Becoming Dutch

A windmill in Leiden: Typical Dutch symbol

‘When in Rome, do as Romans do’ is quote that has origins in year as far away as 387AD but it still holds good for people who move a lot between different places. Taking a cue from that wise saying I too started following some of the practices that the people in Netherlands do. Knowing all the things I have tried, will neither be interesting to you nor will it be easy for me to explain. Some things change without the conscious knowledge of the person who is the object in which change has found a place. Here are changes in my thinking that have brought me close  to being a Dutch…

1. Bread and Cheese are my new bread and butter

2. Bread and Cheese can be eaten for breakfast, lunch, dinner and the snacks in between. You can literally live on those two things.

3. Warm food is for lazy people. Eat it cold.

4. Bikes are my new cars. And one is not enough.

5. Locks are more important than bikes.

6. Who told you to go to bicycle shop? Get a repair kit and fix it yourself.

7. A small plateau is mountain.

8. It’s alright to greet strangers.

9. Coffee shop is not only for coffee. Wanna gave coffee.. go to a cafe or a restaurant.

10. Divide and then pay in a restaurant.Don’t be generous and pay for everybody 🙂

11. Sunlight is a rare commodity. Enjoy it while it lasts.

12. A day is not for only one type of weather. Expect anything from sunshine, to snow, rain and hail.

13. No meeting without coffee. Coffee is starter as well as dessert.

14. Working everyday is not good. You must take a vacation for at least two continuous weeks.

15. Drug addicts are ok. They are harming themselves.

16. Don’t say that Dutch is related to German(although it is).

17. Want to meet someone? Don’t you dare to drop by without appointments.

18. Living together is a status in itself along with single and married.

19. The traditional Dutch cuisine is Indonesian, Chinese, Indian, Greek etc.

20. It is easy to keep your partner happy…you see, flowers are not so costly.

21. Tea with milk is too English. Try without milk. Sugar is not a necessary thing.

Motorcycle diaries…

It took me six months to finally buy a speaker system that could bring back the habit of watching movies in a regal style!!! Since I started earning money, I have always given music top priority. This was the third set of speakers I bought in last 4 years. I move a lot and while doing so I give away my old speakers to either my family or friends. I love them so much that it is impossible to sell them. I know it sounds weird to get attached to materialistic things.. but that’s how I treat my favorite possessions.

This would be an ideal bike for motorcylce trip....

Speakers unpacked and set to play, I pondered over what to play first.  I inaugurated them after spending a lot of time… precisely 5 minutes…. with a movie that was recommended by my new friend. I don’t know Spanish but who needs to know the language when the acting is of top quality? Although I was helped by subtitles, actors spoke more with their expressions and director filled rest of the story with mesmerizing shots. On top of everything, it was a travel movie. For me that was more than enough!!! Superb sound quality from my new speakers made the whole experience of watching this movie similar to watching it in a theater(sans big screen… though I had coke and chips with me).If the movie seems too adventurous and unbelievable, you are in for a surprise.. because it is not the work of fiction. It is a real story based on the book written by two protagonists of the movie. One of them was executed by CIA in the jungles of Bolivia and other made an appearance at the end of this movie. I am not going to spill the beans here 🙂  What would not construe as revealing the plot, are the facts that cinematography of this movie will transport you to a whole new world, that ideas discussed will leave you with some mental gymnastics to do later, that the display of humanity will nudge the human being in you and that the fallibility of travelers will invite you to experience something like this yourself rather than scaring you away. I am going to read more about this movie and protagonists… until then, grab a DVD of ‘The Motorcycle Diaries’ and get amazed by the beauty of  this beautiful gem.

Looking for travelers…

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” Mark Twain

This quote comes from one of the most entertaining and reputed writers of all time. When I read this, I forget all the things that may accompany a travel: risk, boredom, tough life, strange people and on top of everything- home sickness.  I don’t know what will happen in future and, frankly, no body else knows it either. There have been many instances when I asked my friends to travel together and 95% of the times I was forced to realize that I was the only pathetic  jobless guy in this world. Most of them were always having deadlines to finish, work to do and their leaves were either finished or they were kept as reserve for a visit to home. Nearly everybody is always having some urgent things to do… looks like no work in their lives is less important than urgent work. Years pass, months pass and days pass [I was counting them from present to past ] and they are stuck in same web of busy life. People are always busy in making plans for future(by saving money and leaves) .. they are busy in present and they will be busy in future too. For them, the future is always something elusive and present they don’t care about.

I like to think in opposite way!! Present is important so I enjoy it. Future will anyways be present at some point of time so I will enjoy that too. Why to worry now for future and spoil the present? 😉 As a result,  when I find myself getting bored, I take my bag and go out to explore something new. Yes, I am alone most of times (because of the reasons mentioned above) but then this single status provides ample opportunities to mingle with new characters. I have done that many times and in the process, I met several new and interesting people.

Now, because I travel so much and gather so many experiences, I feel I should write them down and exchange the first hand information with others who may want to travel to the place which has already been visited by me. But there comes the mental obstacle- I lack enough motivation to write everything down(some of my half-completed travel stories on this blog are proof of that). I know, if there were more people like me, who want to explore the world and exchange information, I would be more motivated to keep up my travel writing work. I could also start a travel journal online which would serve as authentic information source for real life stories and trivia. This is only possible if I have more co-writers to keep up this type of journal.

And that brings me to the main aim of this post: I am looking for enthusiastic people who share the same passion for travel and who would be glad to share their experiences on my proposed travel journal. So, if you are interested, please comment on this post with your email and I will contact you as soon as possible.

Hope to hear from some of you at least!!!

Brussels calling

What the hell!! Somebody is playing loud music at 6:30 in the morning. I open my eyes and look towards the window- sun has yet to show up for the day. My attention is diverted back to the reason that made me open my eyes at a time that is synonymous to ungodly hour for me. I read somewhere “the problem with the morning is that it always comes at ungodly hour.” In the state of half-asleep-half-lazy, I was ready to believe everything provided I get few more hours to lie under my blanket. The constant sound of song is still knocking my ear drums. Oh, it is the song I kept as my alarm in phone last night.. and then I realize… ‘Oh No’… I have to get ready for the Brussels trip. With an unsual determination, I throw up my blanket and immediately touch the ground with bare feet. Cool… the chilly sensation helps in freezing the thoughts of going back to bed. Time flies by and I am still packing my bag.. actually there is not much to pack… but still, important things such as my phone, charger, camera, batteries and a pair of clothes – they are necessary. I start pondering over the weird thought: why does my bag weigh almost same irrespective of the length of my trip?? Do I underprepare or overprepare for the trip?? I will think about it in the train… now, I must leave. Z will be waiting. Z, one of only 2 friends I have in this building, has been so helpful and adventurous. Helpful because I can count on her, if I have some problem,and adventurous because she is always ready to go on trips with me. Even after compressing my usually long morning chores- such as cleaning etc- I am running 10 mins late. While eating my breakfast, I log into skype and tell Z that I would be late … but not more than 10 mins. Fortunately, she seems to be fine with that short delay. Perhaps, keeping a long buffer time to catch the train was not such a bad idea. Starting at 8:45 to catch 9:04 train seems to be a diffcult task considering the chilly, windy weather and at least 2 kms to walk but luckily I have an experience in catching the trains within 0.5 seconds of their departure!!! I tell this fact to Z and she nods… looks like she is saying ‘No’ inside her mind and nodding to say Yes lest I get offended. A brisk walk, almost at the verge of being a sprint, saves us enough time to reach the platform. Train is not so crowded because of Saturday and Z wishes that the same should be true when we reach Den Haag from where we will catch the direct train to Brussels. The doubts in our mind were seeded by my colleague who told us that when she went to Brussels a few days back, she had to stand for almost half the journey time. I assure Z by eliciting a fact that my colleague went on Friday evening and that’s why she had to stand. We are going on saturday… people will still be in their beds when our train will cross Netherlands-Belgium border.

We are standing at the platform for 15 minutes and there seems to be no trace of our train. I point it out to Z, the train is now 35 mins late. I remember the trains in India… they are usually called ‘on time’, if the delay is less than 1 hr 🙂 Although, over last few years some long distance trains do run ‘on time’ in India. Our wishes for less people were not answered .. a fact proved by the huge number of travelers on platform. Big bags, small bags… round bags and some really weird bags.. old, young and not so old people … the platform seems to be a mini-airport. When the train arrives at last, I tell Z, “we will definitely get seats.” This wish is certainly answered this time around as we find ourselves seated in two cozy chairs in a densely crowded compartment. I had an intuition that where we were standing at the platform, the doors would open right in front of us… my hunches, more often than not, turn into reality in these type of situations. And so we began our first journey to a destination outside Netherlands!! I am going to keep important things in my mental storage… they will help in writing down the events that occurred during this trip. Time is 10:15 am and I am euphoric!!

Note: The journey will continue in next few posts!!!