<B>Mauritius –The new 21st century US</B>

The impact of the international media on Mauritians is unbelievable. After the attack on the twin towers, we’ve got the attack on Grand Bay Store. The saga now continues with the St Paul sectarian suicide, a copy cat of mass suicide of sects like Ordre du Temple Solaire and Waco Davidians.

There is no doubt that nothing very exciting happens in Mauritius and that the rest of the world is not much concerned with us in their daily news. Does this justify the need for us to turn around situations so they sound more exciting?

The results of the FBI concluded that the Grand Bay explosion was nothing more than kitchen gas. However, we had to defy their reports – American investigators are not as good as Mauritian investigators, are they? Or do we have such a close relationship with Americans that terrorists want to take revenge on us?

Sectarians usually mirror their leader. Did the leader of Eckankar in Mauritius commit suicide? Did he incite any of his fellows to such an act? The answers are naturally no. Once again, we are just trying to make things bigger than what they really are just to sound cool towards the rest of the world. We are just ignoring facts and logic to instead rely on imagination.

May be we, Mauritians, need to find something more original if we want the whole world to turn towards us or are we just after tabloids?

<B>Shela Thanacoody</B>