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 ninth letter, which is in effect my diary entry for 4 August 1979:
Here is news of yesterday. We did not go into town yesterday, but had another lazy day. In the evening Janee’s sister and brother-in-law came to dinner which was pleasant. Anil and I both had an early night as Anil had an asthma attack and I felt a slight cold coming on. It doesn’t seem to have materialised very much today, however, and I’m beginning to think it may just be a relaxed throat or something.
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 eighth letter, which is in effect my diary entry for 3 August 1979:
Today yet again we did an awful lot of nothing, with nothing of note happening at all.
Tomorrow I think we’re going back into town for the afternoon or something; I don’t really know
I’ll use this “lot of nothing” day as an excuse to put up several pictures of the Biltoo family down south.
Anil, enjoying doing an awful lot of nothingAn awful lot of cards – Manjula, Anil and (guessing) the hand of JaneeManjula and VanishaJanee and GarçonI bet Janee really appreciated me taking this photo
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 eighth letter, which is in effect my diary entry for 2 August 1979:
Yesterday we went to the Delaître’s house. The reason that we were invited really was that they have three sons of our own age, (18, 17, 16). The eldest boy has a dark room at home, and not only is photography a common interest… wait for it… he’s an ardent Zionist (shock horror) yes he definitely .wants to live in Israel and feels that that country is his calling. Unusual to say the least. (How many other Christian Mauritians are Zionists, I wonder?) Anyway, that aside, all in all we had a fascinating day and evening there.
I have two strong recollections about our time with the Delaître family. The first relates to the conversations about Israel and Zionism with the son. My political awakening had started around that year and I was questioning much about the status quo. Anil and I had several long discussions about politics before Mauritius and a great many while there. So I recall finding myself, in conversation with young Monsieur Delaître, arguing an equivocal line about Israel and the policies of its relatively new, hawkish government. I especially remember a conversation with Anil afterwards, in which we both bemoaned the impracticality of the more extreme positions, in which one side repeatedly questioned or denied Israel’s right to exist, while the more hawkish Israel-supporting line seemed immune to calls for Palestinian self-determination and/or the notion of land for peace, despite that approach seemingly having succeeded with the Israel/Egypt peace accord.
Ardently flared, those jeans.
The second recollection was later in the day, as we gathered around the Delaître television to see the news. The father, Jean Delaître, who was the head of the Mauritian Broadcasting Corporation, had been severely criticised by the opposition party for something or other to do with sport. I think it was to do with broadcasting a sport that wasn’t boycotting South African participants sufficiently and there was even a risk that Mauritius might be excluded from some pan-African games unless it complied, as a nation, more comprehensively in anti-apartheid boycotts. Something like that.
The reason I recall it so clearly is that the news broadcast explained the story one way and then a few minutes later, when Jean Delaître got home, he explained the story from his own perspective, not least the complex web of interests and opinions he needed to try to accommodate whenever he makes a decision. I remember finding that experience very interesting and enlightening. I also clearly remember thinking that it was far too elaborate a story to write up in one of my letters.
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 eighth letter, which is in effect my diary entry for 1 August 1979 – TRIGGER WARNING – the rest of this piece is not for the squeamish:
On the first we did very little in the day but in the evening we had a young fella to dinner who plays first division football (in the team that won the cup); another interesting fellow.
(FOR DAD’S EYES ONLY:– On the way back from taking the footballer home, Garçon ran a hare over, luckily only damaging its head. So we took it home, skinned and gutted it and will eat it for dinner on Monday: – I WARNED YOU NOT TO READ IT, MOTHER*)
* bet that made yer stomach churn, mother. PS It doesn’t have wings.
Janee, who was, after all, a doctor, conducted an autopsy on the hare before declaring him “fit for human consumption”.Anil had a full head of hare in those days.
Here is an extract from my eighth letter, which is in effect my diary entry for the evening of 31 July 1979:
I said in my last letter that there would not be much to report for the next “goodness knows how long” and here’s a letter arriving on your doorstep the same day (I think) as we can’t post letters here at the seaside so the two are having to go together. And of course, I should not of underestimated my hosts so much as to think that very little would happen.
On the evening of the 31st (unbeknown to me at the time of writing the letter on that day) we had for dinner Mr and Mrs Delaître, Mr [Jean] Delaître being the director general of MBC (that’s the Mauritian equivalent of the BBC). He is an extremely interesting fellow, having been in parliament and chairman of the Youth Council for 20 years. (We have been invited to his house for the day today; we will be leaving soon)
Jean Delaître – this picture links to its article from L’Express Mauritian
Here is an extract from my seventh letter, which is in effect my diary entry for daytime 31 July 1979:
Today, also, we spent the day playing Carrom, dominoes and with the children and exploring.
This week is supposed to be a lazy week, so there won’t be much to report I shouldn’t think. Plus don’t expect a letter within the next couple of days but in about a week, unless of course we do decide to do something worthy of report.
At the moment one of the kids is throwing a tantrum and my ears ache. But all in all I’m having a great time. So see you soon, lots of love, Ian.
I wonder whether it was Manjula or Vanisha in tantrum mode that day?
Left to right: Garçon, Manjula, Janee, Anil, Vanisha, Dat (Bill)
Here is an extract from my seventh letter, which is in effect my diary entry for 30 July 1979:
Yesterday, we moved south. It took two journeys to get everything down and I was in shift two, thus I didn’t get there until lunchtime. I had time, thus, for a quick wander around Rose Hill.
The summer bungalow is really beautiful down here, and the rocks are great for exploring. The sea is too strong to swim in, though, so we have to go about half to 3/4 of a mile for safe beach.
We spent the afternoon and evening playing carrom and dominoes and exploring rocks.
