Jeewan Ramlugun
It is not idle daydreaming, longing for special moments lost in the mist of time to reappear and to be relived. It is not futile nostalgic indulgence, nor resurrecting worlds we had lost, nor an idealistic seeking, or rather hankering, after a past never to return. It is, however, the bringing to high relief certain life-defining and future-shaping events of long-gone years, that this write-up is about.
It concerns a literary club, dubbed a ‘Cultural Circle’ set up over half-century ago, at ‘La Terre Coupée’, Camp Caval, Curepipe, Mauritius. The venue was modest and spartan. Many who attended and joined in, had recently attained their SC.
I was fortuitously and graciously invited by my close friend, Venen Paratian, who has had an illustrious career at the UN International Telecommunications Union, Geneva. He was one of the founding members of this club. I have, therefore, relied upon him to fill in certain details, which he has attempted, from his somewhat now hazy memory of the period.
Following the tragic demise of another founding member, Kamalsen, from drowning while sea bathing at Flic-en-Flac, the club was renamed Kamalsen Cultural Circle (KCC), in his honour.
Venen writes ‘Those were the days when we treasured our values. We had no desire or need for tobacco, alcohol, illicit substances or lavish pursuits. Besides, we were impecunious!. We were rather intoxicated with learning and hooked on the craving for things philosophical and cultural. Simple disportments sufficed. They were special times, when the youth gathered to hear, listen, participate, and engage in spirited debates on a variety of contemporary topics and issues of social concerns. It is amazing to think about how those discussions and experiences shaped our personalities over the past 50 years’.
I read several of my nature poems or eclogues at the meetings. Venen had kindly typed 13 of these poems after I had left. These poems were handed to my brother Kishore, who safeguarded them when he came to England, and they are now in my secure possession. Those poetic beginnings were auspicious, being appreciated by the cultural circle members proving a spur to my further poetic outputs. I have later picked up the lyrical thread again, and I have so far written some 4000 poems. Five volumes have been published to date.
I have latterly combined this poetic calling, with amongst other ventures, such as delivering legislative training in the Far East and in Africa. I had facilitated the delivery of advanced legal drafting training in Mauritius for the government and the private sector. And my passion for poetry remains fervid.
Many members over time went overseas to various destinations. I left for England, Venen headed to join the Organisation of African Unity in Addis Ababa. A few moved into their chosen careers in teaching, in the police force, and the civil service. 
Venen recalls that soon after the independence of Mauritius, on the discontinuation of KCC, the Curepipe Literary Circle was created. A Fancy Fair was later held at Presidency College, attended by a few national figures. It would be interesting to know if any archival records of these past cultural landmarks exist.
Such memories stay pristine, reminiscent of a period, in the precious island’s history, when material exiguity drew out the best in human nature. It is also a reminder of the thirst for knowledge ingrained from very early on, education being both as a vehicle for self-development, fostering civic consciousness, national identity and a route to social mobility, beyond more than a means of rising in this world!
Finally, I would like to include some of my poems that possibly set my writing herein in context.
The leading one, has only just been composed for this article.
Meetings of minds
The rivers of thoughts flowing
from newly sprung founts
and from diverse tributaries issuing,
free from time’s taints and dregs,
these needed to find a pensive pool,
where keen young minds would feel
at ease in an unpretentious space,
to discover like-minded individuals,
with kindred spirits,
to reflect and ponder, to agree
and disagree without animosity;
the currents of circumstances
would take all into varying ways,
but in the oceans of consciousness
there are no separations, no rifts.
[Jeewan Ramlugun]
©13 July 2025
Kamalsen cultural circle
Venue it was for the intellectually inclined:
Evenings were spent in many a deep long debate,
Not aware of passing time and the need to unwind,
Ending as we always did very late
Nightly, and then we would meander homeward.
[Jeewan Ramlugun]
19 August 2008
Note : An acrostic poem.
Footprints
The nostalgic leads,
the connecting strands
to early idylls
have almost gone.
The odd headstone
survives
along bamboo-lined roads.
Our Robinson School
via a short-cut
can still be reached
but is now unwooded
lacking the enchanting feel.
The chatter by the roadside
late into the dark night
has quietened
like birds roosted;
homesteads are now cosier.
The barber on the corner
seems to be there forever,
though five rupees for a snip
is no longer on offer.
Down the dip
past a stream
and up full steam
Camp Caval is there
to offer a high up view
of what it’s now like below;
of the old we’re seeing less
and less
and of the new more.
From afar we recognise
our lost paradise.
[Jeewan Ramlugun]
21 Dec.2012.
Jeewan Ramlugun BSc. MSc. CFCIPD FCMI FRSA FMIoD
Poet, Academic Researcher/Writer, African Development Advisor.
Poetry Publications:
Wellsprings: Poems of Life & Nature (323 pages, UK, 2010).
Poetry from Paradise (108 pages, Mauritius, 2010).
Bushy Park: A Collection of Poems (221 pages, UK, 2015).
Mother & Memories (110 pages, Mauritius, 2022).
Hornbeam Dreams: A Collection of Poems (182 pages, India, 2023)
Contributing author:
- Population, Economy and Environment in Mauritius (January 1991, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, Laxenberg, Austria).
- Decentralisation of Education: The ‘Zones d’Education Prioritaires’ ( ZEP: Educational Priority Zones Model in reference to Mauritius), International Journal of Policy and Research. Vol 5 , Issue 1-2, 2009, WLP, The Netherlands)
- Field-Testing of Parliamentary Scorecard Indicators: Toward a Methodology for Measuring Parliamentary Effectivess and the Ranking of African Parliaments ( 2011, ACBF).
- Handbook of Comparative Higher Education Law ( Ed . C. Russo), Rowman and Littlefield Education(2013)
- Handbook of Comparative Education Law( Ed. C. Russo), Rowman and Littlefield( 2019)
- Law, Education, And The Place Of Religion in Public Schools: International Perspectives( Ed. C.Russo) , Routledge(2022)
