Desi 'light'-packers Episode 4

" I had been to Utrecht last time, to meet my client, do you remember?", he asked.

"Yeah", she answered.

"You take a train from Amsterdam to Utrecht. Its a 20 mins ride and you will get a life's worth to watch", he said, "Thats how it is", he added.

"I have heard about it. When I was with IBM, some of my friends travelled to the office here in Utrecht and they have said that the place is pulchritudinous! Didn't realise it then!", she said.
"Yes, I have seen your office. Utrecht a small industrial town. ", he replied.

By this time they were reaching Amsterdam Centraal . They wanted to travel to Schipol Airport, where they have planned to stay in an accomodation nearby. He stood up from his seat and started moving towards the driver's.

"How do I go to Schipol from Amsterdam Centraal?", he asked the driver.

"To Schipol? From Centraal? You have to take a metro train. Its quiet a distance from here. Around 30 mins by train", the driver replied back, he seemed to have lost in thought about something which the hero of our story couldn't comprehend.

"Oh! Is it that far?", he asked.

"Yeah!", the driver replied, totally lost.

When he wanted to resume his way back to the seat with a polite "Thank You!", the driver told him, "I can drop you at the airport! Would you mind waiting for 15 minutes, until I unload all the passengers and their lugguage?"

Startled by the driver's unexpected question and the offer, he was in search for words "Er.... yeah! But how could you do that?"

"The airport is on the way to the garage. So I can drop you if you want", the driver replied.

"Thank you!", he said unable to generate any other word from his totally baffled brain.

" Its not a problem at all", said the cheerful driver.

Awed by the generosity of the coach driver, he told her about the offer . She was surprised on hearing it and reacted in her usual dramatic manner.

Friday

Apr 6, 2007
Schipol, Amsterdam, Holland


It was 5:30PM when the coach driver dropped them in Schipol. They both enquired about the shuttle buses to the hotel and reached the shuttle stand. On their way, they met a cheerful set of people who wished them which theyresponded with equal enthusiasm. When the shuttle arrived, they took their seats and the vehicle started. At the same time there were claps from the people outside and passengers in the shuttle turned to see what caused the applause, to find out a person running to catch the very shuttle which has started to move. The driver applied brakes to stop the bus for the running pasenger!

The two were astonished to see the unfolding scene, with wide-open mouths wondering whether they were dreaming. Their previous trip to this place has made them familiar about the good-natured people, but this was hard to believe. It was 15 minutes by the Accord hotels shuttle to reach Dorint Novotel. They saw the wonderful poster behind the receptionist and smiled secretly of the enquiries that they made, just a few minutes ago, in the airport about their plans for tomorrow.

When they reached their room he said, "Lets call it a day! We have a great day ahead for tomorrow. We need rest!"

Desi 'light'-packers Episode 3!

The coach started after the half-hour break and in no time crossed the Belgium-Holland border.

"I just can't take it! I was so disappointed! It was just last year!", she said.

"Leave it! Its just a simple thing", he consoled her.

"Yeah? I was so looking forward to it", she continued.

"We can do nothing about it, can we? They just stopped it", he said with sincere politeness, she realised that he was at his tether, trying to control something, which was puzzling and irritating her by the time.

"I even remember the guys face , who gave me the biscuits last time!", she said like a child, talking through its nose, which made him burst into fits of laughter, he was giving a mammoth try to control for the last few minutes. She looked at him angrily and turnd her face to the window.

 Just as the bus entered the border of Netherlands, there started the riot of emotions inside them, looking at the crystal clear blue sky, cotton- like clouds, forming a fantabulous backdrop to the scene of the cattle and sheep grazing in the green fields, fed by numerous canals, every frame of picture, if captured would have a thousand stories for them. 

"Where do these canals come from?", she asked. "I have this as a sincere doubt!"

"But why?", he asked her back.

"I can't see where it starts, it suddenly appears from somewhere and just abruptly ends, always looks so beautiful, the water is heavenly pure, if it stagnates, then it will never be this clean!", came the rush of words, as a result of not willing to miss even a single pixel, but having the curiosity to know the answer .

"Mystery adds to the beauty of it", he replies. 

"Before coming to this country, I have always heard about the beautiful canals in Amsterdam and have always had the assumption that it is the only place in this country which had canals. I didn't, even for a moment, think that the whole country has numerous number of small miniscule canals which are un-wordably beautiful".

He was smiling back at her, listening to her intently.

"Instead of naming Amsterdam as 'City of canals', we can name Holland as the 'Country of canals'!", she said excitedly.

"You know what? Just bring your voice down! Others who must have heard you by now, will think that you are too dramatic!", he warned.

She flushed, "Oh! I am so sorry about that! I didn't realise my decibel levels were high! But am I dramatic? Is it not a reality?"

"It is the reality! As far as we have travelled, we have not seen any country with so many canals running through them, especially throughout the whole country! But, understand this fact! These people do not react and show their excitement as we do! They express their excitement with a mere "Wow!" or "This is amazing" or just silently", he explained.

She was listening to him with utmost concentration, but with her eyes and nose plastered to the panoramic windows of the coach and  almost wanted to say "Waste pasanga!" but decided not to, at the last moment. As he didn't get any vocal feedback from her, he started to gaze back through the windows which offered him feature rich views, when compared to the documentaries in HDTV, these will reduce them to a rubble!

To be continued....

Desi 'light'-packers - Episode 2!

... And Windmills....The journey through the country of Holland is a delight. Rotterdam and its picture-perfect settings, as a small town, with sourrounding villages, smaller houses, greens as far and wide one's eyes can stretch, long winding lanes, people with cheerful smiles and windmills wafting their monstrous arms to the brisk and gentle breeze.... A walk along the winding lanes ....


" I think we are seeing an example of how a man can preserve what God has given!", she said standing beneath a windmill staring at it!


"Yeah we are indeed.. he has done it by not overproducing himself, firstly", he said.


She laughed at his light-hearted humour, "Oh..its a serious fact, I've always admired how thinly populated these places are! And that is the reason , they have sooo much more of beautiful landscapes left, with no occupation, adding to the beauty , thus very less polluted" and started walking towards the winding lanes.


"People here give so much importance to nature and have declared vast amount of area as green-zones!". she continued.


"Yes thats a wonderful plan by the government to stop people spoiling the place by construction and has strictly allocated for sight-seeing purposes only!"


She spots a canal from no-where, with water as clear as a crystal and a small un-occupied boat. "Oh! I just want to build a small hut here to live my retirement life!", totally lost at the beauty of the picture spread ahead.




"It may not be possible! This might still be a green zone then!", he said laughing at his own joke.

Then came a rude jolt " The bus will stop here for half-hour. This is a legal stop required before getting into the border of Holland! People can have refreshments here, if need be", announced the driver through his mike.


They both turned their heads around to see the board of Mc Donalds smiling back at them with an inscription "Welcome to the border of Holland!"


"Oh! I almost forgot this! We are still not in Holland!", she said and looked back at him, to find him give a startled look and realised he too was lost in memories. They both smiled and climbed out of the bus.

" I want to have the biscuit, the Mc D guy gave us last time", she said. "It was delicious".


He shook his head disbelievingly, his hair fell on his forehead, he combed again with his fingers "I am not able to believe, you are this childish when you come out!".


"Yeah! Only then you can enjoy without a worry!" she replied with infectious enthusiasm, hopping for every step she took.


They both entered Mc D he asked, "What are you going to have?"


She said, "We haven't packed anything! So a full Mc D veggie meal"



So let them have their meal and we will resume later! :)

Desi 'light'-packers - Episode 1!

Friday 04:15AM
Apr 6, 2007
Paris, France


The two walked out of Hotel Elysees Mermoz, Off Champs Elysees, hand-in-hand with not a worry in the world, feeling as independent as a bird on its flight, with a very exciting plan on their heads, as light as their bags. They boarded a metro train to Haussmann Saint-Lazare from St. Philippe Du Roule, from where they took another train to reach Gallieni. The two reached the ticket counter and bought tickets to board a 07:30 AM Eurolines Coach Service to Amsterdam, Holland.

"I am still not able to believe we are doing this" said one to another

" Yes, we are!" he said.

"Why did I ever buy myself into this plan? " she asked.

He laughed at her admiringly, combing his hair, ruffled by the brisk early morning breeze, with his fingers, which has become habitual.

"If we are going to pull this off, it is going to be a memorable one!", he said.

"Yes ", she replied excitedly and both exchanged excited looks.

"Tickets please", shouted the coach driver. He verified the tickets, helped passengers one by one, to board the coach.

"Here we go! I think we are crazy!", she said.

"I think so too!", he said and took her hand to sit beside her.

And the coach took off sharp at 07:30 towards the early morning sunrise, which showed, what a fine typical spring day it is bound to be! Spring in Europe is nothing but pure bliss! The sprintness in the breeze, brings a fresh inner feeling for walkers, striding by the innocent looking flowers exhibiting their bewitching smile as a bloom! She was looking outside the window watching all these sights trying to take-in and register every pixel of beauty spread in-front of her eye.

"Our eyes are a thousand Digital SLR's put together! I always wonder God's creations... our eyes, the beauty that lies in front of us! ", she said, eyes still outside the window busy capturing whatever it can.

"Why do you say that?", he asked, puzzled.

"When you hold a camera to take a picture of the frame which lies ahead, you will notice how panoramic our eye-view is and how little can these digital state-of-the-art man made machines , pack to a single shot!", she answered.

"Phew! I've realised this many times... but Kudos! beautifully worded!", he said appreciatively.

She turned away from the window still wide-eyed to smile at him. "Thank you!"

Brussels city center

The 10 hour journey continued through the picturesque town of Lille in France , then through Brussels and the industrial town Antwerpen in Belgium with light conversations between the two and a lot of sight-seeing. When the coach wsa nearing the border of Holland, excitement had started mounting again already! The two had travelled to Amsterdam before, the previous year and were so fond of this country for the spellbinding scenic beauty, the helpful people and the careless lifestyle.... And oh! Who can forget the windmills? ......

Ho! Ho!..... Holland!

To be continued...