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From Holland, for Love
 She came, she saw, she stayed on. That is the story of Johanna Engelina Laponder, a Dutch woman who has lived in the heart of Chennai for the past 38 years.
Johanna (pronounced 'Yohanna') was born in a small village in
Holland but lived mostly in Amsterdam. She worked in the personnel department of the Royal Dutch Shell laboratory when she got a chance to meet an Indian.
Dr Lawrence Cyprian Lobo had studied in the US and England and got his Ph.D. degree in Chemistry. Though they had a slightly stormy courtship, he
nevertheless proposed to Johanna.
But young Johanna kept him waiting for many years. She refused to say 'yes' till she had had a chance to come to Madras (now Chennai) and see if she could spend the rest of her life here.
"I have always loved the heat. I would go to a hot place in
summer, like Africa, and enjoy it. So, I was not bothered about the hot climate of
Madras."
There was also another major factor that influenced her decision to live in
Madras - her parents-in-law. "I had met them in Holland and they were wonderful. They were very nice and were ready to accept me as their
daughter-in-law," recalls Johanna wistfully.
 She at last consented to marry Lobo (Lawry, as she calls him) and the wedding took place on January 20, 1966, at St Teresa's Church in Madras.
Adjusting to Indian life was easy. Though her parents-in-law wanted them to stay with them in their spacious colonial-type building in the sprawling compound that they had named
'Foxhole' Johanna insisted on having at least a tiny apartment "of her own" and so the guesthouse right next to the main house was converted into a 'cottage' for the newly-married couple.
But adjusting to Indian food was a lot tougher. It took her sometime and many visits to the doctor's to realise that her constitution was not made to take on Indian spices. She still sticks to European food (cooked and supplied by someone else now). But her favourite Indian food is 'biriyani',
"when it is not too pungent".
She was used to curds in Holland - only there it is always sweetened and mixed with fruits. "My husband never could stand that
combination," laughs Johanna.
 While Lobo taught chemistry at Loyola College, Johanna busied herself with running the household and tackling Tamil. At first it was all action - she would
mime cutting something and weeping to denote onions. Then she learnt to say,
"Vengayam". Once her husband overheard her asking the maid to buy a vegetable. He came back and asked her what she wanted,
"Potato," she said sprightly. "But you just asked the maid to buy
tomatoes," enlightened her husband.
This streak of fun and wit makes conversation with Johanna still a very enjoyable one - though she is all of 87 years. Confined to a wheelchair after her waist got affected in an accident at home in Holland, she radiates with life. The mop of hair around her
lovely face and the green eyes give a hint of how a younger Johanna must have looked.
She led a rather mischievous and fun-filled life in Holland and there was nothing to repress her in India - not even a husband who seldom laughed. Her cheeks turn red with laughter as she recounts some of the pranks she played in
Holland and exclaims, "O Foi, O Foi."
Here in Madras, her husband's three old cars gave her a lot of chance to have fun. Listen to this conversation one day as the Lobos were going out:
Mr Lobo: You are wearing
slippers?
 Mrs Lobo: Yes, I am. It is easier to push the car when I wear slippers than when I wear my
high-heels!
Sure enough, a few minutes
later, the car splutters to a stop and Johanna's husband goes under the car to see what the problem
is. She ends up pushing the car. She did not fail to remind her husband that she had been wise to wear slippers!
Holidays in Holland were an
annual affair. "I felt at home in Madras and Holland. But there was a special joy in going back to Holland and listening to my mother tongue and speaking
it."
She has a younger sister and her children still living there. But
since she is wheelchair-bound now, travelling might not be that easy, she feels.
But she speaks every week to her sister and a
whole host of other friends. A Dutch couple in Chennai drops in often.
"And every now and then my English padre
(priest) visits India and stays with me for a few weeks," she says.
Living quietly in the noisy Apollo Hospitals area, she has a
Man Friday in Daniel.
"You see, we have no children. Only about 10-11
dogs," she laughs. Yes. There is a whole brood of mongrels that have the run of the house as they are "Daniel's children."
 Johanna has an
astounding memory though she does not think it is such a big thing. "I would be able to recall a relative in Holland and even quote interesting incidents from their lives. But my sister, who is 83 and lives there, would not be able to recall anything!"
"Yes, madam can remember a friend's phone number even after 10
years," chips in Daniel.
The house is filled with sofas, drawers and cupboards brought from Holland and a beautiful
piano from America. "My husband played the piano beautifully. We used to have regular parties. But my husband would not dance. He said he would learn dancing if I learnt driving. We lived 31 years together without my learning driving and he learning
dancing," laughs Johanna merrily.
The Lobos travelled widely even within India - "I have been to the foothills of the Himalayas to the oceans of Kanyakumari and visited many
important cities.''
After all these years, "I really feel I belong here. But I have not become an Indian Citizen.
I love India. But I love my country also and want to remain a Dutch national till the end,"
she says with pride.
She recalls that though her husband belonged to Mangalore he insisted on being known only as an Indian. "Why these divisions? That I am a Mangalorean and that person is a Madrasi or
Bengali? We are all Indians," he used to tell her.
She feels very comfortable in a
churidhar/salwar but thinks the saree is not for her - her father-in-law got her a "golden"
saree for her wedding which she wore some time later and found that it refused to stay on her!
As a member of the Overseas Women's
Club for 10 years, she remembers helping Mother Terasa's children's home in
Chennai.
Both were athletes though her husband used to play cricket and tennis - there used to be a well -maintained court at home as her mother-in-law was a
state-level lawn tennis player, and Johanna was a hockey player in Holland.
How does she spend time now
after such an exciting and eventful life. "Oh, time flies," says the
irrepressible Johanna.
S
Chitra
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