Whoosh… and it’s a year already
When I had just started working for Microsoft in Bangalore some 10 years ago, the office had a nice little tradition of giving you a bouquet of flowers for your desk on your birthday. I had never seen a tulip in my entire life, but strangely enough, it was my favourite flower. As my birthday drew near, I politely requested the office manager that I be given a bouquet of tulips. The flower giving tradition was probably being run on a shoestring budget and procuring tulips for me in Bangalore would’ve tipped the scales firmly towards unsustainability. The request was thus politely declined and I got a bouquet of roses instead.
I passed through Schiphol several times after the incident and got my fill of tulips. Still, they weren’t something you could buy in Bangalore on a whim from your local florist’s shop.
We finish a year in Amsterdam today. There have been many perks of having moved here. Being able to procure fresh tulips from the Farmers Market on the Noordermarkt every Saturday, shares the top spot on my list along with 30mbps internet at home.
A tulip
P.S. The Windows XP wallpaper of yellow tulips would be the first thing I’d switch to after a fresh install of the OS.
P.P.S. African Tulips is the closest I got to tulips in Bangalore. You’ll never find them in a florist’s shop though.