In the absence of any record, it is difficult to know the number of Mauritian expatriates in the United Kingdom. A rough estimate puts the figure between 30 and 40 thousand. Most are concentrated in London, Manchester and Edinburgh where job opportunities are available. The majority have taken British nationality. With the legislation on double nationality, almost all carry both British and Mauritian passports.

Mauritians have the reputation of being law-abiding and hardworking. During my tenure as high commissioner, I never came across anyone falling foul of the law. Most of those who came in the 70s, whether as nursing students or otherwise, stayed on. In time, they brought their families and encouraged relatives to join them. The unmarried ones found partners among their own compatriots without the constraint of religion or community. They bought houses and became permanent settlers.

Whereas the young generation born in Britain do not care so much about Mauritius, the older ones suffer from nostalgia for home. Their ambition is to have a house in Mauritius to spend their last days. In the earlier days, when the number was small, a sense of solidarity had developed creating a compact society with all barriers abolished. The fear of isolation and an urge for security brought them together. As the numbers increased, a new pattern emerged to replicate the social patchwork of separate identities so deeply entrenched in Mauritius.

The disintegration that followed the formation of groups bound by religion and community underpinned the reluctance of the immigrants to break away from the safety of their own ethics to explore the vistas of Western liberalism. This tendency towards ghettoes and apartheid became very much apparent in functions organized by religious groups. The Hindus, for instance, found it easier to join with their peers from India to celebrate Divali where Mauritians of other denominations were conspicuously absent. In Mauritius, we are far more open and warmly welcome Muslims and Christians to all celebrations, weddings or religious festivals. Divali is the one festival, which, like Christmas, imposes no restrictions on its participants. Their accessibility to temples, where the Mauritian Hindus mix with Indian Hindus and find partners for matrimony, encourages their estrangement from their non-Hindu counterparts from home.

The Mauritian Hindus also mix freely and inter-marry with Sikhs. They find such matrimonial alliances more acceptable in view of religious and cultural affinity. The inter-communal and religious social melting pot of the earlier days now belong to the past. It is a pity because the proximity of home through the regular flights of Air Mauritius has stalled the emergence of a new breed of Mauritians transcending the barriers of race and religion.

The Christians in that respect are less inclined to keep to themselves; their social gatherings usually included the whole spectrum of Mauritian society. At the Church services at Leicester Square, the Mauritians of London made it a point to attend in substantial numbers. The absence of foreign elements enhanced the Mauritian character of the congregation. I liked the relaxed atmosphere where I felt at home. Often, among those present, I could recognize familiar faces with whom I exchanged memories of home. I admired the concern of the leading members for the underprivileged in Mauritius. When the news came of damage to property of the poorer class during the Kaya uprising, they immediately organized collections to dispatch aid to the victims.

The Mauritian Muslims are a well-knit community. Their propensity to keep to themselves has given them the reputation of aloofness. However surprising it may seem, the Muslims in Mauritius are more flexible and inclined to adopt many western ways from which the British Muslims recoil. A similar pattern of behaviour is noticeable among Muslims from Pakistan and Bangladesh. Whereas their countrymen back home are struggling for a visa to emigrate to UK or USA to liberate themselves from the grip of the mullahs, British Muslims are taking refuge in religion to shield themselves from the liberal influence of Western values. The large attendance at the mosques and madrassas is a defense mechanism against that influence.

London has become the centre of all sorts of fundamentalist movements suspected of training young men in terrorist activities. Some of them do not hide their identity and loudly proclaim their crusade against enemies of Islam. Kashmir, Chechenya and Kosovo are still on their agenda for lending assistance. My information is that British Muslims are not active in the Middle East because they have not been indoctrinated enough for suicide missions.

During the demonstration in front of our London Chancery in favour of the release of Cehl Meeah, a few Mauritian Muslims were among the group led by the hefty Afghan of savage mien. The demonstration was sponsored by a fundamentalist organization known for its extremist views tainted with violent language against the infidels. The presence of Mauritian Muslims in the demonstration is an irrefutable proof that some of them definitely belong to that organization. Whether they are trained for terrorist pursuits is an interrogation mark. Personally, I would doubt it given the rigour of the training and the risk involved.

The next group I became acquainted with were the Tamils. I never realized there could be so many of them until I attended one of their functions at a kovil in Highgate, which they shared with their brothers and sisters of Sri Lankan origin. Like other groups from home, they have remained faithful to their religious practices and celebrate all the festivals with the same fervour as their elders at home. They observe the Cavadee fast and regularly attend the kovil. I talked to several of them who told me they came in the early 1960s when there were no restrictions for Commonwealth citizens to come to the United Kingdom. The Mauritian population was still a tiny group and there was no racial hatred. They were getting on well with their white neighbours until the 1970s when a sudden large influx triggered a campaign of hatred against black and Asian immigrants. They could feel that life would not be the same as before. Since they have thrown in their lot with this country, they have to adapt and get used to the new environment.

It is a long haul, however, before all ethnic communities could be brought together to create a feeling of common destiny. Whereas blacks find it easy to group together and share with the whites their love for music and dance, the Asians are too shy and live in their own secluded world.

In all the social functions I attended, there was hardly a participation or even a presence of the local whites except the mayor of the borough. The different ethnic groups which make up the British society, will remain for many years a patchwork hoping that it will not end up one day as an enlarged edition of Northern Ireland.

by Satcam BOOLELL

(To be continued next week)