<B>Madan Dulloo</B> <I>LEADER OF MMSM </I>

?To be sincere, my favourite teacher is nature. Of course I discovered that when I was at school thanks to my teachers. I was born and raised amidst nature and poverty, in Roche-Bois and Ste-Croix. I went to Arsenal Street Church of England Aided School (now Edgar Laurent Gov School) where the Bishop of Mauritius would pay regular visits. I remember Miss Donat who frequently spoke about religion and nature.

I was fortunate to join Royal College of Port-Louis where I met great teachers like Camille Nairac, Paul Bancilhon, Gaëtan Beaupré, Jean-Baptiste Mootoosamy, Joseph Tsang Man Kin ? all great intellectuals and extremely cultured. I went on a real journey of discovery and was exposed to tremendous literature. By 18, I had profound knowledge of Homer, Virgil, Ovid, Livy, Chaucer and Shakespeare and all the Romantics ranging from Wordsworth, Keats, Shelley, Byron and others. It was the same for the French classics - Molière, Racine, Corneille ? and modern philosophers, Albert Camus, André Gide and Saint-Exupéry (to name a few) that I thoroughly enjoyed. From thereon, each step of my life would remind me of one of those teachers. Last year, on a mission as Foreign affairs minister in Africa, I was in the midst of the wild and I relived great moments of my school days. So when I designed my greeting cards, I wanted to share moments of bliss with quotes of nature and Woodworth?s: ?Let nature be your teacher (?) nature never did betray the heart that loved her.?

Paul Bancilhon and Gaëtan Beaupré would spend hours on such texts to make sure we could imagine what those poets? experience and also transport us to high perception of nature and its beings, including men. I must also mention Jean-Baptiste Mootoosamy who, had initiated us by the age of 13 to transcendental thinking in Le Petit Prince andTerre des Hommes of Saint-Exupéry, or Rimbeau, Sartre and Gide, etc.

Last but not least, our mathematics teacher and rector, Roger Murat, was a great man, a great teacher and a great teacher of bridge. But I best remember him for turned a trick I used into normality. There were lessons for catechism (by Père Souchon) and Hindu religion and culture (by Ram Prakash). Unlike others, I went to each on alternate weeks. The teachers were so good that they would recap what they had done before. So I never missed anything. When the rector discovered this, he was unhappy but my explanations so convinced him that he offered the possibility to all those who wanted to do the same. I was thus lucky to know more about two great religions.

I will never forget the school activities in which I was involved. I was so involved in excursions that I know most parts of Mauritius. From top to bottom. Just as now; I am so involved in politics, that I am fully aware of all political issues in Mauritius. From top to bottom. (Laughter)

Thanks to my teachers, I was trained not only to live fully in society but also to play an active role in shaping the destiny of people.?