Amsterdam is one of the central characters of the book “Hippie” by Paulo Coelho. It is a city which stays on top of your mind if you have a decent understanding of World Affairs.Moreover, as a kid I happened to read about this city for the first from the Journal of my father who had visited here as part of his European trip at the tender age of 17 as part of a tour organized by the Young Men’s Christan Association(YMCA). At that age all I was worried about was my upcoming 12th boards and the subsequent Medical/Engineering exams. That was the very same age of my younger brother when he got himself enrolled in the iconic Government Law College,Bombay. The scene where the wiry old boy barely out of his teens waiting for me at the Terminal as I deboarded my flight from Delhi is still imprinted in my mind with vivid detail.
When I landed up in Essen,Germany I was thrilled to know that Amsterdam was nearby. To reach Amsterdam you had to first take a train from Dusseldorf to Arnhem Central in the Netherlands.On weekends you could make use of your monthly train pass which you use for your office travel to reach there.Next you had to purchase a round trip ticket to Amsterdam Centraal. This was a novel experience for me to hop between countries and that too in trains/buses. For the record Holland was the third country that I visited after Hong Kong and Germany which made it all the more special.
As I walked out of the underground station to the open air sometime around mid day what hit me most was the sight of the teeming crowds bustling past me. For some odd reason it reminded me of Bombay, a place where I called home for one third of my life. My fascination didn’t end there right outside the station you could get a glimpse of the renowned canal system of the city. I promptly purchased a day pass for the boat and hopped into one of these boats. I was in awe as I travelled through the canal transversing the length and breadth of the city. After a while I disembarked and decided to explore the city on foot. The first thing that hits you that is way different from what you are used to is the dedicated cycle track. Boy I would love to have something like this back home it made me nostalgic about my cycle*.Being a Saturday and since it was lunch time all the restaurants were full I was looking for a seat overlooking one of the canals. I decided to walk around a bit more, the Hard Rock cafe was quite inviting but I didn’t want to go indoors during such fine weather. I came across a couple of quite impressive street performers and was surprised to know that these folks tour the world to make a living out of it.
*subject of another blog-The cycle
It was around 3:30 when I finally found a seat overlooking the canals with a burger and beer. It felt good to be sipping on a Heineken not far from where it was actually brewed. I decided to roam around a little and walk back to Centraal via Dam square(It all started for the protagonists with a little meet-cute at this very place in ‘Hippie’). As I walked back I could very much feel the vibe of the young and restless crowd which was enchanting. This fueled the fire of desire in me to come back again. It was a no brainer for me to fathom as to why there was an entire page dedicated to Amsterdam in my father’s journ. Our visits to the city might have happened 50 years apart but the feeling was pretty much the same.
When the plan for the big fat Jose Dale meet up was hatched I was particularly happy that I could get to visit the Dutch capital again. After we pushed off from the Bulldog outlet we decided to go to a good place for dinner. Aaron and Adrian armed with google maps were leading the party. Our destination was a restaurant somewhere in the vicinity. You could feel the nip in the air, everyone covered their heads and the gloves came out. It was a bit windier than usual. There was a ferry just about to leave and we were directed to get in quickly. All of us scampered in just in time before the anchor was raised. All of us were in pretty high spirits by that time. The party had just started the ferry docked out and we disembarked. The moment I set foot on the place I knew that something was amiss ‘we were lost’, this looked like a deserted island of sorts. We realised our folly for letting those casanovas lead. I took control of the situation and ushered the party back into the ferry which was now returning back. No complaints though it is good that we could squeeze in a ferry in Amsterdam that too in the night; one item off the bucket list .
We were famished by the time we got back and promptly entered the first Döner Kebab that we came across. Aarti was tiring out fast, being on the road since the previous night was taking a toll on her and she decided to call it a night.She had to catch a flight back to London the next morning.We implored her to delay her departure by a day but since she was flying back home to Australia the next weekend she had her hands full.With a heavy heart we bid adieu to the gang and left.I rued the fact that I had met her after a decade, next time I wish it could happen much sooner.
The pitstop had definitely satiated our hunger a wee bit and we were up and kicking again,the night was still young.We decided to find another comfortable place where we could all fit in chill and spend some time together.The search finally took us to the coffee shop named after Popeye I guess. The move paid rich dividends because of the fact that it was getting pretty cold by then and we needed to keep ourselves warm.Close to midnight we decided to call it a day with the promise of meeting the next day.
The next morning close to mid day with great difficulty thanks to the late night partying we assembled at Julia’s cafe at the Centraal station. This place had by now become a defacto meeting point for us. It was Adrian’s birthday and the big sister wanted to drag him to church. All of us tagged along and we began walking in the direction of the dam square. After a bit of walking we felt that Google maps had yet again pulled a fast one on us when it took us to a Mcdonald restaurant instead of a church. But thankfully we found the church in the midst of the din and fury of the busy shopping street. Our next stop was the Heineken beer museum,it was getting colder as the time progressed.The sun was playing hide and seek because of which everyone wanted to get indoors. The Heineken beer museum was totally worth it .All along while sipping beer we never knew that there was a painstaking process behind the creation of beer. We had a lot of fun over there, the icing of the cake was the complimentary beer at the end of the tour . It was like drinking Heineken inside Heineken.
I almost got hit by a speeding bicycle as we left the place, the reason being we are not used to looking out for cycles back in India. The rest of the day we spent roaming and were very tired by the end of it. Aaron took the bus back to Stuttgart the very night because he had to go to work on Monday.The third day dawned to us and it was time to bid adieu to each other the thought as to when we are going to meet again was weighing down heavily on everyone’s heart.As usual we met up for breakfast and it was a solemn offer to see each other off. I took my train to Arnhem,Meena took a train to Hague,Teenu took a flight to London, Kavita took a flight to Budapest for the onward journey to India, Adrian stayed back in Amsterdam for a couple of days before his flight back home.
It was curtains down to a memorable trip which will be etched deeply in our hearts for the rest of our lives. We are going to repeat this story to our kids day in and day out until they are going to get tired of hearing it. Somewhere Ambrose Jose Dcruz and Lilly Dcruz (our grandparents) the architects of Jose Dale would be happy with the fact that we have kept alive their tradition of coming together. Reminiscent of the four brothers scattered across the world coming together once in a blue moon to their home in Tangy,we the next generation have taken this homecoming to another level.Next time when I go to Jose Dale I am going to frame one these pictures and hang it on a wall over there to remind everyone of our wonderful trip to the Dutch capital.They need to know that Jose Dale is not a physical entity but rather a feeling of oneness in the hearts of everyone who has inhabited the house at one point or another no matter which part of the world we live in.
Gateway of India,Jun 09
My first visit to Mumbai never knew that I will land up there after 2 years and call it my home for about a third of my life
As I walked out of the underground station to the open air sometime around mid day what hit me most was the sight of the teeming crowds bustling past me. For some odd reason it reminded me of Bombay, a place where I called home for one third of my life. My fascination didn’t end there right outside the station you could get a glimpse of the renowned canal system of the city. I promptly purchased a day pass for the boat and hopped into one of these boats. I was in awe as I travelled through the canal transversing the length and breadth of the city. After a while I disembarked and decided to explore the city on foot. The first thing that hits you that is way different from what you are used to is the dedicated cycle track. Boy I would love to have something like this back home it made me nostalgic about my cycle*.Being a Saturday and since it was lunch time all the restaurants were full I was looking for a seat overlooking one of the canals. I decided to walk around a bit more, the Hard Rock cafe was quite inviting but I didn’t want to go indoors during such fine weather. I came across a couple of quite impressive street performers and was surprised to know that these folks tour the world to make a living out of it.
*subject of another blog-The cycle
It was around 3:30 when I finally found a seat overlooking the canals with a burger and beer. It felt good to be sipping on a Heineken not far from where it was actually brewed. I decided to roam around a little and walk back to Centraal via Dam square(It all started for the protagonists with a little meet-cute at this very place in ‘Hippie’). As I walked back I could very much feel the vibe of the young and restless crowd which was enchanting. This fueled the fire of desire in me to come back again. It was a no brainer for me to fathom as to why there was an entire page dedicated to Amsterdam in my father’s journ. Our visits to the city might have happened 50 years apart but the feeling was pretty much the same.
getting lost
the casanovas
an unexpected boat ride
We were famished by the time we got back and promptly entered the first Döner Kebab that we came across. Aarti was tiring out fast, being on the road since the previous night was taking a toll on her and she decided to call it a night.She had to catch a flight back to London the next morning.We implored her to delay her departure by a day but since she was flying back home to Australia the next weekend she had her hands full.With a heavy heart we bid adieu to the gang and left.I rued the fact that I had met her after a decade, next time I wish it could happen much sooner.
Dinner
The pitstop had definitely satiated our hunger a wee bit and we were up and kicking again,the night was still young.We decided to find another comfortable place where we could all fit in chill and spend some time together.The search finally took us to the coffee shop named after Popeye I guess. The move paid rich dividends because of the fact that it was getting pretty cold by then and we needed to keep ourselves warm.Close to midnight we decided to call it a day with the promise of meeting the next day.
The next morning close to mid day with great difficulty thanks to the late night partying we assembled at Julia’s cafe at the Centraal station. This place had by now become a defacto meeting point for us. It was Adrian’s birthday and the big sister wanted to drag him to church. All of us tagged along and we began walking in the direction of the dam square. After a bit of walking we felt that Google maps had yet again pulled a fast one on us when it took us to a Mcdonald restaurant instead of a church. But thankfully we found the church in the midst of the din and fury of the busy shopping street. Our next stop was the Heineken beer museum,it was getting colder as the time progressed.The sun was playing hide and seek because of which everyone wanted to get indoors. The Heineken beer museum was totally worth it .All along while sipping beer we never knew that there was a painstaking process behind the creation of beer. We had a lot of fun over there, the icing of the cake was the complimentary beer at the end of the tour . It was like drinking Heineken inside Heineken.
picture courtesy: Kavita Jayakumar
I almost got hit by a speeding bicycle as we left the place, the reason being we are not used to looking out for cycles back in India. The rest of the day we spent roaming and were very tired by the end of it. Aaron took the bus back to Stuttgart the very night because he had to go to work on Monday.The third day dawned to us and it was time to bid adieu to each other the thought as to when we are going to meet again was weighing down heavily on everyone’s heart.As usual we met up for breakfast and it was a solemn offer to see each other off. I took my train to Arnhem,Meena took a train to Hague,Teenu took a flight to London, Kavita took a flight to Budapest for the onward journey to India, Adrian stayed back in Amsterdam for a couple of days before his flight back home.
until we meet again
blast from the past
all smiles
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