Imagine you get on a plane and see a bunch of Indians. Then you see some of them wearing saris, with bangles and bottus (bindis). You'd think it's a good bet that when they speak to each other, they'd speak in Hindi or some other Indian language. But when they start speaking, it's in French! This is what is called cognitive dissonance. And this was the feeling we had during our entire trip to Mauritius.
Mauritius has an old relationship with Indians. Back in the 1800's the British Empire took a bunch of Indians (along with Chinese) to the island to try out what they called "Indentured Labor". Basically these people were entered into labor agreements voluntarily - this was proposed as an alternative to slavery to show that there was a way to get cheap labor without coercion, and in a way which would lead to exchange of culture and harmony. It was such a huge success that the idea is still in practice all over the world. What this also meant was that the island was now full of people of Indian origin!
Historically Mauritius was ruled by the Dutch, then the French, then the English before finally getting independence. Of these, the French had arguably the most influence as the people speak mostly in French, even though the official language is English. One of the guides we met said that at the time of independence, Bhojpuri was actually the most widely spoken language on the island. I can believe that.
By and large the people were very friendly, as you would expect in an island nation. The biggest crop is sugarcane, but one of the biggest contributors to the economy is tourism. Like I said, they are all Indian-looking people but they don't identify with India. Things you would hear from recent immigrants to the US like "Oh you're from India, so am I." would never be heard there. Most people look at India as a place that their ancestors had something to do with, but for the most part they don't know anything about it. Their cuisine is mostly continental. The Indian food that they do cook is mostly stripped of all spices and even salt. In the hotel we stayed in, when we got served Indian food, we started adding salt without even tasting it because we knew they wouldn't add salt.
The people there speak of religion and language interchangeably. Apparently when their ancestors first came here, they stayed with people of their own community - Hindi, Tamil, Telugu etc. So later when they started growing wealthier and building temples, they built their own temples. So when you ask someone there what his religion is, he'll reply, "I'm Telugu"! It took a little time to understand what they meant.
The entire island itself is quite small - 790 sq miles. The road signs read "North" and "South"! And being in the Southern Hemisphere, they have their winter when we have summer. So I can see why people from India prefer to visit there in the summer. More on our experiences next.
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