The Tourist from the North East

Chapter 1: Prologue

“Why do you want to visit the Netherlands?” asked the man behind the glass wall of the Kingdom of Netherlands embassy at Chanakyapuri, Delhi. It was a simple question alright. My response was equally simple, “I have always wanted to visit the place!”

I guessed I got it right. I don’t know. But after an uncertain wait for few days I finally got my Shengen visa to visit the rest of Europe other than the U.K. I flew to Heathrow, London the next day.

The first thing that struck me on landing was the bizarre way “Time” seems to work in this world we reside. Knowing the time difference didn’t prepare me for the difference in the length of daytime between our countries. It was already past 7 p.m. but it was bright as morning there. The daytime persisted till about 10 p.m. or 11 p.m. Then, morning lights came at about 4 a.m. Later, I found out that it worked the exact opposites during winter season. Long dark nights, and very short daytime. Amazing!

Call it “my lonesome adventure.” A pilgrimage, if you like. Or perhaps, my Mecca of childhood dreams and fantasies. The geographical illustrations and the travel books I consumed since my 4th /5th grades or the curiosity that burned during those long boring university days as a history student were all instrumental for this journey to Europe, turning dreams into a thing of reality. I landed safe and sound to what once was “Pax Britannica!”

After a long and miserable queue at the border control immigration point and the usual immigration queries from a bored and irritated officer, the first thing to do was to buy a SIM from a machine by inserting 10 pounds note. I didn’t know that I had to buy another 5 pounds worth of top up to make it work. I tried in vain. I asked a pretty blonde sitting next to me to help me. She tried but after a while, we both agreed that I might have to buy another top up. But by then, even the sales girl in the shop couldn’t get it to work. The last bus to Coventry had left as informed by the tourist information centre. I tried calling up my nephew, Charan, but there was no response. I felt a little panicky!

Finally, I got some change from a shop and called up Biswajeet, with the intention of asking him to pick me up because by that time, I was truly exhausted from my long journey and the wait at the immigration point. Fortunately, a familiar voice answered and he agreed to come down from Coventry even though it was a 2 hours journey by car. I felt embarrassed to trouble him so but because of the predicament I was in, I felt much better when he asked me to wait for few hours. Later, we found out that my SIM was blocked automatically as I tried too many times and had to wait 24 hours to make it work. Imagine!

(To be continued)