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 !!!

Riddley Turtles, end of Winter, Maithilee's bibs, and that of brotherly love

We have now uploaded two videos taken during hatching of Riddley Turtles eggs on Goan beaches. Dozens of young activists had given protection to them before and during hatching process, which happens in the night time. Man-made lights and construction plays havoc with these and many other natural processes, reason why turtles are not able to reproduce in large numbers any more.




and




The Winter in Netherlands is over, officially. The snow has gone for good, and it was bright and sunny today, with temperatures in higher (but single) digits above zero. We had a nice walk and shopping done without our fingers freezing. We can barely wait for Spring to take over, within a week temperatures will rise above +10 C , for the first time since October :O I keep reminding myself of time spent in Winnipeg (-40 C!!), but it still feels good to see sunny and warm weather.

Maithilee's saliva glands are now working. She needs bibs (this is one week old story), and for the past two days she has learnt to put her thumb in her mouth and suck, then her bib in her mouth, and almost any bed-sheet/ cover. She also pushes with her legs and turns in her bed, moves quite a bit. So, the next stage of development has come already.

Also, so many months of Winter we spent time together much like a brother and sister. Pregnancy is tough and how!! Well, no more brotherly love, no more... ;-)

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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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Maithilee (Day 6-9)

Here is the famed babe from day 6 to 9. sorry, the videos are damn too big to send via email or put them up on blogger. be patient, will upload them elsewhere :-)

Here we are with Yolanda (L, with Maithilee) and Kim. Yolanda works with Groenkruis, a post-natal-care agency in Groningen, and is a trained nurse. Kim was an intern, who will soon become a nurse herself. Both were helping us for the first one week, trying to understand what Maithilee does, may do and what we should/should not do with her. It was a blessing that they were there, since we would have really struggled with their generous help. Dank je wel, Yolanda en Kim !




While Maithilee is put to sleep, I do the dishes (the hard working, and only, man of the house)



As a payback, on the Day 9 Maithilee gave company to her baba. If Maithilee would not sleep, the pacifier would be in baba's mouth instead :-)






Here, Maithilee is put to sleep on the bed.




and Maha shows the relative sizes of their palms.




You can start working on palmistry by looking at her hand, her life-line, heart-line, and wealth-lines are VERY strong. So, I am going to really pamper Maithilee. So, when she gets rich, she can repay that back. Well, if she does not, I have her pictures a bath tub :p

Coming next, birth chart of Maithilee Asgekar, radio astronomy style...

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Happy Diwali, 2009, from Groningen !!

Shubh-Deepawali !

Here is our apartment all cleared up for a small party, an excuse to introduce Maha to some of my work colleagues, esp. those who travel with me daily.

Maha made this 'Rangoli' on our window-sil, we hung her lamp on top.





















The unsuspecting crowd that were exposed to hazardous amounts of idly's, chutney and sambharam ! they had masala chai, coffee and black tea to choose from as well.



It was Sofia who stole our attention, like only a toddler would.



Here are our pics before and after the party, which is which?





See the clean home, we have put 'unpacking' stage behind us.

Groningen, once again...

That is Maha's latest get-up. Check out the Patiala salwar, and zoom in to see the latest of fashion in shoes ;-)





We took a walk on the canal side on the weekend, you can see so many boats. Is Rad's boat anywhere to be seen, we wondered :p




Maha surveys the boat field...




So, we took a walk in the city park, a dense grove and golfing ground mixed up with a few lakes. Here is Maha posing in front of, what appears to be, the highest point in Groningen at 8 meters above local ground.




While taking walk, we saw a strange bird on the lake side, about 1 meter tall with dark cap-like feature on a white head.




Here is the closest I could get with my mobile camera, can you identify it, Shrirang, Radhika?



Unfortunately it did not take fancy of my attention (like some of my past flames) and took a flight across the water (again much like the above-mentioned flames.)

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Market at central square

Every day there is some market in the central square, see the large (2 foot-ball ground sized) area open with pavements. There is an equal area open adjacent to it, behind the camera. That forms the "down town", although there are hardly any ups/downs in the Netherlands.





This time we watched the market on a Thursday, it was my day off, Maha's second day in Groningen. So, we took a stroll, had some food, bought a couple of books and spoke to some artists selling their wares.

Here is Maha posing in front of a stall...





Baba (bhobe) would have been lost the whole day watching the crockery and antique pieces :-)






There is music, books, artefacts, coins, games, everything...




And here is the fish cart where we ate our "lunch". Maha ate so much of fish, I am sure you have never seen her eating that much...