Entries from February 2007 ↓

Article paru sur le journal il y a quelques jours.

Le même message évoqué par J Michel Billaut. Il nous faut se battre pour que les tarifs permettent le développement.L’ avenir de Maurice est en jeu.

Je suis d’opinion que les tarifs de l’inter connectivité ne sont pas d’ordre économique mais de l’ordre politique et de vision de l’avenir du pays. Comment faire pour bouger la politique ? Avez-vous une idée ? Une lettre ouverte aux autorités ?

Today,with such a lousy weather,post Cyclone Gamede, sticky,warm and humid, I have spent most of my day browsing on Thorium Reactors.

For those of you interested in “greener” source of energy,this might be one of the solution. I believe, India is well advanced in the search and deployment in this field. May we in the future, could look towards “mother India” for some help!As a matter of fact India is working very hard to find renewable source of energy to cater for its explosive demographic expansion. India is the 3rd world largest producer of energy from wind powered generators and very advanced in solar power generation too…

By the way,does anybody got any idea of the progress being made in the experimental wind turbine installed at Grand Bassin? We are great at launching project, also great at not following through and concluding the project. Is it a typical Mauritian trait?
I shall be discussing with my brother on this matter as soon as he lands in Mauritius this week. He had been involved with building one of the Candu(Canadian atomic energy) Nuclear power generator in Korea a few years ago and should be better informed than me.

Are you for or against Nuclear reactors in Mauritius?

I just love cars. In today’s world could you live without the use of a car?

Ever since Henry Ford, who had the vision of making the automobile affordable to a bigger number of consumers, the world has been pushed forward in the era of the automobile.Mankind has thus gained an accrued mobility with the car.This break through is compared by some anthropologists as a leap similar in impact to mankind as the invention the wheel. Mobility cuts through time. That is why the automobile was called time machine at some stage in its development.

Suburban living,hypermarkets and shopping malls found their birth & growth with the advent of the larger ownership of cars.
I invite you to a virtual tour of AUTOWORLD which is presently being held in Brussels.I took pleasure in going through the website to see at a quick glance the evolution of this industry.

With much nostalgia, I plunged back in the days when I had the burden of looking after the automobile sectors of Rogers Group. “How to reconcile the exigencies of financial performances(Economic Value Added) with the needs of the workers?” was my dilemma. Another chapter of my rich and varied working life to turn over the leaf. Yet another page where I drew so much joy and learning from the people I interacted with.

For the entrepreneurs, the lessons I retained were; love and respect your fellow co-workers;through sincere communications together you will travel a long way and producing economic value for the shareholders is never in opposition with workers welfare in spite of what the unions may seem to push for.

PS: For those interested to earn a living from the auto industry try out the website

Christ Médecin

Une faute ordinaire parmi nous, c’est que nous voudrions bien avoir quelque chose en propre avant de venir au Christ ; nous pensons que les pardons de Dieu ne sont pas entièrement gratuits, et que nous devons en apporter le prix dans nos mains.

Vous savez que l’appel de Dieu est conçu en ces termes : achetez sans argent, c’est-à-dire venez sans aucune bonne qualité quelconque, car il nous est ordonné de venir et de prendre gratuitement de l’eau vive. Ne dites donc pas : « J’ai une disposition au péché et un cœur dur, et je ne peux pas m’affliger de mes péchés comme je le devrais ; ainsi je me tiendrai loin jusqu’à ce que j’aie pu le faire, »

C’est comme si vous disiez : « Je devais m’adresser au médecin ; mais auparavant il faut que mes blessures soient cicatrisées, et que je sois guéri de ma maladie ; alors j’irai vers le médecin. »Dans quel but dois tu aller vers le médecin, si ce n’est pour être guéri ? En vérité dans les deux cas, la folie est la même. Christ est ton médecin, n’attends donc pas la guérison avant de venir a lui.

Anonyme Antérieur au XIX Siècle

“Where the east meets the west” is perhaps an overused slogan. Mauritius lives it in its reality.The metissage has given us a new breed of people and a somewhat strange and confusing culture.

Are we Mauritians real Chinese or real Indians or real French, Europeans or Africans? Through the years and living in an environment off the mother base, we have evolved into a new hybrid. We have become Mauritians.

Would a Singaporean be a Chinese on asking any one in Singapore? He would bluntly reply , I guess I am a Singaporean. Same for a Thai!
This confirms my thesis the metissage has produced a new hybrid. Let us be proud of our Mauritian upbringing. I used to qualify myself to people who inquired about me, during my extensive traveling days, as someone who would : firstly speak English with a French residual accent and speak French using English idioms yet be proud of the fusion;secondly look Asian from my features yet almost westernized in my education; thirdly lives on a continent which is neither Europe nor Asia. The person who I would be talking to would be in confusion.

You will recall that the color green comes from the mixing of the yellow and blue colors.

A proud “Green” happy fusion Mauritian, I am and pray that we all were.

I recommend you to read Sanderson Beck from where I regular source for a wealth of knowledge at no cost.

In reply to Christiane’s blog entitled “Our mixed Heritage”, I posted a comment along these following lines:

Mixed Heritage or Metissage is the term I like. As often in nature, cross- breeding enhances the subject, when it strengthens the positive and minimizes the negatives.I for one, looking back at my ancestry, can claim French creole, and Chinese blood, and am very proud of it. Apart from the genetic aspect, I am also proud of my cultural metissage: my mother born of the union of a china man, and a half mulatto, half Chinese. My mother was raised in an environment close to the Vadamotoo family, the “madras baptises” we could say. My mother, who lived in a poverty stricken family since  her early childhood,   managed to get a good education with the help of her neighbors, the then wealthy “Madras” family who considered her as a sister. My mother later married the son of a well- to- do Chinaman, after much persuasion and numerous objections & refusals from my father’s parents. Considered as a mixed marriage by my father’s parents, their union was not at all acceptable. There were not only racial differences; in the late 40’s there were concerns of social ranking, community peer pressures, economical consideration and reputation. If it were not for the perseverance and tenacity of my parents, my brothers & sisters and I would probably never found this world. In the final analysis, my parents had a very successful married life. My mother brought into my father’s family some other values and qualities which have enriched the more Chinese values of the latter. She had to learn the Chinese dialect to converse with her mother- in- law.  Almost nearing her death , my grandma sought forgiveness from my mother for her inappropriate opposition to the latter’s marriage and told everyone around her that she had a most kind, and considerate daughter- in- law. Success is always the result of drive, determination and efforts.

 

A few days have passed since. Thinking back, I said to myself  that we are blessed in Mauritius to benefit from the proximities of the different cultures and customs and to have first hand experiences of them. Stephen Covey, who I believe would be visiting Mauritius soon, taught me a lesson whilst talking of his habit 6: Synergize is valuing the differences. In fact the Covey leadership center had made a film on Mauritius to demonstrate the cultural differences which, when properly channeled could bring in growth and harmony beyond imagination: 1+1 = 3 or more. I thus conclude that the cultural “half blood” or shall I dare say “double blood” is better than each of the single elements that made up the metissage. Vive le metissage!

Ash Wednesday marks the first day of a privileged journey of forty days for Christians.

As you know, Jesus retreated into the wilderness and fasted for forty days to prepare for his ministry. It was for Him a time of contemplation, reflection, and preparation. By observing Lent, most Christians join Jesus on His retreat.

Lent consists of the forty days before Easter. Biblical societies relied very heavily on wood fires for heating and cooking, which meant that keeping ashes under control was a major housekeeping task. Then as now, if a person was preoccupied with something serious, they didn’t always tend to the housekeeping—it’s the least of their concerns. Imagine that there is a death in the family. A friend stopping by to pay their respects might gently say, “Did you know you have ashes on your face?”

So ashes became a sign of remorse, repentance, and mourning. Today someone might wear a black armband to signify that they are in mourning; back then people put ashes on their foreheads.

I attended church this morning and I can tell you that the church was packed full. It was great to see such reverence. The priest even said that Jesus must be happy to see such numbers of worshipers to follow his steps.

You can find biblical examples of this in 2 Samuel 13:19, Esther 4:1-3, Job 42:6, and Jeremiah 6:26. During Lent, ancient Christians mourned their sins and repented of them, so it was appropriate for them to show their sincerity by having ashes on their foreheads. The custom has persisted in the church as secular society has changed around us. It is most appropriate on Ash Wednesday, when we begin a period of sober reflection, self-examination, and spiritual redirection.

Traditionally, the ashes for the Ash Wednesday service come from burning the palm fronds from the previous year’s Palm Sunday celebration. If you burn the palm fronds yourself, don’t add any other ingredient—just burn the ashes plain. Add a little oil to the ashes so that they will stick to people’s foreheads. Of course, it is easier to purchase them from a religious supply house.

Some people only celebrate the happy times in Jesus’ life: Palm Sunday, Easter Sunday, and Christmas. But I think as true friends, we should also watch and pray with Him on HolyThursday, stand by Him at the cross on Good Friday, and retreat with Him into the wilderness during Lent.

In India, yogis often mark their forehead with ashes to remind themselves that they are made of carbon and will return to this state whilst their spirit will continue to survive. It is a lesson to practice detachment from earthly matters. The spiritual is more important than the physical.

May I wish all of you Christians a holy spiritual journey for the next 40 days?

Do you know why Google invested in Nanosolar?

What progress has since being achieved for this new technology?

Could we be daring enough to invite Nanosolar to roll out the technology and use the whole country as a Laboratory and a world show case of its products? Aren’t we blessed by the sun?
Imagine the solar house generating its own source of energy and even supplying the grid network with its surplus.A whole village could be developed along this same concept. There after a whole island could follow. Can you now dream of a clean energy efficient island country? Why not the Nanosolar Island?

Nanosolar’s vision:

At Nanosolar, we believe that energy should be clean, affordable, and abundant; and that the path to this is through innovation and technology.

In an age where carbon fuel scarcity is making peak-time electricity very valuable and where carbon fuels are driving global warming to unsafe levels, it is increasingly mandatory for electricity to be produced locally, clean, and in ways that reduce the peak-load burden on already overtaxed electricity grids.

At Nanosolar, we are working to make it possible to put A Solar Panel on Every Buildingâ„¢.

By setting the standard for solar technology with industry-leading cost efficiency and availability, we are planning to become the world’s largest solar energy technology company and thus contribute to creating a future based on inexhaustible, clean, affordable, and reliable energy.

Our revenue aspiration is to be the fastest company ever to go from $1 to $1 billion; and to sell $100 billion (in ’05 dollars) in PV panels by 2020.
For such a venture,we need our entrepreneurs to move and our politicians to buy in the dream and to set the proper regulatory frame for it to happen.

I invite you Mru Bloggers to start propagating this idea with your friends and the friends’ friends. Hopefully we would have created a loud enough “buzz” to get a spark. So the first step would be to Cut and paste this post to all your address book. The second step to arouse the mass media to this idea. The third step could be a write a petition letter to our Minister of Energy. Let us start off the NANOSolar Island!
What are your views?

Quelle chance j’ai eu ce week-end d’entendre deux homélies sur le même texte de l’évangile. Le célébrant de la messe du samedi soir à Notre Dame de Lourdes insistait beaucoup sur la grâce de Dieu et surtout la gratuité du don de Dieu. C’est précisément la gratuité du don qui nous exhorte à aimer nos ennemis! Et voilà que notre évêque Monseigneur Piat, à la messe du nouvel an chinois, nous parle dans sa célébration qui a été transmise en direct à la télévision, de la magnanimité de Dieu et de son invitation de faire de même.

Les appels à la prière que nos frères musulmans font à l’aurore bien des fois m’irritent, surtout en ce moment où, par rapport à la chaleur de l’instant, nos fenêtres sont ouvertes le matin, permettant le son de pénétrer ma chambre et ainsi mon sommeil. Mais en réfléchissant un peu, je me dis que cet appel à la prière m’est également destiné, d’autant plus que le message lu ou chanté parle de Dieu infiniment grand et miséricordieux.

Les opposants à mes pensées sont aussi mes frères dans l’humanité, et enfants du même Dieu. Ils ont droit à un égard égal à ceux qui sont en union avec moi. Ils ont droit à mon amour inconditionnel et gratuit. Ils ont droit à ma considération malgré leur ingratitude et méchancete. Ils ont droit au même pardon. C’est inhumain mais Divin. Voici, ma demande et priere au Seigneur pour être Miséricordieux comme notre Père est miséricordieux.

The number of times I heard the word “Happiness or Happy” to wish our friends the Chinese Newyear moved me today. The same thing happens on most feasts isn’t it? Happy Newyear; Happy Divali; Happy Easter; Happy Sankranti or Merry Xmas

I had earlier written a blog on Happiness and had brought to contribution one of my favourite mystics:

Happiness is our natural state. Happiness is the natural state of little children, to whom the kingdom belongs until they have been polluted and contaminated by the stupidity of society and culture. To acquire happiness you don’t have to do anything, because happiness cannot be acquired.

You don’t have to add anything in order to be happy; you’ve got to drop something. Life is easy, life is delightful. It’s only hard on your illusions, your ambitions, your greed, and your cravings.

Today on reading Guy Kawasaki’s blog, I was again awakened to the question of “Happiness.” He quoted:

Andrian White, a University of Leicester Psychologist who wrote on Self Well Being ( SWB) Factor of nations wherein Mauritius would rank 73th on the World Map of Happiness. I would only wish that we climb the ladder of the ranking!

Whilst the interest in SWB within positive psychology is to be welcomed it is interesting to note that the commercial development of the subject is in the very countries where SWB is highest. This leaves positive psychology open to the accusation of selling self-help to the worried well. The current lack of positive psychological studies in countries where levels of SWB are low does nothing to assuage this concern. It is worth asking where are the positive psychological studies exploring the effects on SWB of providing healthcare and education to communities that have never before has access to such resources? An approach that explored these questions really could be called positive psychology.

EXTRACT FROM THE PAPER OF Andrian WHITE

I wonder: how is it possible that the inhabitants of Paradise Island have such a low SWB ranking? It is worth noting that Denmark is at the top of the heap whilst our neighbour Paradise Island Seychelles is ranked 20^th. Why?

My meager contribution to the positive psychology to increase in our country is to offer to you and your friend the location of a free e-book of 90 pages: How to Be Happy and Have Fun changing the world.

Be Happy!