<B>SHABNAM ANVARALLY ESMAEL</B>

She settled here in 1995, along with CQ-Tech or Secutech, specialising in wireless alarm systems and hi-tech security equipment. Shabnam Anvarally Esmael is of that generation of foreigners who have had time to see more than the postcard aspect of Mauritius.

Born in Madagascar, brought up in France with a strong Gujerati background, having spent years in Réunion, and endowed with a genuine openness and respect for other cultures, it is hard to imagine a more cosmopolitan person than Shabnam Anvarally Esmael. Administrative director of CQ-tech, a Grand-Bay firm specialising in wireless security devices and monitoring, she is fluent in French and English as well as her native Urdu.

Very communicative, she has been a privileged witness of the changes in local mentalities over the past ten years: “An expat can mix easily with people from different horizons without the traditional barriers. When I came in 1995, along with Secutech, the tendency was to have guests of the same origin at a table. The change is slow but people are becoming more open.” Yet these differences are a source of richness. For Shabnam, the Mauritian way of preserving ancestral roots is an agent of stability. “People still care about creating a family, they have a goal in their lives. And there is also a tradition of tolerance.”

Of course, she has noted the increasing problems concerning security over the past few years. But, from her point of view, the situation is not as dramatic as people imagine.“As Mauritius has undergone remarkable growth in a short span of years, the changes have inevitably brought some delinquency along. However, I think examples of gratuitous violence are less frequent than elsewhere in the world.”

Mauritians have also evolved in education and quality of life. “At CQ-Tech, we note that more and more people think in terms of prevention when it comes to security issues. When one makes a budget for building a house, one has an entry for this item.” The demand for quality is also expressed in terms of aesthetics : “This is the case when we deal for example with automatic entrances and secured gates.”

Shabnam has learnt to love the country. A sign of the times, she has invested in a house on the island. “When I arrived in 1995, I had little time to do anything except work. My parents were somewhat worried when they first visited me. My father felt as if I was lost in a green ocean of sugar cane fields!” Time has passed, and the north is far from being as isolated as this now.

A great fan of classical Indian films, with a particular liking for charismatic actors like Rekha, she also views cultural life as most appropriate to her choice of openness. She enjoyed Carmen last month and just experienced the deep poetry of Ustad Iftekhar Ahmed, a qawwali, “so evocative, and so subtle with the Urdu lines.” So for Shabnam, home is never far away in Mauritius.

<B>Jake NICHOLSON</B>