Chapter 3

Monika was an eight year old girl who was very bright, smart and observant. From the very childhood she had a habit of observing people, places and things around her. Every thing around was minutely noted down in her memory.

One day her teacher announced a class picnic to a famous garden in their city. The garden was famous for it's beautiful flowers and mazes. Finally the picnic day arrived. All the students were very excited. They sang songs, danced and enjoyed their journey all the way to the garden. After reaching the garden, the teacher asked them to stand in a queue and instructed them to move around in the garden in a group of 5 and come back to the canteen at 4 O' clock. Monika along with Pinky and her other friends formed a group and decided to visit the flower garden first. They were so happy and excited to see different colored flowers and smell different fragrances of different flowers that they wanted to spend their whole time in the flower garden.

After half an hour Monika suggested that they should explore other parts of the garden. But the other friends wanted to be in the flower garden. So Monika and Pinky started their stroll towards other parts of the garden. Both of them were busy talking to each other as they moved about in the garden. As time passed they discovered that they were lost in the maze. All the paths, trees on the road side looked same making it difficult for them to find the road back. They panicked but Monika gained her calm after a while. She asked Pinky to be calm and think of a solution or remember clues or signboards.

After five minutes Monika said that she remembered a bird's nest on the tree while they took a turn, both of them searched for the nest and took a right turn. They remembered collecting white pebbles and making a small hill out of it below a tree, that hill proved to be their clue, leading them to the next turn. After reaching that point, Monika recollected seeing a bench with the name of it's donor as Mr. Shankar, the name took them to their next turn, Pinky remembered a muddy patch beside the road on their way and after finding the muddy patch, they were very close to the way which would lead them out of the maze. As they stood near the patch, their friends came there searching them. All five met and Pinky narrated the whole incident to her friends. Everybody appreciated Monika for her observant nature. The incident made their picnic a memorable one.

MORAL: We should always be attentive when we visit a new place.