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
Here is an extract from my sixth letter, which is in effect my diary entry for 27 July 1979:
Yesterday we went to Narrain’s for the day and had arranged to stay at Marraz’s the night. Narrain insisted that we stay the night however, so during one of our outings we popped to Marraz’s and cancelled. In the morning, Mim took us shopping in Vacoas. In the afternoon Anil – that is the cousin of the Anil that you know and love – took us to Tamarind Falls and its water reservoir for hydroelectric power. Then we went home very tired so just had a brief walk after dinner and slept.
Two Anils. Anil Biltoo (left) and Anil’s Cousin Anil (right).
Here is an extract from my fifth letter, which is in effect my diary entry for 23 July 1979:
Well here’s what happened yesterday. We completed the move to Garçon‘s house in the morning, had lunch at Garçon’s (after a little shopping in Rose Hill where Anil bought a Chinese trinket box). Then we went in the afternoon for a drive around some of the sites of Rose Hill. We went to Balfour Garden, where there is a beautiful view of waterfalls and they have giant tortoises.
Unlabelled – guessing Balfour Garden
We also went to the Divine Life Society building (a place for weirdos I think).
We then drove to Marraz’s to collect the last of the stuff and then drove to Narrain’s, where we stayed, went for a walk, and had dinner. We then went home and I went to bed quite early and slept well. Today we are seeing some more interesting sites, so tune in to tomorrow’s exciting episode of: – Anyway, see you soon, lots of love, hope all is well Ian H (PS all mail still goes to the same place)
Here is an extract from my third letter, which is in effect my diary entry for 18 July 1979:
Dear Mum and Dad,
Hi! How are things? We are having the time of our lives here!! Just thought I’d tell you about yesterday. First thing was the trip to the caverne (just down the road) with Anandani’s brother (Marraz’s brother-in-law). Then Anil and I were given a papaya by him which he climbed up the tree to get. Then Anil and I went into the village, bought some provisions (i.e. nuts and bananas) and returned home. Spent the hour or so before lunch noshing and resting, as we knew we were going to be busy this afternoon, because Narrain was taking us to the other side of the island.
After lunch Anil, myself, Min and Baby (daughters of Narrain) set off for the other side of the island.
(I think I’m calling all of this but corrections welcomed): Left to Right: Baby, Shahil, Min, Anil, Nanda
Strangely, my memory of the papaya incident was that the gentleman did his stunt on the day we arrived in Mauritius, but it seems it was Day Three of our trip.
We first went to Grand Bassin, a place where the long pilgrimages go in Mauritius (Hindu ones). Then we went to Alexandra Falls and then to see the coloured earth (a plateau with earth of all different colours interspersed). I’ll be bringing back colour sample. There is some wonderful photography to be done in these places so we will return for a photographic session.
Then after supper we went out with our new-found Mauritian friends, down to a drinking house. Rum is very cheap here (£1.30 a bottle) as are bananas (10p for six). All home produce is very cheap. Anyway I’ll finish this letter either tonight or tomorrow.
I wrote letters to mum and dad which doubled as my diary/travelogue. Here is a scan followed by a transcript of the first of them, which relates to 16 July 1979.
For those who struggle to read my beautiful manuscript, here is a dictated transcription:
Dear Ma and pa,
Well here I am, in Mauritius. It’s 7:15 AM and the sun will soon be making its presence felt. We are right at the tail end of the wintry weather (that means cold nights), but wrapped up in a blanket I was quite warm enough, so the assurance that I won’t need the blanket for much longer is quite irrelevant. Mindyou, I’d have slept like a log through anything after getting about half an hours sleep on the plane.
The flight was most enjoyable. At Heathrow we met a Biltoo, Arriss, who travelled with us and being in aviation he knows the ropes. Bahrain, our first stop (at 1:45 GMT 3:45 Bahrain time) was smelly, with workers sleeping around on the airport floors etc.
Seychelles wouldn’t let us off, as it was raining when we stopped there, but the weather in Mauritius was lovely.
We arrived at 11:15 GMT, 2:15 Mauritius time and were met by Marraz (whose home I am in now) Garçon (with chauffeur to take all our bags) and Narrain (whose wife is one of Bill’s sisters). Of course they brought their families with them, (except Narrain as there was no room to 6 kids). First of all we drove to Garçon’s house.
The first thing that struck me on the journey was the extreme poverty. People living in rusty shacks etc. The second thing was the wonderful smell of the island, this mainly caused by sugar cane.
Garçon’s house at Rose Hill is like a mansion. We may stay there for a while. We quickly moved on to Narrain’s house – that was when we met Tiffin (Bill’s sister) and the six children. Then we went to Marraz’s house. Marraz has pull here, so the words Marraz Biltoo got us straight through customs etc. at the airport.
That evening we were visited by the Anglican priest from Catford [Lynford Smith] who I recognise and who recognises me. He says you can’t possibly see Mauritius unless you live with Mauritian people for some time, like I’m doing.
Anyway I’ll be in touch soon, lots of love Ian.
PS Please keep my letters as I’m too busy to write everything down for you and keep a diary
I refer to Anil’s dad as “Bill” in these letters, but I remember him as Dat (or Dutt) and I am pretty sure everyone in Mauritius called him Dat. Perhaps Bill was his nickname or simplified name in England.
This photo, taken later in the holiday, shows the people named in that first letter and some more. Left to right: Anil, Marraz, Anandani (in front of Marraz), Dat (Bill), Narrain (sitting in front of Dat), Garçon, Janee, Tiffin.
