Introduction

I was born in Chicago, Illinois USA and originally had the ambition to become a ballet dancer. When I was 17, I had to stop my training programme for a while. It was 1952 and I had just graduated high school so decided to go to the University of Chicago where I studied Liberal Arts.  At the beginning of my second year I met a Dutchman, Coen Oort who did his Masters study in Economics at the University of Chicago and fate took over and we got married in September 1954 and went to The Netherlands.

Interests, Activities and Associations

In 1955 I entered the Leiden University to study English Language and Literature but in 1959 fate again took over when a group of Indian dancers came to the Netherlands for the Holland Festival. My dancer’s spirit responded to the beauty of the gestures, rhythms and music.  I was hooked and had to learn more about Indian dance and was fortunate to be put in touch with Mohini Devi who at that time was one of the few Indian dancers in the Netherlands. Indian dance and Indian culture became very important to me and I switched my studies to Sanskrit. In 1969 I accompanied Mohini Devi to a NIA meeting when she was asked to give a performance. That was my introduction to the association.  Later when we moved from De Bilt to Wassenaar. Professor Jan Heesterman, who was professor of Indian history at Leiden University asked me to join and I soon was co-opted to the Executive Board then consisting of Professor Landheer, President and Ram Lakhina, Secretary.

In the 1970’s many young Indian families moved to the Netherlands and soon NIA lost its predominately Dutch membership and the meetings focused on Indian cultural activities with melas and the celebration of Indian Independence Day often with a garden party at my home. For a couple of years there was also a Republic Day dinner at an Indian restaurant in The Hague. Many of the young Indian wives had learned Indian dance and we arranged performances for them. We organized Sinterklaas parties and Queen’s and later King’s Day for many years.  Dutch cookery classes and Indian cookery classes and an introduction to Dutch culture called “Where Cultures Meet” were held in small groups.

Achievements:

I was President of NIA first from 1992 to 1994 and again from 2012 to 2016. I also held the posts of Secretary and Secretary-Treasurer. Currently I serve as a member of the Advisory Committee of NIA thereby continue my support with advice and sponsorship as I have done for the past decades.

As a true India lover, I have strong bonds with the Indian Diaspora community at large in this country. I have a Master’s Degree in Sanskrit and Indian Studies from Leiden University and I worked as Orientalist Librarian in the Kern Institute Library, Leiden University for a number of years.

I have always felt honored to serve the Indo-Dutch community in The Netherlands. In the course of the five decades that I was associated with NIA I worked as Secretary, Secretary/ Treasurer and twice as President. There are many other Indian associations now in the Netherlands, but NIA is unique in being the only Indo-Dutch one. I am glad that it was under my last term as President that NIA finally celebrated Indian Independence Day together with a number of Sarnami Hindustani associations in 2015 in the Koninklijke Schouwburg in Den Haag.

My advice to the Indo-Dutch community would be: never forget your roots but use those values to enrich the country you live in.