Go Orange on Queen's day!

It was the spring of 2009, precisely on the 30th april, during my short stint in the Netherlands. I had gone to the pretty little city of Delft in Netherlands for a period of 6 months for my final master thesis work. I worked in one of the departments in the Delft University of technology.

Having arrived on the 15th of april, i was still very new to the place. I lived in one of the most happening student hostels in Delft called 'Marcushof', which mostly hosted all the exchange students to the University from all parts of the world. It was a different type of an intercultural experiance. Since the students were there mostly for a short period of time, their basic motto during the stay over there was, Party hard on weekdays, and Party harder on weekends!!!...Well, what can i say..they indeed lived upto it! I on the other hand was still pretty much closed. I was still getting used to using the common kitchen to which i had to rush even if i had to boil a glass of milk. The kitchen was filled with people almost always when i entered it. People sitting with their beer bottles or wine glasses and chatting or cooking together, or just chilling out on the sofa and smoking.

A day earlier, i entered the kitchen and smiled at the people who were sitting inside and told my usual 'hi'. Two Italian girls were making their usual pasta. They greeted me back. One of them called out to me, " Ciao Aash, so are you also coming to Amsterdam tomorrow with us?". I was puzzled, " Amsterdam? what is happening in Amsterdam tomorrow?". She replied,"Well it is the Queens birthday tomorrow, there is going to be a big party and lots of concerts in the city"..I could see the excitement on her face. I was embarassed of my ignorance about the country i had decided to come to. I was completely unaware of the monarchy in the Netherlands. I said, " The Queens birthday is it?, cool. I can come, i have never been to Amsterdam till now".

As we reached the Amsterdam station it was 11 AM. In total 20 of us from our hostel went together in the train. I hardly knew any of my companions. Just as we came out of the station there were people standing on the way and distributing bright orange foldable hats. We all took it in our hands and wore it. The italian girl walking beside me told me, " Oh ya, i heard that everyone should dress up in orange today because that is the national colour of Netherlands". Hmmm....wierd i thought. I didnt know what was in store for us. As we went to the main street, we were all really surprised..In front of us was a swamp of people, all dressed in bright fluorescent orange. Tees, skirts, bikinis, hats, garlands, giant cooling glasses, masks, armbands, earings, lipstick, Boobytubes...everything everything in orange. We all looked at ourselves, we were dressed normally, looking out of place. We bought ourselves an orange garland.

The streets were crowded like crazy. keeping to the group was very difficult.But i was always concious of the fact that this was my first time in Amsterdam and i had no idea of the routes. All local transport was non-functional on that day. It was a national holiday. The city was so crowded and so orange. People were carrying pom-poms and whistles and small drums with them. Each and every street was packed with people. Even the famous canals of amsterdam carried big boats filled with people dressed in orange shouting out in celebration and waving their hands to the onlookers on the streets. There were several concerts all over the city...and several people on the streets selling different things, right from cloths, souveneirs, handicrafts items and every other thing which one could think of. And last but not least loads and loads of alcohol was sold on the streets. My companions from the hostel had an amazing capacity for alcohol. I was awed by the amount of alcohol they consumed. They bought shots which were brewed and sold in test-tubes too. They smoked pot (oh ya isnt it Amsterdam, its legal there!!). On top of that they carried big bottles of vodka mixed with orange juice in their backpacks (well that was for when they felt thirsty!). What did i do?...i stood there and walked with my group, just amazed by the sight around me.

My group decided to go to one of the major concerts in the heart of the city. We pulled and pushed our way and found the place the concert took place. We had already walked for 4 hours without finding a place to sit down in the crowd. My feet hurt badly. But as i noticed, i didnt see a single sign of tiredness on the face of any of my companions. We pushed our way with a lot of difficulty into the crowd to get a decent location at the concert. I went on for another 2 more hours. I had not sat in 6 hours...and i was really thirsty. I finally decided to give up my apprehensions and moved away from my group in search of some coke. I lost them in the crowd and surprisingly i was so happy to be lost!! I found a empty place on a bench and immediately sat down. It was already 5:30 PM. I really didnt want to get back into the crowded concert or my alcoholic companions. I asked people around how to get back to the train station and headed back to Delft! Pheww, i fell dead on my bed like a dead person! But it was a day worth experiancing once in a lifetime.

Some facts about the day: On April 30, the Dutch celebrate Koninginnedag ("Queen's Day"), a national holiday to commemorate the birthday of the country's (former) Queen. It is by far the most widely celebrated holiday in the Netherlands. Amsterdam is packed to the gills on April 30, welcoming up to two million party-going visitors. The Dutch have been observing Queen's Day on April 30 since 1949, when the new Queen Juliana ascended the throne.