phi blog page

Hellish week

2004-11-28T21:41:00.000+08:00

This week has indeed been hellish for _phi_ in both his personal and professional life. Things could never go lower than it has been. When one is down the only way to go is up. So _phi_ is looking forward to start this new week afresh.

After a few weeks back in his trip to Europe, transiting to Toulouse and Paris to London and Geneva, Europe has left a lifetime of impression on _phi_'s view of the continent. First stop - Paris. _phi_ with his "masala" of languages tries his version of Molliere language at the airport "Mamzelle , est-ce ki vous savattez ou moi can get en touche avec la zolie Nathalia" (translates to Maam, do you know where I can find Ms Nathalia - _phi_'s virtual love on the net). La belle demoiselle a l'aeroport regarde _phi_ avec ces belles bleue yeux and answers in a typical haughty french accent:"Je ne parle l'anglais. Can you speak French" Duhhhhhhhhhh c est une callote pour _phi_,taking his pride in the master of the language of Shakespeare, he answers :"Miss, I cant speak french very well. Can you speak in English?" La belle francaise devient rouge de colere, faisant _phi_ se rappelle c'est dans ce pays que le grand napoleon a tue des millions au nom de la republique. She barks back:"Monsieur, je parle l'anglais et le francais. A rome, on fait comme les romains!!!" _phi_ is taken aback... Is he in Paris or in Rome... he double checks his surrounding and sees the "Bleu Blanc Rouge" flag outside. Confused, lost, _phi_ thinks "Ils sont fous ces romains".

So _phi_ carries in the big crowd at the airport for his muse - Nathalia. He goes around and listen to every one's voice trying to match to the beatiful unique voice the beautiful mermaid of the internet. Mais le destin a decide autrement. Nathalia would remain a mirage in the desert of the internet. So valises en main, _phi_ quitte les pays des francais et romains, pour se diriger vers le pays de Shakespeare.....

London and Geneva were a breeze. But surprisingly french girls are much prettier than Brits or les swisses. This reminds _phi_ that this is the country where les belles demoiselles Bonita et Nathalia habitent. Mais les vilains visages comme radio et pedro y aussi sont(lolz). Maybe to balance a perfect society, one has to balance the ugly and the beautiful. God is indeed great!

Back in Singapore, _phi_ is moved to the Planning. After more than 5 years of engineering work, management seems a bit daunting. And it came with lots of unexpected and bad experiences. In a corporate environment, a good manager is one who can give his subordinates concise tasks, after cleaning up the project related points at the senior management level. I had the privilege to work 4 brillant managers, at a such a point that I took them for granted. But then with my current project, I am working with a new manager who was from the technical line. One has to understand once one moves to management, one has to macro manage rather than micro manage. My current project has increased my stress level because managing more than 20 people and a relatively new manager, has become daunting. My nicotine consumption level has gone up drastically. But then again one has to realise that work is just an aspect of life. Work should not be taken personally. In a true corporate environment one has not to lose the big picture: Get the product out and get the shares up!

Some bad news came along. My dada and dadi (grand father and grand ma) passed away. I will pay a tribute to them in those next 3 paragraphs. Having left mauritius at the age of 18 and having hardly passed much time with my grandparents, I have an image of my dada and dadi as very able people. But after time, my parents back home told me that they have become senile and actually death was a blessing.

My dada, most of us from our generation would not remember. My dada was among the founders of independent Mauritius. He was the MP of Vacoas/Phoenix. Having held a seat in parliament for 10 years. He was the founder of the trade union for sugar cane planters. Dada was born in 1906 in a poor family who emigrated from Bihar (India) to Mauritius in search of a better life. He lost his dad at an early age and was the sole bread winner together with his mom. That time, during the colonial times, indians workers were not well treated. Dada saw the value of education and was one of the first graduate during his time. He worked his way in a world of british colonial times to become the first non-white school principal. He remembered his roots coming from a laborer family and worked for the sugarcane planters welfare. In honor of his great work for the country, a school was named in his name at Piton.

Behind a great man there is always a great woman. That was my dadi. While my dada was struggling with the politics during those tumultuous times, dadi ensured that all her kids got the right amount of caring. While dada was the tough one, dadi was the loving one. Both of them did a great job. In the family, there emerged doctors and top civil servants. I grew up in an environment of politics. I remember seeing ministers to be at my doorstep. When I was 9 years, I chitchatted with SAJ during some government senior management family day. If me and my brother are what we are today, it is due what dada and dadi did. The last words that my dada told me:"Le future de la famille est dans ta main maintenant. Fais moi fier". I will dada, uphold all the values that you have lived your life and you will always be in my heart. God bless dada and dadi's soul!

Ex-gfs are ex for a reason they should remain so. I learnt it a hard way a few days back. I was dating and planning to settle down with a medical student. Work got in the way - travelling, long working hours. What was meant to happen, she found some one else's shoulder to cry upon. Life is like that. After months apart, a moment of craziness took and i decided to call her. It is amazing after being so close to someone, that someone has moved on with her life, things change. I have dated and broken up before. But everytime trying to talk to ex-gfs are the worst feelings one can feel. It rekindles a love which is forbidden and iciness that must exist coz she is seing some one else. I drowned all that sadness yesterday in 15 bottles of beer. Beer does help to bring a sober aspect to things in matters of heart.

In the madness of drunkedness yesterday night, _phi_ decided to get back to his old bad habits - hacking. It is amazing how in Dalnet.hackers channel old friends still remember TheOne. Some network suffered some of my frustration yesterday. I apologise for that. I am planning to set a website with all the tools I have written in my discovery of the loop holes in networks. Keep tuned to that. But usage will be at your own risk and peril. Do remember destroying or damaging networks carries a prison term in most countries.

_phi_ has had a tough week. This week's blog was just a way to put in black and white a snapshot of his life. _phi_ will surmount those. He always had! What matters in Life is happiness, every thing else is secondary.

regards,
_phi_

Happy Diwali and Eid Mubarak

2004-11-13T04:25:00.000+08:00

4am
_phi_ is still awake and starting to curse his holidays. Holidays dull the brain and has gotten _phi_ back to smoking. Sipping his favorite beer DUFF beer and heaving his huge belly on the couch and watching TV, Homer ooopss _phi_ switches to a pensive moodd - without a brain,switching to a pensive might a bit difficult task, but somehow the beer accumulates in a crysal bulk in the skull of _phi_!

On the eve of Ramadan and on Diwali, the world is mourning a martyr of freedom - Yasser Arafat (http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/arafat.html) Whatever the West says of General Arafat, he fought what he thought was best for his country. General Arafat was an engineer who worked for a big company after his graduation and even had a masters. But instead of going for a material wealth, he dedicated his whole life to fight for his homeland. This itself is an achievement that humbles me. But during his life he has made a few mistakes (breakdown of peace talks with Israel-US recently, support of Saddam Hussein during the Gulf war).

There was this incident I remembered 10 years ago, on BBC live radio, the presenter was turning aggresive to Yasser Arafat. And Mr Arafat said:"You watch your tone Mr X, as do remember you are talking to General Arafat". This is how I remember General Arafat today. He thee was the man who walked talled among others. He stood by his belief till the end. Being of the moslem faith, he died in auspice time.

Homer aka _phi_ wakes up out of his reverie as the crystal of duff beer just melted. So he does what he does best, switches on his laptop and somehow on the xterm terminal, his fingers type "xchat &"

Et _phi_ se retrouve dans un environment tres familier ou les gens ont des noms comme radiomoris,Segaman,Is|bonita Nathalie,Z etc etc. And somehow he feels very much at home. Wierd is that feeling. Is it after so many years of duff beer he is living in a virtual world. May be he is still in the Matrix.... fcuk..... Wasnt there a time in another network, namely dalnet, my nick was TheOne...... So this is true I jumped from one matrix to another one. Crap, no wonder my zizi was not working for so many years. We are still in the matrix!

As _phi_ was getting to try his charm with the ladies in his matrix world, his favorite line being:"_phi_: asl? (if u r < 18 ... no no no cybersex - i get caned for that)", some one on this wierd thing called channel invites him to launch the online radio. Holy cow, now radio has gone online! _phi_ wonders when it would be when it would be that sex would go online as well.

Soon _phi_ is dancing to the tune of the radio. Yeah baby. Here he is on diwali day listening to radio and on iRc. Not going out clubbing, getting drunk and getting rejected by all the single pretty hot babes. Nah _phi_ made the choice to stay back home to listen to online radio and iRcinnng... A great step for mankind indeed.

Then out of the blue, a magical enchanting voice just like a mermaid murmurs on the radio. Mais bien sur he is not referring to Z or KinSou.... _phi_ just fell in love. She goes by the name of Nathalia. _phi_ has found something greater than duff beer and self pity. He has found the calling of the lovely voice of Nathalia.

Happy Diwali and Eid Mubarak people

cheers,
_phi_

P.S: As usual this written article is a fictitious work with fictitious references to fictitious people. We all are living in a ficititious world having fictitious sex but having real duff beer

IRC bug just caught up with me

2004-11-10T01:38:00.000+08:00

4 am
_phi_ is still awake and fully enjoying his holidays. Great day today indeed! Having spent half a day tutoring C-programming to a dear friend, gymming (benched 70Kgs today yippieee) and played squash. "Indeed a healthy day - A sound mind in a sound body" says _phi_ after finishing his second cigarette....

After 5 years of self-banishment from IRc, I have been very active on both mauritian IRc servers. Why this sudden interest in IRc all over again? Sheer boredom ... maybe, but so far it has been a real eye-opening experience.

It is amazing when one thinks about it. Mauritians all around the world meet on those IRc servers to chat about their daily lives. IRc phenomena, as indeed it should be referred to, has given a new meaning to the term of Global Village.

When I first logged to the IRc networks, I was very much surprised how creole has changed. Some of my most hilarious learning experience: "toune - meant ass" and all the way I thought it referred to a sweet :) and was using accordindly(_phi_:Mone mange 2 tounes azordi") Due to the different age groups and different backgrounds of people on those channels, you do meet "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly (me of cozzz)" But then again one has to take those experiences with a pinch of salt. It is still nevertheless a cyber world.

The good experiences: I got to meet old friends again such as Shane, Jamiil, SimpleGuy.
Shane ahhhh .. childhood friend of mine, who used to be the hunk during uni days, with tons of girlfriends (many malayisian gals had their hearts broken by this Casanova), one of the pioneers of IRc EfNet. Jamill, what to say about him so much to say... my roomate for one and half year... That guy is a born hacker... Give him a 486 with BSD and a phone line, CIA would be in deep shit (rumors have it that Dalnet are pressing charges on Jaammm :D) SimpleGuy, one of the first "Dadas" on IRc Dalnet. I used to piss him off really during my teens times with my bogus threats of hacking his sites! This chap was and is still very helpful chap when it comes to open source s/w.

The sour experiences: You do meet morons who like refering to one's mom's and making full use of the colorful expletives in the creole language. No hard feelings there as most of them are still schooling - iRC is like giving candies to kids to them. Who am I to tell them anything? I was indeed the same or worse during my time :S

But generally it was a good feeling to be surrounded by Mauritians. It was nice to speak about politics, world economy again etc. Having spent all those years with Americans,Singaporeans, Indians etc., it was real breeze of fresh air. You guys have made me realise how it feels to be a mauritian again. Merci!

To those who created those servers (indiscriminately), I humbly salute your effort in making this possible.

regards,
_phi_

02 Nov - Une date qui sera depuis longtemps dans les annals de l'histoire

2004-11-06T20:41:00.000+08:00

Excerpt: This article gives my sarcastic perspective of the events which transpire on the 02 Nov 2004. For those of you who are SADLY not billingual (English / French), the litteral translation from google is "02 Nov - a date which will be for a while in the an*s of history ... ". On a more serious note it translates to "Nov. 02 - A date which will be for a long time in the annals of the history"

1am - 2Nov As I sat sadly in front of my Godsend 15inch TV, with Cable (Another heavenly gift - better than sex or beer .... hmmm let us count beer out of this), I ponder on the events of the day. Un peu plus tot dans la journee, mon patron me telephone sur mon portable pour me demainder un rapport qu'il a besoin pour une conference importance. Il m'avait donne cette tache 2 jours de cela. Etant un typique mauricien, je decide avec toute la sagesse de mes plusieurs experiences de faire les taches a la derniere minute, je decide de les faire at 1500 quand le deadline est at 1600......Mais merde cette fois ci, la tache est plus compliquee que j'avais pense... 1559....tic toc tic toc... 1600... un chinois a la face rouge comme le diable fait une apparition devant moi !!!! Vous avez bien devine, c'etait que mon patron. 1600-1630, je me fais enguelle. (English translation .. goddamn you english speaking ppl ....go and learn french like any good human being...didnt you know that Jesus and Buddha spoke FRENCH !!!!)

Siggghhhh.... what a day indeed. Moral of the story next time I shall give myself a deadline of 2 hours.......

Ok back to my favorite past-time, watching TV (other than beer hmmmm....my frenz sometimes do call me Homer .. go figure out why!). Here was Mr Bush on the small screen all beaming after finishing by scoring 51% for the US presidentials... mais merde la derniere j'ai score 69 pour mes examens, mes parents m'ont presque bani de la famille.But then that was the US... the American Dream ... sighhhh how I was born in the US and maybe I would be having a cool name as Bush ..... The American Bush Dream would have been mine...

While listening the never-endless speech of Bush on how he will fulfill his promises to the American people and destroy those who are related to Bin Laden, some one among the news folks present mentioned told: "Mr President, I would like to inform you Yasser Arafat was dead. What is your reaction" This announcement woke up me out of my reverie and immediately google with Yasser Arafat.....

Damn that chap was the reason "Small Sam" - Israel of course - was shaking in his pants. Damn what a day! Would it ever get worse! First Big Sam elected a bush for president, then small sam just lost its only element to cordial accord with the extremists- Bin Laden and Co

Then God heard my prayers or my complaints whichever he saw in his list from me. CNN annouces:"The rumors that Mr Arafat was dead, IS NOT TRUE. I repeat IS NOT TRUE. He is right in a reversible coma". Damn! The poor bastard now is a vegetable. Being of muslim faith had he died now, he would have gone to heaven. But a vegetable, not sure about that one... need to go and check my bible.

Well after all those events of the day, I decided to add some joy to my life... What else? Beer you might think but then I was broke. So next choice book a slut for the night ... did I not say earlier I WAS GODDAMN broke.... So next alternative IRc .... Aaahhh in our search to better ourselves great mauritian minds have created GigaIrc and Moris.net!

Why would one ask oneselves mauritius being so small there are 2 irc servers? Duhhhh ..... it is Mauritius dude we need to have two rival parties every where - in our politcal arena itselt we have MSM/MMM and PTr. Do I need to go further? Ok being a neutral party I log on both, hoping some hot chicks would chat with me.

Surprise was I when I join Giga, every one is underage ... oh man, people get caned in Singapore for cybersexing underage girls. Ok hope not lost, I log on moris.net, Goddamn it every one is above 40.

OH MAN what a day indeed was the 02Nov.

Cheerio mates
_phi_

Genie in a bottle baby.....

2004-11-05T11:46:00.000+08:00

A woman was walking along the beach when she stumbled upon
a bottle. She picked it up and rubbed it, and
lo-and-behold a Genie appeared. The amazed woman asked if
she got three wishes. The Genie said, "Nope, sorry
three-wish genies are a story-tale myth. I'm a one-wish
genie. So...what'll it be?"

The woman didn't hesitate. She said, "I want peace in the
Middle East. See this map? I want these countries to stop
fighting with each other and I want all the Arabs to love
Jews and Americans and vice-versa. It will bring about
world peace and harmony."

The Genie looked at the map and exclaimed, "Lady, be
reasonable. These countries have been at war for thousands
of years. I'm out of shape after being in a bottle for
five hundred years. I'm good but not THAT good! I don't
think it can be done. Make another wish and please be
reasonable."

The woman thought for a minute and said, "Well, I've never
been able to find the right man. You know, one that's
considerate and fun, likes to cook and helps with the
house cleaning, is great in bed and gets along with my
family, doesn't watch sports all the time, and is
faithful. That's what I wish for .. a good man."

The Genie let out a long sigh, shook his head and said,
"Let me see that map again.

Un article du Mauricien

2004-11-04T14:17:00.000+08:00

Excerp: "Dans cet article Gilbert Ahnee du Mauricien fait une comparaison assez comique de Maurice et Singapore."

Source: http://lemauricien.com/mauricien/index.html

Était-ce un don du hasard ou de la nécessité ? Quoi qu'il en soit, cela permettra d'éviter le cliché quant à Singapour supposément supermarché sans âme. Car ce fut un moment d'intense bonheur. Comme les Marsalis - Wynton et Brandon -, les frères Okazaki - Yoshiro et Masanori - sont également trompettiste et saxophoniste de jazz. Ces deux Japonais, diplômés de Berklee en Californie et vivant à Tokyo avaient fait le voyage vers la ville-État, le week-end dernier, pour trois Jam Sessions dans un club de son Waterfront. Si c'est l'inavouable recherche d'un paquet de cigarettes qui avait conduit l'auteur de ces lignes, autour de minuit, vendredi dernier, dans ce quartier animé, c'est un son puissant, un be-bop des années 50, à la manière de Dizzy Gillespie et Charlie Parker, qui entraîna ses pas dans ce club enfumé. Avec au piano une Japonaise également, très enjouée, installée depuis des années à Singapour, un bassiste et un batteur superbes, tous deux Singapouriens. Devant une petite centaine d'amateurs manifestement connaisseurs. Et ce fut comme le point d'orgue d'un voyage en Asie dont la très riche partition reste encore à déchiffrer. De quoi mesurer peut-être combien nous jouons faux à Maurice.

Même à Hong Kong, où l'on conduit à gauche, il faut montrer à certains taximen la carte-clé de l'hôtel où l'on loge pour qu'ils comprennent où l'on veut être déposé. Et quand on revient d'un voyage de dix jours en Chine, avec transit à Hong Kong, le premier confort que l'on ressent en arrivant à Singapour c'est de trouver un chauffeur de taxi qui vous fait la conversation en anglais. " Now rich tourists will not come to Singapore only for shopping. They can buy on Internet. Now our Government wants to develop education in Singapore. Then parents will come to visit their children and spend their money here. And we must have good entertainment for them. When you will come back to Singapore, you will see another Singapore ", affirme un autre taximan, en route vers l'aéroport de Changi. Nous nous étions offusqués lorsque, vers fin octobre 2002, au moment de la décision d'Infosys de s'installer à Maurice, le journaliste singapourien Narendra Aggarwal avait, dans le Straits Times, persiflé quant à ce choix de la société indienne, jugeant que Maurice n'avait qu'une " back laid touristic culture ". Pour rageant que cela soit de l'entendre dire, cela est, hélas, peut-être vrai.

Voici une quinzaine d'années, nos pouvoirs publics nous affirmaient que Maurice devrait être le Singapour de l'océan Indien. C'était à l'époque du boom et du plein emploi ; le slogan eut un certain effet. Mais il ne fut pas forcément suivi des mesures requises pour rendre crédible cette ambition. Voici un peu plus de deux ans, à l'occasion du National Day de la ville-État, le 18 août 2002, son premier ministre d'alors, Goh Chok Tong, prononçait un important discours, dans lequel il exprimait l'ambition culturelle du pays : " To support our entrepreneurs, we need to develop an overall environment that encourages people to discover, create and experiment. Studies in the US have shown that entrepreneurship is closely correlated with the level of cultural vibrancy […] Norio Ohga, Chairman of Sony […] advised me to spend more to promote cultural and artistic activities […] Studies have shown that the arts can help individuals to become more creative, in areas beyond the arts. They are an important source of inspiration and a powerful avenue for individual expression […] We understand the importance of arts and culture in making Singapore a cosmopolitan city. If we are to prosper economically, we cannot focus on the economy alone […] To encourage creativity, we have built the Esplanade Arts Centre. It is a big investment. But it is a clear signal… ", affirmait M. Goh.

On veut croire que la cultural vibrancy évoquée à Singapour n'a rien à voir avec le cultural jockeying for position dont notre pays est affligé, rien à voir avec ces clichés dont nous n'arrivons pas à nous défaire et selon lesquels nous serions, à Maurice, au plan culturel, éminemment plus riches qu'ailleurs. Certes, nous avons les ingrédients d'une très grande richesse mais nous pourrions bien ne pas avoir la recette de leur fécondité. Et ce n'est pas en prenant connaissance des propos tenus, à l'hôtel Gold Crest, par certains titulaires de postes publics qu'on est rassuré quant à la capacité de notre île de vibrer de son identité plurielle. Si, en faisant preuve d'infiniment d'indulgence, on peut tolérer que le ministre Fowdar mette en garde son auditoire afin que " lezot dimounn pa vinn dan nou teritwar ", on se doit de condamner dans les termes les plus vifs le fait que le Speaker de l'Assemblée nationale, l'homme qui est censé incarner l'équité et la colour blindness sociale et politique au cœur de notre démocratie puisse s'associer à une telle démonstration de back laid societal culture.

À Singapour, la société Hindoo Trading écrit aussi son enseigne en idéogrammes chinois. À Singapour, Little India est tout à la fois un quartier d'intense activité économique et une attraction touristique. À Singapour, le visiteur étranger qui débarque peut trouver gratuitement sur des présentoirs, à côté des plans de la ville mis à la disposition des touristes, le Esplanade Diary, publication trimestrielle de 140 pages annonçant les diverses activités culturelles. Nous y repérons, pour les mois d'octobre, novembre et décembre 2004, programmés dans les divers Theatres on the Bay, des spectacles des plus divers, venant d'une large variété d'horizons culturels, ne négligeant pas non plus l'expérimental et la fusion.

" A range of exciting multicultural arts festivals and events will bring the best of world culture and artists to Esplanade this quarter ", écrit Benson Puah, le CEO de The Esplanade Co Ltd. Jugeons-en un peu : d'octobre à décembre, la comédie musicale Mamma Mia; au mois d'octobre, le second concerto pour piano de Rachmaninov, le festival Made in Singapore, mis en scène par les locaux Adrian Pang et Kumar, le 20e Festival du Film Français ; au mois de novembre, l'atelier Little Asia Dance Festival, de la danse odissi avec The Sacred Flame de la Nrityagram Dance Foundation, une soirée ourdoue avec du qawwali, notamment le Sufiana Kalam de Hazrat Amir Khusro ; en décembre, un hommage - Hits of 1904 - du Singapore Symphonic Orchestra à Sibelius, de même que deux concerts du musicien américano-turc Latif Bolat. Et encore plein d'autres propositions.

Au Mauricien un peu chanceux, il reste le souvenir lancinant de la trompette et du ténor des frères Okazaki. Les autres devront se satisfaire du festival de Port-Louis entre Chaussée et jardin de la Compagnie. Around midday… Mayday !

A piece on Mauritian history - the Indian Diasporo

2004-11-04T14:16:00.000+08:00

"On ne peut mieux apprecier le present et preparer un meuilleur avenir, seulement si on comprend vraiment notre passe/histoire. C'est dans cet ligne de pensee que je poste cette article sur le dispora indienne dans notre ile."

Source: http://allafrica.com/stories/200411020524.html

The 2nd november is an important date in the history of Mauritius because symbolically, it marks the day when the first indentured Indian labourers reached Mauritian shores.

Their arrival and the multitudes who followed in their footsteps forever altered the demography, society, economy, and politics of this small Indian Ocean island.

● Mauritius as unique

In 2001, the report of the Indian Government's High Level Committee on the Indian Diaspora mentioned: "It would not be an exaggeration to say that among all the countries in which the Indian Diaspora is located, Mauritius must be regarded, for more than one reason, as unique and distinctive." There are three specific things which make the Mauritian experience unique and distinctive in the history of the Indian Diaspora in the world: the Aapravasi Ghat, Grand Bassin or the Ganga Talao, and the Indian Immigration Archives at the Mahatma Gandhi Institute.

Firstly, the Aapravasi Ghat, or "the landing place of the immigrants", is a spot where more than 400,000 Indian labourers landed and stayed during the first 48 hours after their arrival in Mauritius between 1848 and 1910. Therefore, as a monument and lieu de mémoire, it is unique in the history of the Indian Diaspora. Secondly, there is no other place outside of India where the descendants of Indian immigrants were able to create an important place of pilgrimage such as Grand Bassin or the Ganga Talao where, annually, hundreds of thousands of Indo-Mauritians go to worship.

Thirdly, the Indian Immigration Archives at the MGI in Moka contains the biographical data of more than 450,000 Indian immigrants who came to Mauritian shores between 1834 and 1924. In addition, more than 200,000 passport-size photographs of mostly Indian immigrants, which were taken at the Aapravasi Ghat between 1868 and 1890, are also housed at the Indian Immigration Archives.

● The genesis of immigration

In 1829, a handful of Mauritian planters introduced 1100 Indian labourers to work on their sugar estates but, in general, this labour experiment proved to be a major failure and, within a few months, the labourers were repatriated to India. However, between January 1830 and August 1834, there was a small trickle of indentured Indian labourers who came to Mauritius. But, it was only during the second half of 1834 and after, that large-scale Indian immigration to Mauritius began. Furthermore, it is also important to mention that in February 1835, the British officially abolished slavery in Mauritius and after serving a four-year apprenticeship period, the island's more than 60,000 apprentices were freed in March 1839. During the second half of the 1830s and after, thousands of Mauritian apprentices left their former owners and settled in different parts of the island.

During this period, the local sugar planters began to import Indian labourers to supplement and eventually to replace the apprentice labourers to work in the island's sugar canefields, in their homes, and in Port Louis. Between November 1834 and March 1839, almost 26,000 Indian labourers were landed on Mauritian shores. However, immigration from the Indian subcontinent was suspended in May 1839 only to be renewed in January 1842, when it became controlled and sponsored by the British governments of India and Mauritius and a Protector of Immigrants also was appointed in Mauritius.

● The demographic revolution

Between the mid-1830s and early 1860s, as Mauritius was experiencing a prolonged sugar revolution, a demographic revolution was also underway. In 1835, the Indians made up less than 4% of the colony's total population and by 1860, they constituted more than 66% of the total population. During the course of the second half of the nineteenth century, as many historians have pointed out, the composition of the local population of the other British sugar-producing colonies was not altered in such a dramatic way and over such a short period of time as in Mauritius.

In all between 1834 and 1924, around 450,000 Indians were brought to Mauritian shores, with around 290,000 remaining and 160,000 returning mostly to India and some even migrating to other British colonies such as Natal, Fiji, British Guyana, and Trinidad. Therefore, Mauritius was unique among all the British colonies because it received the greatest number of Indian immigrants.

● "The Great Morcellement Movement"

During the 1840s and after, the Old Immigrants, or those who had served their five-year contracts and remained in Mauritius, had saved some money and began to settle outside the sugar estates. They either bought or squatted on small patches of land in the rural areas and some even married ex-slave women and others settled in Port Louis. Gradually, between the 1840s and 1860s, a small rural Indian peasantry was emerging as they acquired small patches of marginal lands and became small cultivators and raised domesticated animals. At the same time, others became small traders and hawkers.

It was only really between the 1870s and 1920s, that a large and important class of rural Indian landowners began to emerge in Mauritius. During the last thirty years of the nineteenth century, with the stagnation and gradual decline of the sugar industry, many of the sugar barons sold their marginal lands which were located on the fringes of their sugar estates to thousands of Old Indian Immigrants and a few Indian merchants and traders in what became known, according to Richard B. Allen, an American historian, as the 'Great Morcellement Movement'.

By the early 1920s, the Indo-Mauritians owned around 40% of the island's valuable arable lands. As a result, most of them became small cultivators, many others became small-scale sugar growers, and a handful were large-scale sugar producers. This Great Morcellement Movement of the late 1800s gave rise to a large Indian bourgeoisie and peasantry by the early 1900s which was gradually becoming involved in the island's politics during the first half of the twentieth century.

The 2nd November is not a day of celebration, but rather a day of commemoration and of deep reflection on the arrival of the first indentured labourers, their toils and sacrifices as well as their great contribution in the making of Mauritius.

God's best creation

2004-11-04T14:15:00.000+08:00

GENESIS 1
1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
4 And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.
5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.
...
6 The God made Adam and Eve
...
A few centuries later, God realised what a big mistake he made and then God made HOMER SIMPSON

Quotes from theeee great Homer:
"Sometimes the only way you can feel good about yourself is by making someone else look bad. And I'm tired of making other people feel good about themselves."
Homer Simpson

"You tried your best and failed miserably. The lesson is: never try."
Homer Simpson

"The answer to life's problems aren't at the bottom of a beer bottle, they're on TV."
Homer Simpson

"All right, brain, I don't like you and you don't like me - so let's just do this and I'll get back to killing you with beer."
Homer Simpson

"I'm going to the backseat of my car with the woman I love, and I won't be back for TEN MINUTES."
Homer Simpson

"Bart, with $10,000, we'd be millionaires! We could buy all kinds of useful things like...love!"
Homer Simpson

"Unfortunately, son, we Simpsons sometimes have to bend the rules a little in order to hold our own."
Homer Simpson

"Dear Lord: The gods have been good to me. For the first time in my life, everything is absolutely perfect just the way it is. So here's the deal: You freeze everything the way it is, and I won't ask for anything more. If that is OK, please give me absolutely no sign. OK, deal. In gratitude, I present you this offering of cookies and milk. If you want me to eat them for you, give me no sign. Thy will be done."
Homer Simpson

"The strong must protect the sweet"
Homer Simpson

"Ah, sweet pity. Where would my love life have been without it?"
Homer Simpson

More on
http://www.jokes-quotes.com/contentid-237.html

It is time to look further ahead Mauritius

2004-11-03T14:16:00.000+08:00

http://allafrica.com/stories/200411020593.html

Let me point out some salient points in the article.

We have all the assets that would make us a dream-team for outsourced projects: Billingual(French/English), good IT insfrastructure, stable political scenery and an educated population and more importantly CHEAP LABOR.

But then for the past 5 years it seems that our beloved motherland has missed the wagon. Unlike China,India and Singapore, we have achieved minimal progress.

The biggest MNC that has landed on our shores for the past few years was InfoSys. And a few call centres from France.

Why you might ask yourself? Simple enough the Government has not achieved enough to woo the foreign investment. Even though I applaud the actual government trying to bring in business from India (may be it is the fact that most mauritians are of indian origins, we feel more comfortable working with them), the thing is India itself relies on outsourcing for its own economic growth. Why try to get a piece of meat from the Lion, when we might as well go for the dear itself.

It is sad to observe that we have not forged closer ties with the US, whose MNCs are in an outsourcing boom mode. What about those rich-oil countries who are opening their doors to the world? They have IT projects ready to be outsourced to the world as they dont have the man power to work on them. Recently the Singapore Government realised the golden opportunities lying in the middle east and the Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong started building ties at the government level.

If the Government does not do anything drastically, we will miss yet another wagon to diversify our economy. It is high time that Mauritius proves itself to be the Lion of the Indian Ocean, title which it has yet proven to the outside world.

regards,
_phi_

Beer v/s Vagina

2004-11-02T14:15:00.000+08:00

BEER vs. VAGINA

1. Beer is always wet. Vagina needs a little work. One point to BEER

2. Warm beer tastes awful. One point to VAGINA

3. A really cold beer is satisfying. One point to BEER

4. If after taking a swig of your favorite beer you find a hair
between your teeth, you may vomit. One point to VAGINA

5. If you get home reeking of beer your wife may get mad, make a
scene, kick you out, etc. If you get home reeking of vagina your wife
may get mad, kick you out, even leave you. There's definitely a point
to be had here, depending on your point of view and personal
circumstances. Call it a DRAW for the time being.

6. Ten beers in one night and you can't drive home. Ten vaginas in one
night and you don't want to drive anywhere. One point to VAGINA

7. If you have a lot of beer in a public place, your reputation may
suffer. If you eat any p***y in public, you become a legend. One point
to VAGINA

8. If a cop stops you and you smell of beer you may get arrested. If
you smell of vagina he may buy you a beer. One point to VAGINA

9. You normally don't find old beer. One point to BEER

10. Too much beer and you'll think you see flying saucers. Too much
vagina and you'll think you've seen God. One point to VAGINA

11. Ripping a beer bottle label is boring. Ripping off panties is fun!
One point to VAGINA

12. In most countries there's a tax on beer. One point to VAGINA

13. If you have another beer the first one never gets pissed off. One
point to BEER

14. You can always be sure if you're the first one to open a bottle or
a can. One point to BEER

15. If you shake beer it'll get all agitated but it eventually it
settles down. One point to BEER

16. With beer you always have choice: clear, dark, pilsner, ale,
lager, etc. One point to BEER

17. You always know how much beer is going to cost. One point to BEER

18. Beer doesn't have a mother. One point to BEER

19. Beer never expects to be hugged for half an hour after you've
drunk it. One point to BEER

FINAL SCORE: BEER: 10 VAGINA: 8

That's it! The matter is settled, the clear winner is: BEER

PS: If you are a woman and at this point feel angry, degraded or
discriminated, just remember that Beer would experience none of those
feelings, let alone express them. Therefore, an extra point for
BEER!!!!!!!!!!! Yay!!!!!!

Programmer's nightmares double-pointers

2004-11-02T14:14:00.000+08:00

These past few days, I have been helping a friend of mine with her school labs. It involved pointers (aaarrrrhggghh... most undergrads nightmares) and double-pointers (arrrrggghhh... C-gurus worst nightmares). I have always thought of myself to be pretty much good at pointers, but after getting a dozen core dumps, I decided to go back to the basics and re-learn pointers and even worse DOUBLE-POINTERS.

I found this great link which explains the basics of pointers:
http://www.codeproject.com/cpp/PtrToPtr.asp#3

Even though the article refers to C++, it can be easily be applied to C. If any one needs help on double pointers leave a comment, we will talk via email.

regards
_phi_

My fascination with phi=1.618

2004-10-04T13:29:00.000+08:00

Some of you might wonder what is phi. Well phi actually stands for the number 1.6180339887... Our world, our universe, our body everything around us is based on this magical number.

PHI has been inferred as being divine. Far-fetched as it may sound, the religious belief is that God used this number to create our world.

Not yet convinced check out http://goldennumber.net/bible.htm

PHI has been used in today's world for surgery, stocks....

If this short synopsis has sparked your attention, do read that book
"The Davinci Code". Shall talk about it another blog