In2-MeC

Amsterdam, The Netherlands
30 April 2003

The KLM flight took off from Indira Gandhi airport shortly after midnight on 28 April, and landed me in Schipol-Amsterdam airport at about 6:30 AM the same day. Everything went very smoothly, by the grace of Sri-Sri Jagannatha-Sudarshana. Vidyagati Prabhu and Bhakta Michael were there in the arrival lounge with a car outside; Mukti-dhatri dd had come also but she left separately by train to the Amsterdam temple. Myself. Vidyagati and Bhakta Michael went to the village of Wormer, some 20 km from the city. Here I stay in Michael's nice apartment, which is comfortably large enough for the three of us. It is very peaceful here.

Here is a photograph of the temple room in Michael's apartment. That's my shila altar in the middle. Bhakta Michael is on your right.

Today I gave Srimad-Bhagavatam class at the temple. We go and come back to Amsterdam city via Michael's car.
It's Queen's Day today, a heightened time of craziness in a city where craziness is almost normal. Queen's Day is a holiday dedicated to the Queen of the Netherlands; on this day most businesses shut down and everyone turns out into the street wearing weird orange headgear, orange clothing, orange platic garlands. Orange is the color of the Dutch royal family. The whole town becomes a flea market and fast food joint, because people set up stalls everywhere to sell snacks, drinks and junk. All kinds of music bands perform outside too. Almost everyone on the street is drunk or otherwise intoxicated. For me, it's a big change from my half a year in India.
The devotees are also out in force. They did a harer-nama-sankirtana in town. I wanted to go but didn't because of the constant rain and chill. It may be April on the calendar, but it does not look like spring in Amsterdam. It looks, and feels, like winter. I've already picked up a mild chest cold with cough and I am trying to keep it under control. Anyway, the devotees have set up a stall at the Rijksmuseum where they will sell books, prasadam and devotional items.
I have a series of university lectures scheduled in the Benelux that starts on May 7. Until then I'll give class once a day in the temple, alternating between Bhagavatam class one day and Gita the next day, i.e. switching between morning and evening classes.

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