What Mauritius Needs

Nothing is absolute; all is   relative,   since any thought or actions cannot be seen outside of the context in which they exist or happen. The good or bad we know or perceive is heightened by our experiences or senses, and that there is no way of arriving at a universal adage. What someone   think   is good may or may not be good to someone with different contexts or experiences. In fact, good and bad are relative. But now, this could lead to utter anarchy. There must be some things which are either entirely good or entirely bad. Unquestionably, irrevocably. For thousands of years, most people believed that telling the truth, not stealing, being faithful to your partner, being kind, keeping your word, forgiving people who’ve done you wrong, and not murdering were  absolute truths . If people disobeyed these truths, they knew their actions   were wrong . This is not the case with most Americans today. In the last 50 years, there’s be...

What I'm about to write in this post may be considered as racist by a select few minds. Hopefully, if you intend to read further, you are not one of them. Don't get me wrong, but I love brown skin. I have brown skin or to put it simply, dark skin. And it took me 20 years before I could feel 'okay' about calling my skin color attractive. I started loving my skin color when I started to feel attracted to women 'of color' as westerners would place it. But I really learned to take pride in my skin color when I moved abroad. All those years of self-judging as a young teenager, I certainly felt that appearing fairer would make me prettier. This, even though I don't have anyone in my family or immediate entourage who has ever chastised or ridiculed the darker spectrum of skin color. I must have most undoubtedly picked it up from attending kindergarten where apparently the only pretty girls or boys were the fair ones. Of course, in that context as a...

I am very often alleged to behave too much like stereotypical 16-year-olds. And I do take that as a compliment. I don't tend to walk greys. So when you party, you party hard and when you study, you study hard. It's about adding the maximum of your energy and optimism into something. I think it's important that we remain excited about everything, about the tiniest thing happening around you. It not only helps boosts the positivity within you but also automatically makes you happier and a highly aura-projecting soul. I prefer exciting people. Boredom and people is just, well, boring. Get yourselves more exciting, it makes you so much more alive! Trust me! And I don’t mean it in a way to just make your personality shine a tad brighter, but to make you feel good about yourself, for your overall health and well-being. I just want to share a little story from my backyard. I have a grandmother and she’s pretty young by mind. She talks. About the news, world affairs...

This morning, I overheard my aunt and our house maid having their daily morning chat. I had just woken up and had tooth paste froth in my mouth as my aunt eventually called me and pronounced in a high pitch voice how some neighbors had invited over 100 people during the weekend to celebrate their daughter's coming of age. In the kitchen, both women sounded quite surprised by this occurrence and although they didn't drag the talk too much, one of them didn't stop herself from commenting: "Bizin fer tou dimune conner quand tifi inn vinn grande fille?" (Why do they have to let everyone know that their daughter is now a Big Girl?) I pulled my tooth brush from my mouth and tried to articulate: "Zot ban Tamils?" (They are Tamilians?) My aunt acquiesced. Celebrating a woman's first menstruation is followed in several cultures. And it definitely not unique to South India, from where the ancestors of the Tamil people of Mauritius come ...

At the beginning of your happy, jolly journey on Earth as a little h-oo-man, it’s just you. You get all your parents’ attention, sharing and another little h-oo-man that would snuggle himself in your seat at the dining table remain two alien concepts. Then, before you know it, you’re a big sister to a baby brother. You swell with the importance of your new responsibility – until you realise that it’s a life-long commitment. My brother and I are six and half years apart in age. Naturally, there were those few years that involved constant fighting and him blaming everything on me and somehow never getting in trouble while I took all the heat. But what are the Perks of being a Big Sister to a Little Brother?  1. You get to dress him up in female clothing For the first couple of years, before he is impregnated with any preconceived societal ideas of gender identity, you get to have him wear your Mom's bras and have him apply bright red lipstick. Heck, now that I...