnic @ Emmarentia Dam

Inscribed by Hariharan

After the fun, frolic and festivities at the Pongal function, where I made many friends in Johannesburg, it was time for the next event. This was a Picnic at the Emmarentia Dam in the Johannesburg Botanical Garden.

I was pleasantly surprised at discovering such a beautiful place , right in the heart of the city. The place was so tranquil with a huge lake where people were Kayaking and ducks and pigeons at the banks of the lake. I noticed while some people were coming in to relax on a Saturday, others were into various activities like skating, cycling, painting etc.
I arrived there an hour late only to discover that I was not actually late !! The Indian Standard Time prevailed here as well !! So as people started to trickle in, we started to warm up with a game of Frisbee !!

Srinath and others came in a bit later as they had to arrange for the most difficult part of the Picnic – The Food !! As we attained complete attendance, choice of the game shifted from Frisbee to the Indian (unofficial) National Game – Cricket.

While the gents played the cricket, I am guessing, the ladies relaxed, looked around the place and played some other games like chit-chatting, ring, running race and the amusing “Train” game that managed to temporarily interrupt/disrupt our game of cricket … But it was all fun !!

As we completed 2 games, hunger and tiredness struck and we decided it was lunch time. Menu included – Idlis, Vadais, Dosai (plain and podi), Sambar, two types of chutnies. We also had the usual South Indian food “full stop” – amazing Thair Sadaam (Curd Rice) with amazing Lemon pickle.

After that wonderful lunch, ideally it would have been best to take a nap under one of the trees in the shade. But we decided on continuing the Indian (unofficial) National Game. You can imagine if people were giving up sleep to play cricket, then it must have been a lot of fun … And Indian men can get very involved in the game … so much so that every run-out appeal, every wide ball was contested, argued and fought over with full enthusiasm as is it was the World Cup at stake. :)

After two more matches (and lot more arguments), we concluded the cricket session and gathered to celebrate the Marriage Anniversary of Chandramouli and Rekha – excuse enough to have a small cake cutting ceremony.
Day culminated with a group photo.

It was starting to get overcast and we decided to call it a day and head back home. It was a day where I had so much fun that - its been three days after the picnic, and my hands and legs are still a bit sore of cramps that got due to all the physical activities :) …But the fun was worth it !!