A picnic

My cousin who lives in Islamabad came to see the historic places of Lahore. I thought that a visit to the beautiful Mughal gardens, shalamar, would be an excellent beginning to the sight-seeing tour of Lahore. I invited three of my friends, and one fine morning we went to the gardens. Nasir had his piano with him. On our way we bought some fruits from the market. The sky was overcast, but not heavily. It was an ideal day for a picnic. A gust of cool and fresh air greeted us as we entered the main gate of the shalamar gardens. A great number of people were here. They had spread their carpets and mats all over the place. A large number of children were running, shouting, laughing and holding multi-coloured balloons in their hands. After some time, we found a small lawn in a corner of the garden which was still unoccupied. So we put our things there. A garden watchman promised us to look after our things in our absence. We strolled about the garden. It was so beautiful that we could not find words to express our admiration. The beautiful trees, especially the cypress, the well-kept lawns, the typical Mughal fountains, so different from the modern ones, and the different tiers of the garden cast a spell over us. My cousin was tongue-tied with delight. He had not seen anything like it in Islamabad. We were so absorbed in the beauty of the garden that we forgot everything. After some time we returned to the place where the garden watchman was guarding our things. We thanked and invited him to share our lunch. After lunch we thought for a nap. So we laid down on the grass and fell asleep. It was three 0’ clock when my cousin shook my shoulder. My friends were already up. I washed my face and poured some cold water on my head. Now I was fully awake. My cousin wanted some tea. The watchman brought us some very good tea. This put my cousin in high spirits. He asked Nasir to play his piano. Nasir did not wait for the second request, and played a beautiful tone. All of us were spell bound. Suddenly a peal of thunder broke the spell. The clouds were thick and low. Most of the people had left. We collected our things and rushed out of the garden. Fortunately, we found a taxicab at the gate. Thus a memorable day had ended.