I am faced with a dilemma. My friend, who happens to be a billionaire ? as opposed to me who have nothing to my name ? has just lost his father. When I go to the funeral, do I go empty-handed? Or do I give him a cheque for Rs10,000 with the hope that this will make him feel better?

I?m sorry to be so morbid. It?s not a laughing matter. I am actually using this sinister analogy to try to make a point

I am not too keen on making, for fear of sounding callous and cold-hearted. I?ll make it anyway because I deem the matter important enough to risk facing the wrath of people who might feel offended ? and rightly so ? about what may be perceived as cheap and mean.

For what it?s worth, it?s not. Let?s call it self-preservation. Navin Ramgoolam, Prime minister of Mauritius, goes to the Chinese embassy to sign the condolence book after the devastating earthquake that happened in China, killing thousands and thousands of people.

It?s the hardest thing to do, offering condolences. One never knows what to say. I mean, what do you say to the representative of a country whose people have just died in masses?

Imagine Navin Ramgoolam saying to the Chinese ambassador,

?Well, dear friend, what can you do? That?s life.?Would that have been out of order?

I don?t think so. That?s what you say when facing forces bigger and more powerful than us, be they human folly or climatic wrath. But I?m digressing. Let me go back to my initial point. When one of the world?s superpowers, a country feared by the US precisely because of the sheer magnitude of its economic growth, is facing a hardship, a natural catastrophe, does a tiny and poor country like Mauritius that depends very often on the generosity of superpowers like China, offer a cheque for $300,000 as a condolence gesture? There is something unsettling about this gesture; something unnatural, slightly akin to the feeling one has when a child dies before its mother.

I am sure there are other ways through which we could have expressed our condolences, without making our own people seethe with resentment.

I don?t know if people in government stop and think about the way the public will interpret their decisions while they?re making them.

In this instance, in case they are not aware of what people are thinking, let me help. The general feeling is: ?Oh we have to tighten our belts because government doesn?t have money but the country has enough money to throw away in an ocean of money? We have to make do with a Rs 400 wage compensation while government gives away some Rs 10 million?? Selfish, I agree. Heartless, maybe.

Unwarranted, I don?t think so. China has our heartfelt sympathy. But money, we don?t have to spare. Like I said earlier, sorry if that sounds cheap.

But some things need to be said, regardless.