I have to admit that my latest Dutch literature read was selected only because Herman Koch, one of my two favorite Dutch writers up until now, recommended it. When I saw on the cover that he said it was “the funniest and most moving book I have read this year,” I knew I had to read it as well!

Photo taken by Vera de Kok found on Flickr.com with license CC BY-SA 2.0

“Mama Tandoori” is Ernest van der Kwast’s fourth novel. Van der Kwast is a Dutch-Indian writer from Rotterdam with eight novels published so far. This novel was first published in 2010 and was nominated for the NS Publieksprijs that same year.

“Mama Tandoori” is a partly autobiographical story of van der Kwast’s relationship with his mother, Veena. Veena is a woman with a very strong personality. She wants things done her way and won’t take no for an answer; anyone that dares to say no meets her rolling pin. This includes her husband, her children, and a realtor. Veena came to the Netherlands to work as a nurse, and, it was during this time that she met her husband Theo van der Kwast. After much insistence from Theo, Veena finally accepts his proposal to marry and she stays in the Netherlands.

Veena’s preferred method of price comparison is to mentally exchange the amount in Euros or Gilders to Rupees, and, in an effort to haggle the price, makes a comparison about how much that money would get you in India. Haggling seems to be a sport to her and she gladly does it for anything she can. Her favorite phrase is gratis is goed!

Throughout the novel, I had my doubts as to the purpose of this novel. It is autobiographical, but, at times, van der Kwast doesn’t paint Veema in the best light. It isn’t until the second part of the book that the reader begins to understand the journey van der Kwast underwent to understand his own mother. She has a strong temper, she wants to cut her expenses as much as possible and sometimes does it in the worst way possible. But at the end of the day, she is a woman trying to give her family the best. When she realized her eldest son wouldn’t become the doctor or lawyer she had imagined, she does everything she can to “cure him” including taking trips to France to bathe him in miraculous water.

When van der Kwast goes to India to visit his family and learn more about his mother (for this book), he realizes that he is also a difficult man and yet he also has the best intentions with his family. You can read more about this novel on the website of the Nederlands Letterenfonds and you can see more about the play adaptation of this novel and about the writer in the video below.

Overall, I found this novel to be a good read. His way of describing his mom certainly makes her a memorable character and one that keeps the reader in a mix of frustration and empathy. As an immigrant, I can also empathize with some of the things that Veena does including calculating prices in our “mother currency.” I recently saw a meme that said: “No one knows the price of a tortilla until it is in euros.” When I read it, I found it so true and a little bit of the Veena in me became upset about the exorbitant prices of tortillas in the Netherlands.

Despite these differences and the culture clashes, the Veenas of the world live here and make it work. We adapt, we learn to live in the Netherlands, and we slowly become more of here than of there.

Have you read “Mama Tandoori” or did you see the play based on the novel?