?I?ve seen Mauritius change and experienced the different layers of complexities in society?, reminisces this soft-spoken yet determined lady who left her native country, India, for Mauritius in 1974. She raised her four children here and has been actively involved in education first as an English teacher and then as a rector. Her unswerving social consciousness and faith as a Roman Catholic have ensured that she get actively involved in a good number of worthy causes, such as the Association for Alphabetization. Cynthia spent 15 years visiting Indian detainees in our prisons so that they could ?have someone to listen to them?. She has also put her passions for literature and religion to good use by ?getting into writing?, the style of which she describes as theological literature.

One would be tempted to deduce that such profound dedication would inevitably lead to a sense of belonging, yet she is emphatic when she says, ?I will never be able to call Mauritius my home. I have gained a lot here and I want to give it back but I don?t belong here?.

The early years were undoubtedly the hardest. One senses the nostalgia when she speaks of her beloved village, Tiruchirappalli, where she met her Mauritian husband, her teaching job in a Jesuit school and her six brothers and sisters. Her spouse who was also a teacher longed to return to a recently independent Mauritius and a mother he hadn?t seen in 23 years. ?It was a nightmare in the sense that I wasn?t really psychologically prepared to leave home and the comfortable life in India,? she sighs.

This loneliness was only compounded by the prejudices that prevailed here. People, she explains, weren?t used to seeing an Indian who was a devout Roman Catholic. ?It was very challenging and difficult to integrate socially,? recalls Cynthia. The fact that she was teaching at the catholic Bon et Perpétuel Secours College in Beau Bassin only highlighted this stigma even if today she lauds ?the great moral support? that the nuns unfailingly gave her.

Despite her obligations here, Cynthia never stopped travelling. Since moving to Mauritius, she has studied in Wales and Chicago and even did a three-year stint at a theological Jesuit college in California.

Her children were naturally a saving grace amidst the emotional turmoil that she experienced. ?Thank goodness for them?, she laughs. Now that they?ve grown up they offer her a different type of solace. Three of her children, one would be tempted to call them her diaspora, live in Europe, which allows her to travel often. A recent visit to her daughter, Corina, in Oslo, Norway, is still a source of joy.

Mauritius, she says, has ?a long way to go in its attitudes and professionalism. The insecurity bothers everybody and the political situation is a question mark?. Although she has succeeded in seeing things philosophically, because ?these are the cards and you have to make the most of them?, she knows she ?will not spend the rest of (her) life here?.