Among the countries with an Anglophone-Francophone past arePon-dicherry-Madras, Chandernagor, near Calcutta, Yanaon, an eastern coastalsettlement surrounded by Andhra Pradesh, and Mahe. Indeed, the long-standingcoexistence of a British institutional colonialism with a French culturalone has constituted an important crucible for the post-colonial histories ofmany other countries. In the case of Mauritius, Britain was the formalcolonial power from 1814 to 1968. But the political, economic and culturalimprint of the prior century of French colonisation was still quite strongat independence. It still is. Yet, Mauritius has managed what elsewhere hasbeen a much more problematic, if not tendentious, dual colonial inheritance.If anything, this society has developed a dynamic, adaptive approach tosequential colonialism, decolonisation and sovereignty.

Mark Twain was moved to exclaim that God modelled heaven on Mauritius. Sureenough. Come to the golden, powder-soft coral beaches and the lagoon waterswith the blend of exotic shades of blue, green, turquoise and indigo. Cometo this land of beauty and tranquillity and see for yourself how itscitizens, Indians, Creoles, Chinese and French included, live in peace andharmony. If you are coming from India, you may be shocked to discover thateven the dead, Hindus, Muslims and Christians, are buried or cremated withinthe same graveyard. The country's multi-religious and multi-cultural socialand cultural fabric is intact despite the recent growth of Hindutva andIslamist ideologies. Do not be surprised if you notice the relaxed andsmiling faces on the streets of Port Louis, the administrative andcommercial heart of the country.

After all, the dramatic changes in the country's socio-economic landscapehas brought comfort and security to its 1.2 million people. The FreeEducation for All scheme, launched in December 1976, was a revolutionary onethat has boosted the socio-economic development of the island. Withquasi-full employment, an average growth rate of 5.9 percent per annum andper capita income of US $3400, Mauritius, once a monocrop agriculturaleconomy, has achieved the status of a newly industrialised country and isplaced in the category of high Human Development Index countries. Today, theexport processing zone, which aided the rapid economic growth of the 1980s,is dominated by textile industries.

Much of this island's prosperity is owing to the massive increase in sugarexports and the phenomenal growth of textile industries which has led thecountry to import labour from India, China and Sri Lanka. The tourismindustry offers direct employment to over 13,000 people (10 percent of thelabour force) and is the country's third foreign exchange earner. The Indiantourism industry may learn a lesson or two from their counterparts in PortLouis. Is it not an astonishing feat to attract over 600,000 tourists thisyear to enjoy the sun and sand in this tiny island of approximately 1,865 sqkms?

Yet even in this paradise on earth there are signs of tension anddiscontent. For one, the linguistic differences have surfaced because thecountry, having enjoyed the fruits of freedom for 30 years, has failed toreach a consensus on its official language. English is the language ofParliament and the Supreme Court; French is used by the TV and print media;Creole, on the other hand, has failed to receive official recognition eventhough it is widely spoken. People of Indian origin speak Creole, but theyare now beginning to assert their separate linguistic identity. Recently,the difference between the Tamil and the Hindi-speaking population came tothe fore when the government decided to change the order in which theselanguages were to be printed on the currency.

The protagonists of Hindi and Urdu, patronised by certain organisations inIndia, are active in their respective domains. Though Urdu is taught by 405teachers in 172 out of 280 primary schools, more and more Muslims are optingfor Arabic. This reminded me of Kerala where Arabic schools and collegeshave mushroomed in recent years. However, the most disturbing element, onethat upsets the Indian-born Hindi writer Abhimanyu Unnuth, is the growingstrain in Hindu-Muslim relations. Hindus and Muslims of Indian origin, longaccustomed to sharing each others' cultural and religious symbols, arebeginning to invent their own separate and exclusive traditions. Thoughtheir links with Hindutva and Islamist organisations remain tenuous, theytend to echo the communal debates during the Babri Masjid-Ramjanmabhumicontroversy.

A few years ago much religious passion was generated by Lindsey Collen'ssecond novel The Rape of Sita. Some people objected to the title,believing that the Sita in the book title was the Sita of the Ramayana. Theprime minister, speaking the language of our Bal Thackeray, announced hisgovernment's decision to ban the novel, an outrage against public andreligious morality. The prime minister, however, did not carry muchconviction and his move to ban the novel was eventually stalled by anorganised public campaign. How can the prime minister of a secular stategive himself the power to decide on a subject like religious morality, askedRam Seegobin, a well-known left-wing intellectual and trade unionist.

Perhaps, we should be asking Thackeray the same question following hisoutburst against the film Fire. The debate triggered by the novelmade clear that most people in Mauritius believed in the importance ofliterature and were committed to the author's freedom to express theircreative talent. Unlike some of our own intellectuals who dither when M.F.Husain, Deepa Mehta, Dilip Kumar, Shabana Azmi or the liberal-lefthistorians are needlessly condemned and vilified, the intelligentsia in thisisland were prepared to stand up and be counted in the struggle againstobscurantism and fundamentalism of all ilk. This gives hope to people likeRam Seegobin that the Second Dark Ages may not last as long as the first.