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Whose birthday is it anyway?

If you plan to swing by Amsterdam next year, why not make it for the Queen's birthday?

PARTY TIME When the whole of Amsterdam comes together to celebrate

Orange dresses, orange hats, orange coats, orange garlands, orange this, orange that — everything turned completely orange! The Queen's birthday (officially April 30, but celebrated on April 29 when d-day falls on a Sunday) is when all of Amsterdam (and Holland) turns into one big (orange) street party. And how could we not join in?

Squeezing into crowded trams teeming with brave men and women (to wear orange shorts with a long tail, one must be brave indeed!), we slowly made our way to Museumplein, where, we were told, a grand rock concert was taking place. Joining the sea of orange, we politely boogied for a while, before heading off to tour the city by foot. Not that we had a choice — no trams plied in the city centre, which was taken over by revellers, anyway!

All around town, pavements and squares were converted into lively alfresco markets, with people and kids (!) selling knick-knacks, bric-a-brac, whatnots; and almost all of them seemed to be doing brisk business.

Tipsy `musicians' playing some instrument (quite badly), kids banging away at huge drums (solemnly consulting a music sheet to play `ting-ting-ting-boom' repeatedly), anybody at all attempting to juggle three eggs and two lemons (with often disastrous results)... every street corner had performances, which an intoxicated `audience' encouraged by clapping out-of-turn and topping already overflowing collection buckets.

The canals also saw plenty of action, what with festooned boats ferrying the partygoers from one hotspot to another. Beer and food stalls were definitely the crowd pullers, closely followed by the strategically placed eco-toilets, while cannabis was openly sold (among other things that Amsterdam is famous for.)

By early evening, when the crowd swelled, we gave up all pretence of walking and resigned ourselves to be simply pushed along, all the way to the `carnival' at Dam Square. The party, we were assured, was just beginning and would simply go on; and on... .

If you plan to swing by Amsterdam next year, why not make it for the Queen's birthday? If anything, you'll learn a thing or two on `how to celebrate, on a very grand scale, somebody else's birthday.'

APARNA KARTHIKEYAN

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