They broke down Paradise and put up a parking lot!*

*Lyrics from Joni Mitchell's 'Big Yellow Taxi'

It is said that India is the only country that did not persecute its Jews. It is said to be ever embracing other cultures without making compulsions. The Indian civilization view every moment of time of a lifetime as a continuum, a figment of time, a drop in the proverbial in the ocean of milk a.k.a. Milky Way. People may come and people may go.
Civilizations and conquerors spring and dissipate but Mother Nature drags on through space.
This analogy is succinctly depicted in the history of Mauritius. The inhabitants were leading a peaceful life with their dodo birds and forest. Life was peaceful and the equilibrium was maintained under the auspices of Mother Nature.
Civilizations decadent of their own doings, full of disease and ill intentions had to escape their shores, like roaches escaping their hideouts after a whiff of insecticide, started crawling to their shores. Stories like these are too far too many to be unfamiliar. It happened in Surat, Cochin, Pondicherry, Macau and Hong Kong as history dictates.
For years, Mauritius laid bare uninhabited to be used by Portuguese seaman as a stop over in their exploration out into the Far East. Then came the Dutch who laid claim on the island, squandered all the ebony and killed all the dodo bird just because it was so easy to kill these stupid birds. (I wonder why Dodo Cheng picked this particular bird for her name and not parakeet or peahen which were more aesthetically pleasing?)
The Dutch introduced sugar cane which were brought in from Batavia together with slaves brought from Madagascar and Chinese convicts from Bencoolen.
Mother Nature, with wrath in her path, retaliated with a series of life threatening cyclones. Then, the slaves staged a mutiny. The Dutch found that the Chinese were bad collies, prone to retaliation. Thinking that the island is jinxed, they abandoned post.The French moved in where the Dutch left. More slaves were brought in to work in their sugar cane plantations. They 'culturise' the workers with the French language and culture. After losing the war to the British and the Paris treaty in 1821, the island was annexed to them. The British promised the locals not to disturb the local language and practice. By then, the French culture had been imbibed deep in their psyche. Furthermore many of them were running around with French genes. The British introduced indentured and bonded Indian coolies into this land to work on their vast sugar cane plantations as well as English language to run the country as trade was flourishing. The Indians made good workers. Due to restrictive British policies and economic quandary in Bharat nation, scores of ships with human cargo ply the Calcutta-Madras-Mauritius route carrying cargo from Bihar, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, predominantly.
Cut from their motherland, embracing into their newfoundland, they embraced various cultures that came along, a typical Mauritian today, Indian looking (55% population), can flip flop between languages (French, English and Creole), play an important role in the administration and progress of their only motherland they know. Thanks (or no thanks) to Bollywood, their Indianness cannot be shed off. To complement their masala laced local cuisine, they have Bollywood masala stories and tunes!

When the going was tough, there is always HOPE

Voulez-vous?

இருநூறு ரூபாய்

Tea anyone?

Tamassa Hotel, Bel Ombre, Mauritius

Picture perfect

With the auspices of Lord Shiva Destroyer of Evil! 

http://peopleofindia1868-1875photos.blogspot.com/2013/07/indentured-laboursemi-slavesfrom-india.html

Goodbye 49, Hello 50!

Just when you thought you know everything, something happens and your whole post disappears into thin air and you start thinking, perhaps you need one of those help books aptly named 'Computers for dummies'. Now I have to redo the whole post, sigh!

So I thought to myself...
 What better way to end my half century of existence and to usher in the remaining whatever with a getaway away from it all and indulge in an passion of mine all the same time. Then it popped out from nowhere. Marathon at the sunny beaches of Ile Maurice, Mauritius. 

I can get my fix and my other half can immerse herself in the thoughts on the umpteen Hindi movies that she seen that were shot there in the Indian Ocean paradise. She can make believe that she is dancing amidst the sun, sea, sky and scenery. 

Upon arriving at SSR airport, I thought that everyone would be hyped by the event. Actually, there was hardly any publicity.

14th July 2013. Tamassa Hotel. The shuttle bus took contestants who were staying there to the starting point. Me, a tiny minnow in the company of Germans, Swedish and Frenchmen were greeted by fellow Half Marathoners, numbering less than hundred. There was nothing to note that it was the starting point if not for the 3 buntings placed by the road. Coming from a country which makes a fuss about organizing anything - must have pomp, must have publicity,must have politician to officiate, I was quite surprised! The organizers were giving out last minute bib collectors like me, no fuss. Hey, where is the timing chip, where is my running vest? None of the above. Just a piece of plastic with number and chip imprinted paper, that's fine by me. 

As usual in most international meets, there would always be people with many grouses, and it got to be Indians. We got on by, anyway. I never saw those whiners after that, probably they were busy complaining about the distance!

It was 7am on fine Sunday morning temperatures around 22C and cool breeze, just the perfect climate for a run. The start off was again without any loud drum beats or gun shot - just a count down of 3 in French and a whistle blow. The starting point was Baiu de Cap beach. 

Cruising along the breezy picturesque beaches with the company of serious runners was an enjoyable experience. 

One peculiar observation I made in Mauritius is that the people like to build their houses (whether big, medium or gargantuan) along the major roads. The land around the road is actually pricey. So along certain stretch of the run, I managed to see many indigenous people of the land. They were mainly sea faring people who bear a striking resemblance to the Australian Aboriginal people. Before this, in the airport and the hotel. The workers were Indian looking with Indian sounding names. Even the cab driver was listening to his Mauritian Hindi and Tamil channels without knowing a word of either language!

Saw a few Chinamen (businessmen in towns) who flip flop between French, Creole and English with much ease!

Just when I thought that everything was going my way for my PB, my old cringe at the left ankle just surfaced from Km3! It was more of a nuisance initially but later at point 17km it a major annoyance but I laboured on. 

At about 3.5km mark, we made a u-turn. Again, no chip mat or ribbon. Just a couple of officials manually jotting out the bib numbers. 

As I was running, I was surprised to find myself not to be drenched in sweat as I always do. It is the low humidity. They only had 4 water stations along the way. The interesting difference that I saw here was that they served water, Pepsi, raisins, brown sugar and salt for your taking!

We cruised along the predominantly flat terrain flanked by beaches sometimes, sugar cane plantations on various stage of harvest and resorts. The track became hilly towards the end and ended in a another low key point in St Felix beach. At about the 19km mark, we witnessed a heavy downpour which ended as quickly as it started by the time we reached the checkered flag.  We were ushered in at the finishing point with our finishing medals and well wishes. Suddenly everyone is your friend! That is the benefit of this small runs- more interactions and more personal touch. As reward for our accomplishment, we were given a finishers T-shirt and a French loaf sandwich- bon apetit!

Hey, hey, hey! In spite of the minor setback, I still managed to clock in a decent 2h14m39s for the 21.16km distance. Not a personal best but definitely better on recent times! 

To be in the league of serious runners who indulge in many other trail runs and extreme sports, it is an honour. There were no over sized runners or jaywalking occasional runner or wannabes on this one!