I amSTERDAM

Its a strange feeling when you write a travelogue of a place you have been as a teenager and then as an adult (that too the dreaded middle aged adulthood)….My last visit was as a short haired giggly school girl, in the company of my best friends..and now time machine got me to my latest visit as a seasoned ‘corporate’ adult..wrapped in the winter of adult ‘straight’ jackets…..!!

That apart the visit was as packed and short as the word short itself….we landed as a pack of vagabond ‘official’ team members…one hand supporting a laptop bag and the burdens that come with a pay packet and the other holding a camera to click a few glimpses of the famed beauty of Netherlands..We were transported to the little picturesque town called Noordwijk (a strange set of letters but pronounced very differently, don’t even attempt if you are the typical ‘Indian Englisher’)…The town is flanked by green and brown fields on both sides..waterways running through its heart ..and beautiful mansions dotting the already peaceful view…Its small roads don’t suffer the abuse of traffic blocks…its habitants I am sure has never heard the term ‘noise pollution’ in their entire existence…What stays in my memory is my little escapade in the wee morning hours ...the autumn colours changed from a deep twilight purple to a majestic yellow as the sun tossed its rays… it was worth the crazy alarm moment that shrilled through my ears…

After the three day grueling schedule, I got my one evening in Amsterdam. Canals and river ways meander through the length and breadth of this city..its a Victorian version of dear old Alapuzha (killing comparison I agree)…house boats…vintage mansions by the riverside…it’s a calming sight …a few dashed visits through the famed and notorious streets of Amsterdam and the night came to a close..time to head back to the routine and babble called India..

A turn back and the night sky glittered through the rivulets of water flowing under the bridges of Amsterdam..a moment that seeped in and probably would stick with me till my next visit as a shriveled old woman??:)