Ode to My Tainted Dreams

Climate Change: The theme for this year’s Blog Action Day, barely a surprise since this issue has been gracing the headlines for, god knows, how much time now, hooting warnings about the ‘mere’ two degrees that can change our lives forever and that most of us don’t even care about. To tell you the truth, it is hard to care, with the recession hitting and your money being more important that your planet. Humans have this tendency to care more about materialistic matters rather than devoting themselves to a cause they can barely understand.

Climate Change, the hot topic selling the newspapers, the main focus of scientists and one of the issues we manage to hide deep in the back of our mind. True enough, who can say that he thinks about climate change or any other environmental issue everyday, trying to find a solution to this global problem. Even I can’t say that, though sometimes I do feel like an environmental freak. Why, though? It’s because we feel that we, by ourselves, do not have the power to change the whole world. Of course, we don’t. What can one single person, among the 6.791 billion ones forming the world’s whole population, do. Continue reading →

Back to reality, Sayuka and I should probably go to, but the past two days were so dream-like that one feels that real life is in fact dull sometimes.”Let’s have a sleep over,” we decided back in February when we received our results. Among all the things we wanted to do, this had been top on our lists for some one or two years now, without ever receiving permission for it. Thing’s weren’t that easy, with our overprotective mothers who weren’t not that willing to let their girls go somewhere else to spend the night, not that we haven’t done it before… But I think going to someone’s home rather than a bungalow near the beach or a seminar organized by the school is way different.

Knowing that a full-proof plan was needed, for, of course, we were going to be bombarded with questions about the why and stuff. The best strategy needed to be adapted to get past the barriers our supermoms created, and after dropping clever hints for months and crafting the perfect reasons, we decided to present our cases to our mothers. We almost jumped in joy when we heard the oh-so-awaited “yes” uttered by our mothers! We had wanted this for a long time, but somehow everything was rushed. The previous week, I told the girls that they could come whenever they want, and suddenly, Wednesday arrived, with me hurrying to go meet them. Continue reading →

A woman is said to be born three times: the first being her real birth, the second is when she gets married and the third when she gives birth herself. Each time, she is given a new life, in which her role changes and to which she has to adapt. Most would agree that the best ‘life’ ever would be the time between her birth and her wedding. She is pampered, mostly by her parents, taken care of very carefully, for she is the flower that they have to look after until she blooms into a beautiful bride.

This particular moment brings out the most contradictory feelings, for a daughter’s wedding is the time when happiness hand in hand with sorrow sees the bride off to her new home. Which is why weddings are usually celebrated with lots of celebrations because it usually means a new stage of life for the couple, and here in Mauritius, it’s certainly no different. Being quite influenced by both the western and eastern culture, our weddings tend to have a touch of both.

In my family, we have tried to keep most of the rituals, if not all, that one has to go through when getting married, especially for the bride. From what I have experienced, the parents and the relatives all manage to turn the already-not-so-simple wedding into a long one, but one which prepares the bride both mentally… and physically. Continue reading →

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I was really surprised when I received this letter today. Well, to be more precise, it was addressed to my parents rather than to me. But since the envelope bore my name, I had the honour of opening it myself; a luxury I’m not used to, since all my letters get opened by my parents.. The reason being, our letters are not delivered at home but at my father’s shop. Continue reading →