{"id":690,"date":"2010-12-10T09:44:12","date_gmt":"2010-12-10T09:44:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/2010\/12\/10\/letters-24\/"},"modified":"2020-04-28T17:42:20","modified_gmt":"2020-04-28T13:42:20","slug":"letters-24","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mauritiustimes.com\/mt\/letters-24\/","title":{"rendered":"To Our Readers\u00a0 \u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0<\/em>Readers’ Response\/ Opinion<\/u><\/strong> \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/h4>\n

Your views are of interest to us. They help us balance the argument in the correct perspective. We welcome you to draw our attention to anything or opinion expressed in the Mauritius Times (or any national or international event of interest) with which\u00a0you agree from your own angle or disagree due to a different appreciation of facts.<\/span><\/p>\n

We will gratefully receive your communications at the email address:<\/span><\/p>\n

mtimes@intnet.mu<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

We may decide to publish your comments or the relevant parts thereof if we consider that they will help our readers better understand specific contexts and maintain MT as the foremost and most balanced analytical newspaper of the country. <\/span><\/p>\n

* * *<\/span><\/p>\n

The Sounds of Silence<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n

Absences too long,<\/span><\/p>\n

Longings too painful to bear.<\/span><\/p>\n

Hopes cruelly dashed;<\/span><\/p>\n

Despair unwillingly embraced.<\/span><\/p>\n

In silence, I wept.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Wounds canyon deep,<\/span><\/p>\n

Hurts unwilling to heal.<\/span><\/p>\n

Heart heavy day and night,<\/span><\/p>\n

Memories unwilling to fade.<\/span><\/p>\n

In silence, I screamed.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Mistakes, like crumbling walls<\/span><\/p>\n

On both sides to mend.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sorries, like unmentionables<\/span><\/p>\n

On both sides waiting to be said.<\/span><\/p>\n

In silence, I prayed.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Prayers went unanswered,<\/span><\/p>\n

Wishes that drew blanks.<\/span><\/p>\n

Lamps burning, no light.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sun shining, but no warmth.<\/span><\/p>\n

In silence, I froze.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

My insides burnt,<\/span><\/p>\n

I was all afire.<\/span><\/p>\n

I found nothing for solace<\/span><\/p>\n

My tormented soul to soothe.<\/span><\/p>\n

In silence, I yelled.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I waited till dusk;<\/span><\/p>\n

I was there since dawn<\/span><\/p>\n

To embrace you once more.<\/span><\/p>\n

As always, you never came.<\/span><\/p>\n

In silence, I cried.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

TD\u00a0 Fuego II<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

*\u00a0* *<\/span><\/p>\n

ASPIRATION\u2019S END<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n

Snake of time-<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 loath to recoil<\/span><\/p>\n

slithers, hisses, knows no impediment,<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 and swallows all;<\/span><\/p>\n

on its way<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 it coils, constricts,<\/span><\/p>\n

crunches the toughest terrestrial prey.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Snake of time creeps<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 in the lush grass<\/span><\/p>\n

of our playing field; it sucks<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 up our dreams<\/span><\/p>\n

fears and foibles,<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 our unfinished businesses,<\/span><\/p>\n

our vaulting ambitions.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Snake of time takes an eternity<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 to digest its earthly bounty,<\/span><\/p>\n

writhing into the fundus of infinity.<\/span><\/p>\n

* * *<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

FROM ON HIGH PLEA<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n

Let me feel<\/span><\/p>\n

through the swirling mist<\/span><\/p>\n

the sanctity amidst<\/span><\/p>\n

the surreal.<\/span><\/p>\n

Let me glimpse<\/span><\/p>\n

the power of piety<\/span><\/p>\n

and all its holy panoply<\/span><\/p>\n

as I humbly admit being amiss.<\/span><\/p>\n

Let me transiently sense<\/span><\/p>\n

the rapture of a prayer<\/span><\/p>\n

and shed life\u2019s earthly layer,<\/span><\/p>\n

to discover transcendence.<\/span><\/p>\n

Let me for a moment<\/span><\/p>\n

re-imagine the innocence<\/span><\/p>\n

from a distance<\/span><\/p>\n

of blissful benign times spent<\/span><\/p>\n

in supplications here<\/span><\/p>\n

with father, dear.<\/span><\/p>\n

Jeewan Ramlugun<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>* * *<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

WHAT\u2019S A WEED?<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n

First on the scene<\/span><\/p>\n

after the Luftwaffe blitzed East London<\/span><\/p>\n

were weeds: bracken, thorn apple, ragwort,<\/span><\/p>\n

willow-herb from the rubble did sprout<\/span><\/p>\n

stubbornly-the eerie re-christened bomb weeds.<\/span><\/p>\n

The fatigue camouflages of the combat comrades<\/span><\/p>\n

did not compare with nature\u2019s die-hard, yet humble<\/span><\/p>\n

downtrodden species, ever ready to dissemble<\/span><\/p>\n

to survive.Shapeshifters they became,<\/span><\/p>\n

repositioning and re-tinting \u2013still the same.<\/span><\/p>\n

Till now, perversely, the plantain<\/span><\/p>\n

despite underfoot abuse suffers no pain,<\/span><\/p>\n

even better for it , as it\u00a0 thrives.<\/span><\/p>\n

Another, danish scurvy grass survives<\/span><\/p>\n

the choking emissions on the motorways.<\/span><\/p>\n

Buddleia, modest and spartan stays<\/span><\/p>\n

Unperturbed on soilless surfaces.<\/span><\/p>\n

But, it\u2019s been a love-hate affair<\/span><\/p>\n

with humans, everywhere.<\/span><\/p>\n

Nettles, cherished by the Romans,<\/span><\/p>\n

were carried with armoury and chattels<\/span><\/p>\n

to foreign shores.<\/span><\/p>\n

Though woodlands\u2019 foes,<\/span><\/p>\n

rhododendrons remain in gardeners\u2019 affections;<\/span><\/p>\n

and the medicinal virtues of garden pests have struck<\/span><\/p>\n

a common chord with all concerned with physic:<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

among these yarrow, comfrey, burdock and heartese.<\/span><\/p>\n

However hard weeds have tried to please,<\/span><\/p>\n

their detractors have a long history;<\/span><\/p>\n

in medieval times, they were considered akin to devilry<\/span><\/p>\n

with imprecatory name-calling to extirpate them:<\/span><\/p>\n

devil\u2019s claws and devil\u2019s fingers being part of the stratagem.<\/span><\/p>\n

A weed is \u2018just a plant, in the wrong place, at the wrong time\u2019.<\/span><\/p>\n

Jeewan Ramlugun<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

* * * <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Anti Conversion Law<\/strong>\u00a0<\/span><\/h4>\n

So much is being said about on \u2018anti Conversion Law\u2019 that is to stop one from changing from one religion to another, especially concerning the Hindus. From what I read in News on Sunday<\/em> 12-18 Nov, even SAJ in his wisdom opposes it. How can we have such a law? We must be really dumb even to think about it.<\/span><\/p>\n

We live in a democracy and we are free to choose our faith and way of life. Maurice est un Etat la\u00efc<\/em>. According to the Voice of Hindu there is an urgent need for an anti-conversion law. Who will vote for it? It\u2019s like the cat, the mouse and the bell.<\/span><\/p>\n

Why are so many of our Hindu brothers and sisters leaving the fold to join other denominations? That\u2019s the question that should be addressed dispassionately by our socio-religious organizations with the help of sociologists and other social activists. Our socio-religious leaders would do well to reflect upon this question and take any corrective measures rather than pandering to the whims and caprices of politicians.<\/span><\/p>\n

Many Hindus have jumped on that bandwagon and hundreds more will join in the future. But what puzzles me is why their women still drape the saree.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mona. R. Babajee
\n<\/strong>Port-Louis<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

* Published in print edition on <\/em>10 December 2010<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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