I wrote letters to mum and dad which doubled as my diary/travelogue. By 10 August, it was clear that I’d arrive home before the letters, so I concluded my journal using scrappy note paper. Here’s a scan of the four pages that remain.
I should point out, to completists in search of my diary entries for 10th and 11th August, that it seems those have got lost. I know that, on 10th August, I did track down the Jewish businessman in Port Louis whom I had sought in vain on 9th. I strongly suspect that my notes for 10th and 11th August were stored with the article I wrote about my 10th August encounter, which, sadly, my mother threw out with other items of my juvenilia which she decided I couldn’t possibly wish to keep. No, I am not over it.
An overview of my 1979 trip to Mauritius, courtesy of the wonderfully hospitable Biltoo family, can be found by clicking here or below:
Here is an extract from my “Remaining Journal”, which is in effect my diary entry for 17 August 1979 – my last diary entry written during the Mauritius trip.
Friday 17th of August 1979 –
Having stayed at Marraz’s, we went on a grand family picnic at Palmar (and Belle Mare). Had a terrific time there and in the evening we ended up with a sort of improvised party with Janee’s nephews, nieces and cousins. We stayed at Garçon’s last night, with a mind to finishing our shopping in Curepipe with the help the chauffeur.
Even now, with dozens of hotels along that coast, both Palmarand Belle Mare still have public beaches, where lovely people such as the Biltoos and their extended families might well still party, as we did.
This looks like Manjula’s belated birthday party. Whether this is the same as the “impromptu evening party” at the end of our trip or not I cannot be 100% sure, but based on other diary entries mentioning its postponement several times, I think it might well beManjula looks as though she has been at her daddy’s bottle of rum, but perhaps she was just tired out from all the excitement of the day.
Elements of the beach party – playing ball games, dancing, eating and generally having a good time – are charmingly recorded on cine film – to be seen towards the end of this video – c8:30 to c11:15
These gatherings/parties at the end of our stay were a highlight among many highlights for me – the culmination of unforgettable and life-forming experiences over five weeks in Mauritius.
An overview of my 1979 trip to Mauritius, courtesy of the wonderfully hospitable Biltoo family, can be found by clicking here or below:
Here is an extract from my “Remaining Journal”, which is in effect my diary entry for 16 August 1979.
Thursday 16th of August 1979 –
Went out shopping with Ahalia (bought a tablecloth and one or two gifts). Moved back to Marraz’s about noon, whiled away the afternoon and in the evening we had a dinner party there ( Garçon, Janee and kids, Narrain, Tiffin and most of their kids).
Standing Left To Right: Anil Gooly, Tiffin Gooly, Narrain Gooly…the other five are all Anil Gooly’s siblingsSame as above with Dat Biltoo, Me, Anil Biltoo and the family dog included. Goodness knows who took the picture. I’ll guess Marraz
An overview of my 1979 trip to Mauritius, courtesy of the wonderfully hospitable Biltoo family, can be found by clicking here or below:
Here is an extract from my “Remaining Journal”, which is in effect my diary entry for 15 August 1979.
Wednesday 15th of August 1979 –
Anil and I went shopping in Curepipe this morning, and this afternoon Jan Sooknah took us for a drive to see some beautiful places around Moka which we hadn’t seen.
This evening we went to Dan’s and got back late for a late dinner and now bed.
Perhaps this picture is Floréal or Curepipe or Moka
An overview of my 1979 trip to Mauritius, courtesy of the wonderfully hospitable Biltoo family, can be found by clicking here or below:
Here is an extract from my “Remaining Journal”, which is in effect my diary entry for 14 August 1979.
Tuesday 14th of August 1979 –
At Sooknah’s; did very little during the day, except in the afternoon his brother in law (Dan) and his wife (Sheila) came around. They invited us over for tomorrow. Anil and I were supposed to go to the postponed party today, but it was cancelled at the last minute because of the strikes.
Instead we had another interesting chat (Ahalia is very good at those) and went to bed.
I don’t think I got any pictures of Jan Sooknah and his family. He was a wealthy barrister who lived in Floréal. I don’t think he wanted me to take pictures, otherwise I would have done.
An overview of my 1979 trip to Mauritius, courtesy of the wonderfully hospitable Biltoo family, can be found by clicking here or below:
Here is an extract from my “Remaining Journal”, which is in effect my diary entry for 13 August 1979.
Monday 13th of August 1979 –
Went early to Shahil’s, but because of bus strike, his father had to shuttle all the workers to work et cetera and so we couldn’t make an early enough start to go to Île aux Cerfs (as planned). Instead we want we instead we went to Grand Baie and other resorts along the north coast.
We returned early to be collected by Jan Sooknah. We went to his place, had dinner there and chatted until quite late.
I’m pretty sure this picture was taken at Grand Baie that day. Left to right: Dat Biltoo, Anil Biltoo, Shahil Soniassy, Nanda Soniassy, then Mr & Mrs Soniassy with Shahil & Nanda’s two younger siblings.
An overview of my 1979 trip to Mauritius, courtesy of the wonderfully hospitable Biltoo family, can be found by clicking here or below:
Here is an extract from my “Remaining Journal”, which is in effect my diary entry for 12 August 1979.
Sunday 12th of August 1979
Stayed at Marraz’s last night, went to Garçon’s in morning for lunch and went on to the races with Shan (sports editor of Le Mauricien) who took us (Anil and I) into the press box. We didn’t do very well at the races, but anyway, we went back to Marraz’s for dinner and the night.
I was wondering how I got such a good spot for this photo
Shan Ip Ting Wah was still hanging around the Mauritius Turf Club as recently as 2016 (interview in French/Creole):
One thing I do recall very clearly was a difference of opinion between Marraz and Garçon in the matter of introducing me and Anil to the “joys” of horse racing. Garçon was a real fan of the racing, as evidenced by much of his letter to me a couple of months later:
Marraz was not keen on racing…or at least not keen to initiate a couple of 16/17 year old lads into the scene. I recall Marraz being pleased when he learned that we had not done well that day and that he issued a stark warning about gambling.
In my case, the Marraz line of argument won. I had been a little uneasy about gambling on both of our visits to the racecourse in Mauritius and never really got the bug for it. But I can see it as a fun day out and we have several times organised days at the races for our staff – e.g. this one:
I kept detailed notes of my 1979 trip to Mauritius, but unfortunately, my notes for 10 and 11 August are lost to all time. My mother decided to throw away a heap of my juvenilia memorabilia, which inadvertently included some of my Mauritius diary pages, as I wrote up my 10 August notes…
…for the BBYO National magazine on my return. I stored those diary pages with my article notes rather than my diaries.
Anyway, by a process of elimination and a trawl through the photographs, I have concluded that the following day, 11 August 1979, must have been the postponed birthday party for Manjula Biltoo, the older of Garçon and Janee’s children. Perhaps her 5th birthday? The party was held at Garçon and Janee’s lovely Rose Hill villa – coincidentally fewer than two miles, no more than 30 minutes walk, from the Beau Bassin site where the extraordinary “Mauritian Shekel” story described in the link above had unfolded in the 1940s.
…as well as enjoying their Rose Hill home as our base for much of our other time in Mauritius.
As there is no reference to Manjula’s birthday party anywhere else in the diary…but there is a clear batch of photos from towards the end of my stay (but not right at the end), I’m pretty sure that 11 August must have been the day of that party…
…thus I have pulled together a photo wall from that party.
I have had a go at labelling up the names, but am hoping for some help from the Biltoo community (e.g. Vanisha, Manjula’s younger sister) in filling gaps and improving spellings.
Manjula with Anil BiltooManjula, Garçon, Vanisha and Anil Biltoo with assembled familyBhavesh Biltoo (Marraz &Anandani’s son)Janee, Vanisha, Manjula and Garçon Biltoo front row. Cousins (I think from Janee’s family) back row.On the left I think Mim Gooly?Baby Gooly?, Shahil Soniassy, Mim Gooly?, Anil Biltoo & Nanda SoniassyAnil G9ooly with Nanda SoniassyMe with Nanda Soniassy. The image of my head from this photo became the “Ged Ladd” avatar several decades later.
I have used several of these pictures to illustrate other write-ups from other days, but I can tell from the photo numbering that those above are from that super party.
I can also report from memory, although not from diary notes, that the party was a very jolly affair, with much of the extended family present and a good time had by children, young adults and more senior folk alike.
Unfortunately, my notes from the interview I conducted on 10 August and my copy of the piece I published in the BBYO National magazine about it seem to be lost for all time, as a result of my mum throwing out rather a lot of my juvenilia without asking my permission. I am still cross about it.
However, as the strangest quirk of fortune would have it, my friend John Random, on seeing my “Jew Hunt In Port Louis” piece, was reminded of a book he once saw at a Mauritian community fair, The Mauritian Shekel. I explain the “aha” moments in this piece, from August 2019.
Now that I have read that book and been able to do some further digging on-line, I am in a position to recreate to some extent the extraordinary interview I had with Isia (aka Isaac) Birger in Port Louis on 10 August 1979.
I recall going to a sizeable office building and being shown into a large office within. In those days, I was unaccustomed to “big businessmen” and the super-sized rooms, desks and chairs that affirmed their status as such.
Mr Birger was very welcoming and interested in my mission, once I explained that I was a newly-appointed editor of a Jewish youth magazine keen to find an interesting angle on my travels.
He then told me the extraordinary story that was subsequently (decades later, at the very end of the 20th century) written up in the book The Mauritian Shekel.
In short, Mr Birger was, at the start of the second world war, probably the only Jew in Mauritius. In 1940, many Jews were trying to flee Nazi-occupied Europe. One group of 1600 refugees, who managed to escape by boat to Mandatory Palestine, were, uniquely, deported from there as illegal immigrants and taken to Mauritius for detention throughout the war. Beau Bassin prison was converted into a refugee camp/detention centre. This unique Jewish community resided there for the rest of the war, after which most went to Mandatory Palestine and some returned to Europe.
Mr Birger, in his capacity as the only known Jewish resident on Mauritius at that time, acted as an intermediary for this involuntary community. He told me several of the fascinating stories covered in the book.
It transpires that, even more latterly than the 1999/2000 book, in 2007, a South African film maker, Kevin Harris (no relation), made a film about the story, see below:
Meanwhile, back in 1979, this story was an absolute coup for me. It made a most unusual piece in the BBYO national magazine and the story also became a centrepiece of a programme I took to many groups around the country in my capacity as a visiting speaker from the National Executive.
I wish I still had my original notes and I’d love to uncover a copy of the article I wrote up at the time – someone might still have a copy of that magazine gathering dust in their attic, so the article might yet emerge.
Still, the process of re-finding the story and pulling the evidence together from limited sources has been a fascinating and stimulating one.
