Picnic @ IBIZA Merlin Greens Resort

Papa told me yesterday that we are going for some sidey picnic organised by AVANTIKA ( A Pvt. Organisation of Marwari Lawyers and CAs in kolkata). Though I have very fond memories of Avantika Picnics but then was the time when Shradha, Manish, Anant, Rahul and other friends were here in Kolkata. Planning for the picnic would start days earlier. But today was something different. I didnt wanted to go for the simple fact that none of the above mentioned persons were here in  kolkata plus going there with parents without knowing anyone and sitting like a fool in a group of aunties was like a complete pain. Still I had no enthu to argue with Papa for not going so I decided that I would fake fever or something similar in the morning and try not going.

There were other petty reasons for not going.One of them was that my mom was becoming a little panicky about my dress to be worn for the picnic. The Club is supposedly full of my "in-Laws". So she wanted me to wear ethnic. though I managed to talk her out of this. I become a little kiddish and silly when I go for such outings. So one of the several other petty reasons were that I didnt wanted to create a bad impression in front of my "in-Laws". The last but the most important reason for not going was that the picnic outing will make me miss ANANT like anything and the feeling will be such that would not be easy to handle.

There were very few reasons for going namely good food ( Club Kachori Subzi for Breakfast, Matar kachori and Gajar Halwa for Lunch & Nicely prepared Elaichi Tea and Snax Biscuits for Evening), Housie Prize and Badminton.

Mom woke me up and I decided that lets go....my last picnic with my parents.

The Car journey was boring. The only relief was the sms chat with ANNU. He writes good, extremely short, some 10 words sweet SMSs and rest is left upon me to decipher( when I write SMSs then its almost always a 2 SMS linked thing).

Anyways, I reached the Venue and the first person I saw was my Mother-in-Law. After all the social formalities, she made me meet one of the most eldest grandmother of the Sancheti Clan.( What I Hear about her is that she is the most strictest of the persons and she is not those jolly jolly types). I shivered. But I found Bariya Dadisa to be very nice and she really made me comfortable. She conversed with me for some time about my hobbies, my education, my interests , etc etc.

The Venue, IBIZA, is a nice place. They have a lot of facilities on offer, Pool, Library, TV, Mini Golf, Boating, Snooker, Etc etc. It has around 6-7 Huge garden areas. I Liked the place.

I had certain Assumptions about the Picnic but now when I am writing this, I realise that 99% of my assumptions were wrong( Thankfully). 

WHAT WAS DELIGHTFUL

I saw Papaji playing Badminton with a group of girls. I rushed there to play with him. Special mention that for his age and structure, he plays pretty well.

Then came the most most memorable part....playing badminton with Mummyji. She is one of the very few fine players of the game I have ever come across. She is an amazing player. I had a gala time playing with her. I hope even she enjoyed playing the game with me. Both of us have decided that we will take badminton rackets to Bangalore so that we can play when ANANT is not around.

My "in-Laws" were not at all strict...they made me very comfortable. Just like their very own daughter. I feel blessed to have Such Loving Parents-in-law.

I rode a swing and riding the merry-go-round with my sister-in-law Megha was fun. Bachpan ke din yaad aa gaye...in short maza aa gaya...

Playing Housie reminded me of those good ol' days where each one of held 5 tickets to win the prize...but this time i bought only 2...(yaar inflation has struck Housie Tickets also....with every picnic the rates of tickets are going up...i remember buying a ticket for 5 Bucks....but today i had to part with precious 20 rupee note for a ticket.) I had a deal with Papaji, mummyji, megha, mummy, papa that i will take whatever they win in the game. But alas nobody hit the jackpot. (Boo hoo hoo). But nonetheless the game was fun with papaji passing funny remarks and we cheering and jeering for the winners.

THINGS THAT DISAPPOINTED ME

Avantika outings are very famous for their food quality. But this time it was a complete disappointment. The food was not good at all....a complete turn-off. 

As mentioned above...I didn't win any housie prize. So again coming to the picnic was a bad idea. The Organising committee of Avantika didn't organise any games where I had a scope to win.

When I write this...my hands are paining of all the badminton game I played...my legs paining with all the swing rides..jumping and running...I feel that the day was not a complete waste. I enjoyed a lot just a small thing...had ANANT would have been here...the experience would have been completely different.