The airport shuttle came to life sharp at 08:30AM and they both were seated in a two seater, in the second row of the bus. There were only two other passengers, as it was the first shuttle that day from the airport. One was an old lady with a small frame, in her mid-fiftees and the other was a rather stout tourist from SE Asia with a state of the art Digital SLR, big telephoto lenses and tripod almost occupying his entire seat.
"Which part of India are you from?", made them startle and turn back towards the direction from which the voice originated. It was the lady with the small frame who was smiling back at them. On close observation they found out that the lady was an Indian origin, but long-term stay outside has changed the colour of her skin considerably along with her slang.
"South!", he annswered and smiled back at her throwing the inevitable question back at her.
"I was born in Delhi. Which place are you from?", the lady asked.
"You know Chennai?", she asked and he replied, "I am from Thiruchirapalli"
"Oh! Yes! I know Chennai and Thiruchirapalli.... is it not Trichy which has the famous Srirangam temple?", she asked with her eyebrows crossed, looking at him as if she is expecting the answer in the affirmative.
On hearing her, his face glowed with pride and became soooo big as a child's face in trying to explain something in excitement. "Yes! Its the same place you are mentioning! It has river Cauvery running through it and many other temples", he said with eyes wide and a smile on his face with kiddish enthusiasm.
"Now! Who says me?", she murmured to him in a teasing manner that his face turned red and continued his conversation with the lady as if he has heard nothing at all!
" You must have heard about Akhilandeswari temple too", he continued.
"Yeah! I've been there when I was young. My parents took me. They are such beautiful temples ! I still remember", the lady elaborated.
"Where do you live at present?", she asked the lady.
"I have lived in Toronto Canada for 26 years now", the lady replied with a smile.
"Oh!", she exclaimed, "Thats a long time"
"Yes", the lady continued., "Before that we lived in Brussels, Belgium for 12 years, and every year we used to visit Keukenhof during this very season for the Tulip festival. We haven't missed a single year! It used to be very nice to drive down from Brussels to here, spend a day or two and return back! I am hopping over in Amsterdam this time on my way to India and thought that I had 7 hours time, I can visit Keukenhof and here I am! After 26 years!", the lady said.
"Wooooooooow! ", she said.
"Yes!", the lady continued, "It is a nice memory. See, from here and from now onwards it is just Tulip farms non-stop for 34kms", pointing outside the window and only then the two's gaze went outside window to see the ever stretching, never ending fields of flower mat, interwoven with such brilliant array of colours, spread like an ocean on both sides. For the first few minutes they found it too difficult to decide what to see and what to miss! After a few moments they have come to a conclusion that they are going to miss a lot for sure, even if they record whatever they see!
The heavenly mat stretched far beyond ones eyesight could reach, laced and fringed with such precision, that it was hard to believe, how all the plants could flower at the same height and time. They just wondered about God's creation for the nth time during the past two days.
"How are they maintaining such large farms with such dedication? Can we have entry access to get inside?", she asked the lady.
"Sure, their dedication and hard work has to be appreciated, othrewise the country wouldn't have had the world famous Tulip festival during this season. The farm owners usually give permissions to enter inside when we go and ask them personally. For that driving helps a lot!", the lady explained.
"Yes! That is true!", he said disappointment clearly etched on his face on missing a chance to get inside the farm just for the reason of not driving.
