Konningendag: Queen's Day !

Konningendag is that rare day of the year that is also a tax holiday, when all Dutch go crazy and start selling their attic junk on the footpath, and that day the taxman takes break (for shopping for her/himself, presumably). Formally, it is Princess Beatrix's birthday, and celebrated as such. Note: most Dutch don't care two hoots who the queen is, even if that's a man. They are happy with the tax-break on that day and all the fun. That compares well with Ganapati festival in Maharashtra, for example.

For us, it was a good opportunity to walk, show aai-baba some Dutch people in their own setting, get Maithilee out in the open, and finally buy some silly stuff for our apartment. Here are some pics from that day:


1) Newspaper announcement:






2) Reason for this drama on lower left, other two are urging people to show up and enjoy.






3) Program of festivities, includes concerts, open-air music, dramas, sex-shows... well, i made up the last one there.





4) Program stages and artists put on a daily calendar and a map. Each star indicates activity area. This is ONLY for Groningen, each town, village has its own set of events.




5) Here are crowds:


listening to band music (patriotic and otherwise)



selling silly things, dolls, magazines, music, children's stuff,














young boys trying their hand at selling their musical talent








even meeting friends and having coffee in the middle of the din:




selling wood, furniture, tools...




and even used underwear !!!

Dutch WTF

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Name of a boat parked in a canal nearby : Royal Raand ! (I guess many rode the boat royally all through the Summer.)


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"Plopp... kind of"

When I was handed over the keys to my apartment, I was asked if I wanted the dirty tiles of bathroom and toilet changed. I said, "Yes", after confirming that it was the owner paying for it.

The maintenance fellow did not know how to speak English. So, when I told him to select faint blue color for wall tiles, he had to call his boss to translate it.

Then I explained to him that I wanted him to fix American commode in the toilet. This is so, because the locally they use a strange, shallow commode bowl in toilet, a German custom perhaps. Naturally I wanted to change the toilet commode to how Indians have it.

I tried explaining the fellow about what I wanted: 1) that the flush hole should be in the rear (unlike in the foto in the link above); 2) bowl should be deep, unlike common ones found here (see the link again).

After two minutes his eyes shone, as he exclaimed: "Ah, you want the plopp kind of commode", thus providing the title (and material) of this post.

The latest is that they will finish the repairs in 5 days (WED-TUE), just in time for Maha!