Local colour in Ramesh Ramdoyal’s short stories

SURESH RAMPHUL

SURESH RAMPHUL

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In “Let’s Celebrate”, edited by Rama Poonoosamy in December 2017 in the Collection Maurice and published by Immedia, Ramesh Ramdoyal’s “Subhann Allah!” (Glory to God) is based on the idea that a chance meeting can sometimes make your life in a totally unexpected way.  Rihaad works in a 5-star beach hotel in Belle Mare.  It is mostly frequented by Italian honeymooners but one day he meets an Indian-looking man and his shy wife there.  The man enquires about a mosque in the vicinity where he can do his namaz the next day.  Rihaad offers to take him to the Jummah Mosque in Port Louis.  “It’s a real jewel,” Rihaad tells him.  The foreigner is called Irfan and his wife is Aisha.  The next day they visit the mosque while Irfan’s wife is delighted to learn about the preparation of biryani from Roukayya, Rihaad’s wife.  Irfan is impressed by “the artistry of the architecture and the intricate interior decorations of the hallway” (p 194).  Afterwards they enjoy their home-made biryani in an atmosphere of togetherness.


Rihaad leaves his job to open a fruit stall.  Fifteen years have elapsed since they met the couple.  Rihaad and his wife decide to plan a holiday trip to South Africa.  Rihaad is searching for a mosque to pray.  An elderly man proposes to accompany him the following day.  The Mauritian couple is even invited home for dinner.  As chance would have it, the elderly man’s son and daughter-in-law drop in.  They are Irfan and Aisha.  Together, they celebrate with briyani, vermicelli and almond.  Here they are, alhamdulillah (by the grace of God), reunited.  Irfan will even help them to contact people to enhance Rihaad’s business.

The story appeals by its simplicity.  It is to the point and carries a feel-good element.  Moreover, it has a well-controlled emotional touch.  The second part is far from being a mere repetition of the first.  In fact, the second half effectively and deliberately mirrors the same events of the first half and is very much in keeping with the idea of coincidence.  Lucky or fortuitous meetings do exist, after all.  “You don’t meet people by accident.  There’s always a reason.”  This quotation seems to be hinting that the meeting may have been pre-ordained.  The reader can decide for himself.  Anyway, the story is pleasant.


Ton Maxime, the fisherman    

In “Tales from Mauritius” (first published in London in 1981 by Macmillan Publishers Ltd and reprinted by Osman Publishing in 2009), we have eminently entertaining stories.  The author evokes the daily preoccupations of ordinary people vividly.  In “Le Morne”, “The fishtrap” and “The Uninvited Guest”, Ton Maxime is omnipresent.  Over 75, but with eyes still young, he depends on the winds and clouds, the currents and the surf, and the rocks, to obtain his daily bread.  Le Morne guides the fishermen to their mooring grounds and directs them home safely.

He tells us how one day, while looking for an animal to kill, he discovered bones at the foot of a cliff.  Terrified, he told his father about it but the latter reassured him – the bones were those those of his ancestors who had hurled themselves, along with others, from the mountain top onto the rocks to escape the muskets and the knives of the soldiers.  Ton Maxime’s dad had survived.  His dad advised him not to fear Le Morne, for “it is your friend as it was a long time ago to your people” (p 7).  The next day the bones are buried with due reverence. 

The author delves into history to remind us of a painful event.  It is a tribute to the courage and the sacrifice of the slaves and a reminder that if Mauritius is what it is today, we owe it to the slaves who toiled night and day and suffered untold cruelties.  We cannot forget their contribution.  We need to give history the place it deserves in our curriculum.  It has much to teach us about our past.

In “The Fishtrap” L”Etourdi and Jojo, with no money to buy drinks, go to sea.  They come across Ton Maxime’s kazyé.  A trap has two wide entrances and gradually these grow narrower.  Once inside, a fish has trouble finding its way out.  They pull up the kazyé but cannot get the fish out.  So L’Etourdi enters the kazyé.  On hearing a boat approaching, Jojo cannot hold the trap for too long.  His friend cannot get out.  Jojo releases the trap and leaves.  Next morning, Ton Maxime comes and pulls the trap and finds it unusually heavy.  Scared, he lets go of the rope and returns to the shore.  One person dies because he had not listened to or understood the seas’s moods.  He had disregarded the implications of “the noise of angry waters, rushing winds and crashing surf” (p 12).  He had failed to see that if the sea sustains life, “she can also take away life” (p 10).  And there is food for thought in Jojo abandoning his friend when the latter needed him the most.

In the story “The Uninvited Guest” Jean Marc, Ton Maxime’s youngest son has started using modern means of fishing, like spear-fishing.  He uses a mask, a tube, flippers and a gun to kill lobsters and octopus.  Ton Maxime is unhappy with people using explosives.  More and more fish and their homes are being destroyed.  Some people are selling shells in great quantity.  Ton Maxime gets into conflict with his son over commercial exploitation of shells and also about the diminishing number of fish in the ocean.  The author is making the point that there is a need to be intelligent in using marine resources.  The themes, like tradition and change, are ideal for discussion in the classroom.

An interesting aspect of the stories is the inclusion of Creole words in the stories: dayn (witches), arrack, (liquor), tang (hedgehogs), sirandann (riddles), pirog (boat), banyan (agent), rugay omar (rougaille homard), boulette poisson (fish cake), Vyel gri, Vyel ruz, Kordonye (fishes).  They enrich the texts from the point of view of authenticity and exoticism.

The writer used to say that he was not a prolific writer.  He did not create stories but he listened to people a lot.  He took core ideas and then allowed his imagination, his interpretation, and his understanding to take over.  At a time when many people were not so used to reading Mauritian Creole, he translated Dev Virahsawmy’s play “Li” into English for a wider audience.  He believed that Mauritian Creole needed to have its rightful place in our Parliament.  He wrote about what he knew best: the people of Mauritius.  He gave us insight into certain facets of our fishing community.                  

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