The Reason
The glimpse of vast green fields
lined with canal streams and windmills of all sizes greeted me from the tiny plane window as
I landed the Schipol Airport and the drive to Leiden to meet Suruchi tai added
to the eagerness of exploring a foreign land. Such is the beauty of the online
world, that it gives you opportunities to meet a seemingly stranger over a few
pleasant exchanges. Tai is Aditya’s cousin and we know each other only through
facebook!
The Dutch styled home felt so
welcoming thanks to the hospitality of the hosts! My humble rented apartment at
wimbeldon seemed like a pigeon hole compared to their spacious home. Chatter
with tai gathered momentum over garam garam polis and experiences we had while
staying abroad. We spoke as if we knew each other for a long time.
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| RijkMusuem - Next time ! |
The next noon, I took a train to
Amsterdam to continue the rest of my trip to meet my dear friend Hrishi and his
new wife Sonal who were coming from Mumbai via Germany. The plan was to spend a
weekend at Amsterdam with our spouses. However hubby couldn’t join and I
decided to go ahead. The last time I met Hrishi was the day when I left India
for London and I was really looking forward for this trip. I might add that our
friendship has lasted over years now as also across continents!
(In Mumbai we have been breakfast
buddies as both of us are early risers. Rather, the Shaadi ka side effect is
that I don’t get up early anymore on weekends)
The Country of Windmills and Cheese
As a self-proclaimed city guide,
we decided to visit the Anne Frank museum only to be disappointed with the long
queue. So we skipped it and instead passed every single street in this lovely
canal striped city. The city’s by lanes are filled with cafes, restaurants,
boutiques, quirky shops and the window displays are very alive and inviting.
(Or was it that I was in a familiar company of a friend after ages and we were
eating away random stuff happily?)
We ate possibly anything and
everything which came our way. The yummiest street food – Crayfish sandwich,
something which I did not sample and feel guilty about. Even Sonal who is
really a veggie at heart loved it. Lots of shops offer cheeses to sample and
the huge cheese slabs put an instant smile on your face. Many cafes offer ‘Pancakes’,
a Dutch favourite. (rather touristy) So
we sampled some huge and delicious ones at The Pancake bakery and were stuffed
to the core. They offer sweet and savoury pancakes – atleast 30 varieties. However,
we failed to sample some authentic Dutch cuisine!
(The above paragraph is truly dedicated to my food loving husband who missed it !)
Amsterdam has a variety of
restaurants catering to all budgets. It is also a home to Heineken brewery. But
we decided to skip that and instead went to a brewery at Eastern docklands
which was situated in a cute Windmill to sample some beers!
The rest of the beer sampling was
done in our cosy houseboat! It is a country of canals isn’t, it?
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| View from the Houseboat |
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| Kitchen Spot |
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| Our Houseboat |
The cycling commuters in the city
are friendly too and you could explore the city on cycle yourself with the
number of ‘Rent a Bike’shops. There is a casual, light hearted air in the
streets of Amsterdam and the large windows of Dutch houses added to the charm
of the city otherwise notorious for its immoral activities.
Yes, you could smell weed at
every nook and corner and the cobbled streets are dotted with cigarette butts!
Yet we never experienced any trouble from anyone or perhaps we rather stayed
clear of seedy lanes especially at night.
To escape the regular city break,
we travelled to a nearby village ‘Zaanse
Schaans’.
Just a short walk from the
railway station and our footsteps followed the directions to the Village of
Windmills set on a river and vast fields.
Within a seconds, I jumped with joy
at the sight of the pretty village and exclaimed , ‘’Aye mala chocolate cha
masta vaas yetoy’’.
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| Village of Zaanse Schaans |
The three of us went berserk !! It was probably everyone’s
dream as a child to be in a village with some ‘chocolate element’’ in it…..
forget the streets of Amsterdam filled with weed, we were in heaven. The
village has maintained the dark green houses with wide windows and little
bridges over rivulets. Ducks, geese and
swans made cute poses for us.
Each house or a windmill represents a traditional cottage
industry viz., cheese, saw mill, oil mill, wooden shoes etc. Although, the
concept was a bit touristy, we made the most of the sunny day sampling and of
course buying cheeses, the traditional blue ceramics and not to forget a chocolate
making demonstration.
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| The Blue Pottery |
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| Whose shoes do you fit in? |
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| Cheese is so native to Dutch diet: It is also consumed with beer ! |
The secret of the chocolate smell titillating our olfactory
senses? The chocolate factory on the opposite side of the village.
The Dark Swans
The question was to be or not to
be. We were in the city of sin of Europe
and how could we not escape the lure of drugs or sex? Well, sorry Weed you did not seem tempting
enough!! Firstly, none of us knew how to use or right places to buy and
secondly we were too absorbed and happy. Meeting friends after a long time is a
big high!
As for sex tourism and live sex
shows well to each one is own!! Personally, I find it gruesome and repulsive.
Moreover, I find it shallow enjoyment for the moves would be artificial and
choreographed!
At 15, I have cried and touched
by the concept of ‘prostitution’ itself. At 26 my heart did not move with the
concept of ‘touring the district’.
Prostitutes have been a subject
of debate and is so often discussed in cinema and art. Today, legislation in
many countries does not legalise the trade. Some claim that even the legalised
industry in Amsterdam does not resolve the problem of ‘forced trade’ (Human Trafficking
is a serious issue in Eastern Europe) itself.
Nevertheless we decided to go for
the recommended walk at the De Wallen-the Red Light District and we were not
alone. There were several like us who were walking past the red neon light
coloured ‘Display windows’. Some ‘stag’ night revellers were the potential
clients however, it was such an irony; it was hard to spot the other ‘clients’
in the crowd.
The women were very obvious, very
plastic, the perfect make-up, the thin arched eyebrows, the ample cleavage
oozing out, making gestures to the passerbys. There were no different from the
prostitutes one sees at grant road or the ladyboys of Bangkok. The only
difference could be the costume, the ones on grant road could be in a sari with
a garish make-up, the ladyboys with their straight falling hair in short
dresses and these women were in lingerie.
They were the seductress, the
temptresses, perhaps saviours for someone (as fancied in art/movies)or a casual
one of thing for the other. They were the dark swans.
Amidst the thoughts and the
crowd, I could not help but notice something unusual which wasn’t seen in the
canals of the other lanes. The canal adjacent to the red light district street
was filled with ducks, geese and swans, very unlikely at that hour.
