Netherlands - Part 8

Hey People,

So this will be my first post this year! It has been quite a while. Life has been just so busy that couldn't manage to write anything. Lots of things have happened, some big some small, lots of travelling, lots of stories, lots of pictures, and the wedding! So I will tell you about everything wishing that may the diary of all of our lives be think, interesting, twisted and emotional, filled with love and travels, filled with moments of adventure and self exploration.

Well, last year (2014) in December, I moved to a city called Amersfoort in The Netherlands. The move was because of logistical reasons. I and Sayantani were going to get married in January next year and after that we will finally be living together. It was not possible to stay in Wageningen because she works in Amsterdam and her everyday commuting time would be too much. So out of all the sane options we had, we decided to move to Amersfoort. Its a town with a population of around 150,000 residents and a historic city center. We found a nice apartment in the heart of the city with large windows overlooking the canal called Langegracht. During the Christmas vacations, I and Sayantani worked hard to setup everything ... new lights, new decorations etc etc ... and made the whole place ours. All this time, I was living in Wageningen where I work and She was living in Almere with her brother.

Bhawsinka & Chatterjee live here :P

View from the sitting window of our apartment on a snowy day...

The view of lieve vrouw tower from the shared balcony!

Our sitting window, the best corner of the apartment :)

The Cristy Hynes came to visit me for the new years eve. It was great to see her after such a long time. She is still the same bubbly fun chasing girl I used to know. She met Sayantani for the first time and we went out partying on the new years eve!! Fun Fun Fun! Cristy is now back in Canada trying to make a new life with her husband. There are so many good memories I have from Canada that it keeps calling me back...

Cristy visits Amsterdam!

The bikes, the canals and the duckies ;)

The real dutch experience :P

Just before we all went crazy :)

Then in mid January, we packed our bags and went to India for our wedding. The wedding was on 29th January in Kolkata. It was a grand affair. Much bigger that either of us wanted or expected. Specially for Sayantani because Bengali weddings are extremely simple. She was quite dazzled by the extravagance of the half Bengali half Marwari wedding we had. All of our relatives from all over India showed up. A lot of my friends also joined. For 3 days, it was as if Kolkata belonged to Bhawsinkas and Chatterjees :)

Our dance during sangeet ...

Couple photoshoot!

with friends and colleagues from the Netherlands

With Chirag, Chochu, KC and Doga ...

With all the cousins :)

With our parents ...

With my family ...

All the ceremonies ....

After the wedding, I with my parents and Sayantani and many relatives went back to Sitamarhi for a reception party. Sayantani's family join us a day before the party. There were a lot of unknown faces here, mostly people who came on courtesy call ... doctors, representatives from medical companies, medical representatives, patients etc ... all related to my fathers trade. It was amazing to realize how many people in my home town relate to our family. Six to eight hundred people showed up that day and they all know someone in my family. As a person who has lived in so many places, sometimes I miss this depth in life. This sense of root, of belonging. I wonder if knowing or associating with so many lives is even possible in our modern day life style? In west, large weddings will have around 100 guests, that too just for an evening. I, on the other hand, must have met and clicked pics with more than 1000 people in a period of 2-3 days. Anyways, even after all the functions were over, guests kept arriving at home everyday to see the newly weds and specially the new bride :) We ate a lot, we laughed a lot and what made me most happy was that Sayantani loved my family and my family loved her. My grandparents instantly connected with her. My grand father had tears in his eyes when we were leaving back for Netherlands.

During the wedding reception ...

Sayantani with my family in Sitamarhi ...

Sayantani with her grand mother in laws :)

Meeting the Gangwals at Delhi Airport...

Well, our vacation in India had to end one day and it did. We came back to Netherlands in mid February and became extremely busy with our jobs. I would not lie, it was a struggle in the first few month after coming back. We both were working full time, commuting 2 hours everyday for work and we were living together full-time for the first time. We fought a lot, over every small and large thing. I had lived alone all my life .. from the age I was 12 years old. I made every decision for myself from what to eat to what to wear to when to sleep to when to wake up. But suddenly, overnight, I had to discuss every single thing with my wife. And it took me sometime to get used to it and we fought a lot for couple of months. When 2 tectonic plates meet each other, there is always an earth quake! I guess now I have more or less accepted that you cannot win with a woman, especially not in domestic issues. So I let her be (or I try) and she lets me be (sometimes :P). With time, we got used to the ways of each other. We are fighting a lot less now. And as I was already expecting, we are travelling voraciously. In the month of April and May 2015, we went for our honeymoon to Bordeaux, then we went to Berlin, then to Sankt Goar (a village along the Rhine in Germany), then to La Roche-en-Ardenne in Belgium. Then in end of June, we are going to south of France and Switzerland for 2 weeks. In August, both of our parents are planing to visit us in the Netherlands. We are on a roll!

In the center of Bordeaux ...

Château Pape-Clement, we stayed here for 3 nights ... a royal experience!

Meeting Sayantani's uncle in Berlin

Posing with the remains of the Berlin Wall!

Tasting German wine along the Rhine in Sankt Goar

Hiking in La Roche-en-Ardenne...

awwwww :P :P

20 km canoeing in River Ourthe, amazing experience ...

@ Sky Bar in Amsterdam

Well, I will stop for the moment. Life is extremely busy at the moment. A bit too much for my liking... so I hope things calm down a bit. I will try to update you guys again soon. Till then, keep spreading the love :)

Cheers
Karan