'Hindus in Mauritius'

Monday 25th August
Caudan Waterfront
Port Louis
Mauritius
Position: 20 09.62S 57 29.82E

The waterfront where we are tied up is in the middle of a tourist area so consequently a constant stream of tourists mostly local and from Reunion come strolling past. Groups of Indian people sit laughing and eating takeaway on the brick wall metres from us! We can people watch unobserved from inside the boat or from the cockpit we exchange many 'bonjours'. The restaurants and food court are very conveniently located but more expensive than Rodrigues. We intend to explore Port Louis further by foot to see the market and Chinatown. In the meantime we have hired a little car for few days - a Hyundi - smaller than any we've seen in Australia! Bill drove us all around the island which is left hand drive like Oz - a remnant of British rule.

Our impression of the natural landscape is that it is similar to New Caledonia. The countryside is dotted with dark volcanic rocks and many sugar cane fields. However it is a lot more populated (1.3million) of which 52% are Indian Hindus. As it was Sunday yesterday we saw many families out enjoying themselves dressed in beautiful coloured saris. We saw many groups in small mini buses equipped with chairs, tables etc for picnics along the southern beaches. The first day we toured the north of the island stopping for a while at the famous Cap Malhereux (Cape of Misfortune) where we could view the same islands we sailed passed from the shore. As we were sitting in the beachfront churchyard having a picnic a beautiful young girl came past selling little hand made dodo birds. (Dodo birds are now extinct and were wiped out by early settlers not because they tasted good but because they were easy to catch hence the name Dodo -Duodo meaning 'stupid' in Portuguese.) We bought some of these little dodos for the children at home. Chatting to this lovely girl we were astonished to hear her say that Indian boys prefer girls with light skin and that she thought she was unattractive because she has dark skin. We both said we thought she was beautiful and that her name 'Priti' matched her looks. She was not convinced and said Linda's skin was much prettier. We have noticed on our travels that skin whitening products are advertised everywhere and movie stars/advertisements are a full of light skinned people. Linda thinks the ladies here look exquisite whether young or old in their bright saris and dark skin.

One of the most interesting places we visited was the Graand Bassin which is a crater lake which the Hindus call 'Ganga Talao' The deity Shiva and others are worshipped here and the festival in February is the largest outside India. In 1972 water from the Ganges river was poured ceremonially into the lake. When we were there it was cool and misty with many Hindus colourfully and beautifully dressed bearing flowers, fruit and incense to offer their deities. The bright pink, orange, yellow and all colours of the rainbow were reflected in the saris and looked exquisite in the back drop of the lake. The people were collecting water, pouring it ceremoniously and dipping their feet and praying at the feet of the colourful statues of their gods. As tourists with white skin, pale hair and uninteresting clothes we stood out but were tolerated with smiles as we observed and took photos from the outer edge.