Angela Keesoondoyal (Stumble, Mumble and Fumble ? Outlook 11th July) has suggested that we should all try to avoid and ignore the poor ?Returning Mauritians? because they are rather a nuisance. When she describes these people, I?m not sure that she is living in the same Mauritius that the rest of us live in. Her eight points about the general stupidity of ?Returning Mauritians? seem to be based on fairly stupid assumptions of her own about them and about ?Real Mauritians?. She suggests that the experience of living in another country for a while, makes people stand out in a crowd and also makes them look very silly when compared with all the rest of us.

These are the assumptions that she seems to make:

Only ?Real Mauritians?, who have only worked in Mauritius, can wear flip-flops with style and in other countries, everybody drives automatic cars.

The experience of driving on the right hand side of the road has made the ?Returning Mauritian? forget that the drivers seat is the one where you can reach the steering wheel

All Real Mauritians, when out shopping, make sure their hair is nicely cut, put on clean long trousers, a sober shirt and shiny shoes (would that be shiny flip-flops?)

The ?Returning Mauritian? has more difficulty with language and expressing himself than anyone else in the country.

Real Mauritians don?t like to be hugged.

Real Mauritians don?t show any road rage or complain about how people drive ? they are too frightened of being recognised.

The ?Returning Mauritian? finds it more difficult to get used to the money values than tourists.

Singing Mike Brandt songs and driving large cars should be discouraged.

From my experience, all these assumptions are wrong ? except perhaps that singing Mike Brandt songs should be discouraged. I am sure that ?Returning Mauritians? have very well-developed language skills.

In fact, they are very likely to have developed those skills much further than the real Mauritian. The Mauritian diaspora tend towards being successful achievers wherever they settle. If they return and can buy cars, it will be because they have worked hard and will have no difficulty in recognising which is the drivers seat. Their employers are likely to have been impressed with their personal presentation and language skills ? you don?t get promotion in most jobs by being able to wear flip-flops with conviction. Mauritians throughout the world are great at ?Meeting and Greeting? when they are polite, friendly and appropriate. Mauritians are warm and affectionate. I don?t think that they regard hugging as something only funny foreigners do.

?Returning Mauritians? represent a huge benefit to the economy at home. They bring far more foreign currency into the country than any tourist and are a rich source of expertise and varied experience from which we can all gain immeasurably.

Perhaps, rather than ?avoiding these hapless creatures? we would be better placed to avoid Angela Keessoondoyal and her prejudices. Perhaps she would really like to bua larger automatic car and her own Mike Brandt CD but doesn?t want to work in Europe to do it.

<B>Jules JERRET</B>