from Bangla to Breda...

Friday, 10th March, 2006 (wasn't home for my parents' anniversary) :-(
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jack was waiting in front of Burger King at Sciphol Airport, even before my KLM flight from Paris had touched down on Dutch soil. Amsterdam wasn’t exactly welcoming me with open arms – it was freezing cold and overcast; it had rained all morning and even my luggage wasn’t spared. Things were taking longer than expected – by the time my soggy suitcase made its way towards me on the conveyor belt, a good 45 minutes had already passed; Jack called Saby and Saby kept trying my number… but my SIM card was safely tucked away in a small compartment in my wallet. Meanwhile, My parents were worrying (as expected) back in ‘Incredible India’ (http://www.indiatourism.org/) [:-)]. Finally, all the finger-nail chewing and confusion was put to rest after I bought a calling card and made a few phone calls. By the time I hung up the receiver, a plump, middle aged Dutchman had stationed himself behind me.
“Are you Soo-rav?”
“Jack?”
He smiled.

According to Jack it was “rather warm right now” – the temperature had risen to around 4 degrees Celsius. Not that it made much difference to me… I was sh-sh-shivering as soon as we were out of the airport. In a few minutes, we were cruising down the highway towards Breda. Jack has a whopping 2,569 (?) CDs and DVDs at home – arguably one of the largest collections on the planet? Some of them are also in English (such as the “Ring of the Lords”!).

Kolkata to Mumbai.
Mumbai - Paris.
Paris - Amsterdam
And then...

Breda. My final destination. I learnt later that this town was named after the river that once flowed through it. However, when the folks here started building the place, they decided that it should flow along its outer periphery. So they did some digging and stuff… and soon enough, the river was re-routed and everyone here was happy. They celebrated this by wearing weird, colourful clothes and drowning themselves in gallons of beer (hic!). Then… many many years later (read: now), perhaps out of sheer boredom, they decided that the river should once again flow right through the town, or rather, across it. So… they did some digging and stuff… and… well, they’re still digging…

Picked up Saby and Antara from Amgen’s Lego-building (my workplace for the present) and had lunch at the 'main-building'. Jack dropped us off at Veemarkstrat and Antara showed me the way to our apartment. It’s a fairly big place, although the design is rather peculiar to say the least. After a while, I was on my own, left to ‘settle down’ during the rest of the day. The gentleman who had last occupied what was now my room was… a pig! Maintenance would not be here till the weekend ended and that was simply too late. The rest of the afternoon was spent fishing out underwear, socks, cigarette packets and a variety of other garbage from the various corners of the room. Eventually, I found the vacuum cleaner. By the time the room was ‘somewhat inhabitable’, I was dead-tired.
Bath.
Nap…

As I tucked myself in, several thoughts crossed my mind simultaneously; I was homesick and relieved at the same time. This trip was really a bit of a surprise. The week that had just gone by was one of the busiest in recent times. The weeks ahead would be full of new challenges. I thanked Mom, Dad and my stars... 'cos everything had gone smoothly thus far... and dozed off soon after…

Oh and by the way... Happy Holi!

[Pic: 'Cognizant in Breda' - Suvendra, Saby, Sourav and Antara]