Chalk and Cheese travel from Kolkata to Abu Dhabi, and then Abu Dhabi to Amsterdam. Flying across countries and continents is a matter of fine balance ! As the pilot keeps the aircraft in balance, the passengers and crew do their own balancing act inside the aircraft . Firstly, to hold on to a sleepy head on the shoulders ,searching for a good pillow in vain ; then using the washroom just when turbulence begins ; and lastly balancing Chicken Tikka masala – Hindu non veg meal, ( I like how my identity is attached to my choice of meal ) from a tiny box straight into my mouth, very deftly,…. all this and more is nothing but lessons in perfecting the balancing act. Every long haul flight leaves me feeling very balanced and almost begging to get grounded !

Airport ordeals makes me feel that I have just finished a hurdle race of some kind. The security checks, delayed flights, long lines, endless terminal walks, hours of waiting at the boarding gate, after clearing all the above hurdles and just before reaching the finishing line ,I find myself standing in front of the immigration officer. We are both smiling at each other and I am trying desperately to prove that my finger impressions are mine only ! Chalk waits behind the yellow line looking in a different direction, pretending he is not with this dubious passenger.

Finally we line up at the baggage carousel. We wait and wait, staring at the belt , for our suitcases to manifest first, but that would be nothing short of a miracle . There is no chance for our suitcases to show up so soon. There are four or five other suitcases lazily doing the rounds on the belt on a repeat mode ; almost teasing our eager eyes waiting impatiently for “Mera wala black, Mera wala red with Mera wala tiranga ribbon”. Chalk is as patient as a monk and Cheese’s impatience can match that of a monkey , together we wait for our luggage, one in meditative silence and the other pacing to and fro like a …you got it .

At long last when we exit the airport we are greeted by our driver David. Now, after having spent almost twenty hours with my silent mode Chalk on the journey ,I am literally thirsting for some chit chat. Also, me being Cheese, am already feeling quite at home and happy in the Dutch land of cheese. With undisguised enthusiasm I start talking with our driver David. Towards the end of the ride David and I are chatting like two old friends. I have given him an idea to open a website with a DDD logo (Dutch Driver David ) and start a tour company. He on his part has enlightened me with knowledge of Tulips to tram rides , red light street to Royal palace road, in short, he has conveyed his willingness to be our driver for the next few days. We had to disappoint driver David as all our rides were already prebooked, thanks to our excellent travel curator.

As tourists one is always pressed for time, every day, every hour is important. After our check-in formalities at the hotel gets over, our body longs to stretch out on the soft white bed and sleep off the fatigue of travel. But Chalk and Cheese quickly change clothes, shrug off all tiredness and step out onto the streets of a new city, for a new adventure to begin.

Amsterdam is a city with an elaborate canal system and houses are built along the canals. There are big boats leaving the ferry (close to the Grand Central Station ) every thirty minutes to give tourists one hour cruise along the canals . Every canal cruise , river cruise , in different parts of the world is unique in its own way. The stories that the banks unfold are different.

As we start sailing, the canals become like narrow lanes with colourful narrow houses on both sides .The canal houses of Amsterdam are its landmark. They stand out for their structural uniqueness . The windows of these houses are mostly made of glass. The ground floor has one big door and long windows and with each floor rise the windows get smaller, giving an optical illusion of a tall building. Some houses have black tar roofs , tar was used as a cheaper alternative to tiles in the Eighteenth century, but in present times they have become a style statement.

The Egelantiersgracht canal in Amsterdam’s Jordan area, showcases the most beautiful houses. Though the name sounds like a tongue twister but every house along this canal made me twist my head again an again .These beautiful canal houses in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth century were originally used for storage of raw materials for trade , also doubling up as residences for the artisans or tradesmen. In today’s date and time, the famous and wealthy people live in the canal houses. These houses attracted me so much that during our four days stay in Amsterdam I made it a point to take a small evening stroll along the canals almost everyday.

Amsterdam is also a city of cyclists, which the locals jokingly call the ” killer cyclists” because the cyclists don’t stop for you and me, instead we need to look out for them and stop for them with either fear or respect, the choice is ours . I don’t know how to cycle or else I would have loved to pedal along the canals and the bridges of Amsterdam. But so what if I can’t pedal, l will walk , run, take trams, trains, boats and traverse through some beautiful countryside of Netherlands. Tulips, Van Gogh museum , Cheese factory, Wooden shoe stories, Windmills, were some of the attractions of Netherlands that we had put on our itinerary. We planned to begin our next day with the Cheese factory tour. After all I am Cheese, and I was eager to know how Cheese tasted differently in different countries.

At the cheese factory in Volendam, there was actually nothing to see because it was not a factory, it was only a shop. At the shop a pretty lady wearing a traditional dress and a pretty apron shared with us her beauty secret, which was …drinking whey everyday. Imagine telling Cheese about the potency of whey ! How do I tell her that I am cheesy Cheese, and I swim in whey all day ! In my country we call it “chhanar jol”, a diet for the sick and recuperating . We have been drinking whey for years. The trip was not a complete waste because we ended up tasting various types of cheese and buying some too.

Volendam disappointed Cheese with cheese but otherwise it is a beautiful small village type town. I had the best fish and chips of my life at a small restaurant. I was sitting by the lake, looking out at the fishing boats sway, as the pitter patter rain drops made music. This quaint scenery was almost picture perfect and so serene. Sometimes you make the best memories from the simple nothingness of life.

The colourful wooden shoes of Holland are known as clogs. We brought back some as souvenirs , but of course Cheese will always have a story to tell. In a small town called Marken we saw demonstration of how a shoe is carved out from a block of pre-soaked wood. These wooden shoes were worn in the Netherlands because they protected the feet from wet and marshy lands during farming. They were also worn by fishermen and factory workers. These shoes could stand all weather conditions. They were surprisingly very light in weight and comfortable to wear.

All this information made perfect sense to me, but what I couldn’t understand was Chalk’s extreme fancy for clogs. Chalk loved these shoes so much that he actually wanted to buy one pair for himself. Cheese had to threaten him that if he walks in wooden shoes then she would stop matching steps with him. However once we get back home I will search for a “kharaun or kharam” and gift it to him, he can then have a Made in India wooden shoe !

Wooden shoes or not, Chalk’s other wish was soon fulfilled. We went to see the beautifully preserved wooden wind mills of Netherlands . The four or five ancient windmills at Zaanse Schans stood amidst lush greens and blue waters. The Miller himself gave us a small guided tour of his windmill. What impressed us was how they have kept them in working condition even after hundreds of years.

The winds blew, and the windmills turned very slightly. Life here seemed to be moving at a slow pace keeping the wind on its side .We stood there admiring, smiling, thinking in tune. The winds played with us, it gently touched us like a friend, it reminded us how far we have traveled together, literally and figuratively. We marveled at life and its blessings. For a small moment Chalk and Cheese were on the same page, they were thankful for what life was offering them in this vacation and beyond.

The beauty of holidays is that every new day comes to us carrying a fresh bouquet of flowers. We do not know the roads we will take, the people we will meet and the places we will see. Something new adds on to our life forever. As I stood that night looking out from the window gazing at a beautiful full moon and a Church in the distant, tears of gratitude blurred my vision. I went to sleep, so that I could wake up to see in the light of a new day the colourful Tulips of Amsterdam and Van Gough’s famous Sunflower painting.

To be continued….