The Matriarch
Margaret Outschoorn
“But Dutch Bar is the best,” Margaret Ootschorn repeats. At ninety-two, she is among the oldest members of the Portuguese Burgher community in Batticaloa. Displaced after the 2004 tsunami, she now lives in Thiraimadu, a resettlement village built for her community. Though she has moved many times in her life, it is Dutch Bar she still calls home.
Margaret Ootschorn received me in the modest house she shares with her daughter in Thiraimadu. The resettlement village was built after the tsunami destroyed Dutch Bar, the tight-knit coastal settlement where her family had lived for generations.
She spoke of Dutch Bar as a place of proximity. “If you had a problem, they would just come over.” The church was within walking distance. Weddings were announced for weeks in advance. Tables were cleared in the evening for dancing and wine. Life unfolded collectively.
Here, she said, when her daughter leaves for work, she is alone. “Now people are like strangers.”
We spoke about language. The older generation had spoken Portuguese at home. Schooling in Tamil altered that continuity. “Our children forgot Portuguese,” she said without accusation. “What can we do? It’s like they don’t need it.”
After our conversation, I walked through the settlement. Several members of the community sat by the roadside in the late afternoon light. A new church was being built nearby — concrete replacing the old wooden structures of Dutch Bar.
Months later, Margaret invited me to her grandniece’s wedding. Kaffirinha music filled the hall. There was wine, dancing, laughter. She insisted that modern weddings are not like before. Yet the room moved with familiar rhythms.
Dutch Bar no longer stands. The memory of it does.
Batticoloa
October 20, 2012
Transcript and translations
Language
Subjects discussed
But Dutch Bar is the best!
We really struggled after the tsunami and so we came here. But before then, we lived in lots of different places. We lived in Sinhala Mahavidayalaya. After that, we came to Thiraimadu. After that, Panichayadi. Even when we were in Panichayadi, for a while we stayed in Thannamunai. But there [my husband] died. After that we didn’t move. We ended up in Thiraimadu.
But Dutch Bar is good. Dutch Bar is the best. Dutch Bar got its name from an uncle. He named the place Dutch Bar. For everyday life, Dutch Bar was perfect. Everyone was close by. If you had a problem, they would just come over. Our church was nearby too. It was good for everything.
Here when my daughter goes to work, I am alone. If I need something, I have to go myself. I have to go! Now life is not good here. There we lived happily and peacefully with our people. That sense of togetherness is not here. Because we were like children born to the same mother. Now people are like strangers. Now only very close relatives come to see us, not everyone.
I wanted to go back to Dutch Bar but [my daughter] said no. We shouldn’t go back. The water took all our things. We can’t go there. But Dutch Bar is the best.
Our weddings…First we go to the church to get permission and then we exchange rings. After that, for three weeks the church will announce the wedding is taking place. The next morning is the wedding. The groom and bride go to the church to get married with everyone’s permission. And the wedding is over.
Our tradition is Portuguese Burgher. So we all spoke the Portuguese language. Our children can’t speak it anymore. They can’t speak Portuguese. After our children started going to school, the other children were speaking Tamil. So our children forgot Portuguese and began to speak Tamil. If the older generation was around, they would speak it.
What can we do about it? Of course I am sad. But what can we do? It’s like they don’t need it.
The weddings then weren’t like nowadays. We served cake and wine. At lunchtime, the bride, groom and everyone sat around tables to eat. Then in the evening, we moved the tables away…then wine and dancing! We danced into the night and for a while longer, we had some more fun.
About this portrait
Interviewer: Kannan Arunasalam
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