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takeaway saturday, may 19, 2018 BL 20 Ĩ Small is beautiful Only 63 km long and 45 km wide, the French outpost of Réunion Island is packed with fantastic vistas: forests, mountains and beaches images: kiran mehta A happy Réunion In a world that is increasingly divided by race, caste and religion, a tiny speck of an island in the Indian Ocean is the perfect melting pot he smell of roses and frangipani Yet what caught my attention at the parte’. Initially this piece of paradise was a wafted through the air, as I weaved cemetery were the handful of graves that were prison of sorts, because the ercest convicts Tthrough the narrow walkway of painted in saron, and bore a trishul. What re­ were jailed here. Later, the French decided to grass and earth. The coastal breeze ligion did the deceased belong to?. My host use the soil to grow coee and sugar cane. blew a stray card, bearing a gut­wrenching and friend Cathydja Patel, who represents They brought in the African, the Chinese and message, my way: “I’d trade all my tomorrows Réunion Tourism in India, explained, “We’re the Indian to work the land, initially as slaves, for one yesterday with you.” On either side lay Creole.” Originally, ‘Creole’ referred to people and later as indentured labour . For a while, graves, some ornate, others spartan; some re­ of mixed black and European heritage. Today, the French lost the isle to the British who cently visited with oerings of bouquets, in­ it has evolved to refer to people of variety of brought in more Indian hands. cense, and cards. I was at St Paul’s Marine descent that have come together to create Each migrant journeyed across the seas, Cemetery, not too unusual a spot for the vis­ Réunion — Europeans, Africans, Chinese, Indi­ armed with prayer books and beads, bagfuls itor to Réunion, an overseas French depart­ ans, and more. of spices, languages, customs and traditions. ment that sits in the Indian Ocean, not far The stunning isle, only 63 km long and 45 It is this unique blend that plays through in from Mauritius. This burial site, located just km wide, is packed with fant­ every aspect of a ‘Creole’s’ life; o the placid St Paul’s Bay, bears the remains astic vistas: forests, mountains, even in death, accounting for the of some famous personalities who lived on and emerald waters. Réunion trishul in the cemetery. this island. Crowds gather around the grave of owes her unique topography to Patel traces her roots to Gu­ The Qbest stories can ‘Parnassian’ poet, Leconte De Lisle, a pioneer of a raging volcano: Piton de la jarat, accounting for her familiar be heard around the a movement that, ironically, rebelled against Fournaise. This speck in the In­ last name. Her Muslim island­ crypt of the pirate the owery nature of poetry. dian Ocean remained un­ born father wanted her named Olivier Levasseur But the best stories can be heard around the touched till the 15th century; it Khadija, while her Catholic­ crypt of the feared pirate Olivier Levasseur or rst appears on a map by Arab Parisian mother had a heart set La Buse (the Buzzard), a nickname he earned cartographer, Al Idrisi, who on Cathy. As is the Creole way, a due to the speed and ruthlessness with which called it ‘Dina Morgabine’, or R consensus was reached and he attacked the enemy — extracting nger­ ‘Western Island’. While the Arabs sailed past, it Cathydja was born. nails, reusing skulls as wine glasses, and so on. was Portuguese explorer, Pedro Mascarenhas, The mélange also plays out in the language. When the pirate was captured and executed, who rst set foot on it in the 16th century; he While French remains the ocial language, in 1730, he supposedly threw a parchment into discovered Mauritius, Rodrigues and Réunion Creole — a base of French with hints the air, which consisted of a jumble of 17 lines; Réunion, naming the archipelago ‘Mas­ of Malagasy, Portuguese, Hindi, Tamil and Gu­ a map, he claimed, for anyone who could read carenes’. Incidentally, the man was also a vice­ jarati — is widely spoken. As I drive across the it. The cryptogram, incidentally, has been roy of Goa. isle, it seems like many places at once. The Art tested by the British Museum and is traced The Portuguese made way for the French Library of Saint­Denis sits within a beautiful back to the 18th century, though it is yet to be who named and renamed it ‘Isle de la 18th­century colonial mansion, much like the _ deciphered. Réunion’ and ‘Bourbon’ as well as ‘Ile de Bona­ heritage structures that grace some Indian cit­ A A Ī 21 BL saturday, may 19, 2018 takeaway _ Flavours of life A gabby local, Marie Theresa Subramanium is seen shopping for ingredients for her family recipe of chicken cari (curry) at Saint Pierre market ies. The Felix Guyon Former Military Hospital as it is known in Tamil Nadu, is celebrated on was completed in the 1830s, by the East India the island as Pandiale. The queen of the Pan­ Company, and reminds me of India Gate, davas, Draupadi was born of a sacred re. It is which some believe was fashioned after Arc de believed that if one has unshaken belief in Triomphe in Paris. The rural areas consist of Draupadi, a reincarnation of Mariamman, one storybook wooden houses with pastel­col­ will emerge from the re unscathed. Réunion oured roofs. Minarets and Chinese pagodas celebrates the festival with much pomp, and form part of the urban skyline. A familiar people of all religions gather together to façade greets me in the form of the Mahakali watch the act of faith. Temple in Saint Pierre, which replicates the Dravidian style of architecture, complete with ot far from the temple lies the Saint Pierre a colourful, soaring gopuram (tower). Nmarket, a bustling bazaar that sees farm­ The temple priest Balaram, in a crimson ers and craftsman set up shop every Saturday. I lungi and shawl, greets me in Tamil and invest in a necklace made of dried seeds, mar­ Creole. Balaram’s great­grandparents came vel at a visual art piece crafted of volcanic from Chennai. The family held on to its Brah­ rocks, and check out the baskets made of min heritage, serving as priests of the temple braided vacoa leaves. As I stroll through the over generations. Balaram says, “ I head back market, the pungent aroma of spices mixed to Kancheepuram once a year, to a pathshala with the scent of pineapple, a whi of jack­ to revise my Sanskrit”. As I ask him about Di­ fruit, and other vegetables and fruits, hit me. A wali, Balaram mentions another Hindu celeb­ gabby local, Marie Theresa Subramanium, ex­ ration on the island — walking on re. Thimithi plains that she is shopping for ingredients for her family recipe of chicken cari (curry). She says, “When my grandmother migrated to the Mix and match It is a unique blend of rituals, island from the Malabar coast, she brought languages and customs that tinges every aspect of a trishuls with her scribblings of traditional recipes.” Creole’s life — accounting for in cemeteries Over the years her grandma’s chicken cari evolved to include not just chicken, but pork, peek into the heart of the furnace. The sur­ as well as a vegetarian version, which consists name has me prodding the museum worker’s of produce such as palmiste (the bud of the past; his great­grandfather came to the island palm tree) and chouchou. from South India. Vaitilingom Srbrought with Chef Jacky, a celebrity who traces his roots him shoots of a banyan tree he later planted to Bengal, puts it best when he says, “In on the island. He worshipped the tree till the Réunion, you can start the day with aky, but­ end of his days. His grandfather, who married tery croissants washed down with English tea; a woman of Malagasy descent, continued the a sumptuous lunch of piquant ritual, but died too young to pass crab cari and rice, with a side of on Indian traditions to his son. achards (pickles); and end the Yet, once a year — supposedly the day with steak frites, washed day on which his great­grand­ PeopleQ of all religions down with rhum arrangé (rum father set foot on Réunion — Vai­ gather together to infused with herbs and spices).” tilingom’s family heads to the watch the act of faith My journey ends where it all banyan tree to oer a prayer. began: the Cite du Volcan, a hi­ As I walk around the museum I tech volcanology museum at watch a video of the earth trem­ the foot of Piton de la Fournaise, R bling, giving way as molten lava which is the one of the world’s most active vol­ covers everything in sight. And though canoes. Through placards, videos and holo­ Réunion may have been born of nature’s fury, grams, I learn that the basaltic shield volcano it is a piece of paradise; a place untouched by is 5,30,000 years old and erupts regularly — the politics of polarisation ; a place where the last one was on April 27 this year — result­ blacks, whites, Indians, Chinese and many ing in large lava ow. The active areas are unin­ others live together in harmony. Perhaps in a habited and cause little or no loss of life. An world that’s increasingly divided, this little employee of the museum, Arthur Vaitilingom isle will show us the way forward.

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