Beachcomber Magazine 02

Barlen Pyamootoo THE COSMOPOLITAN ISLAND MAuRICE, L’ îLE CoSMoPoLItE Far from being mere exotic clichés, Barlen Pyamootoo’s novels are a candid reflection of the daily life of people from all four corners of the globe. Loin des clichés exotiques, les romans de Barlen Pyamootoo reflètent sans fard la vie quotidienne d’un peuple venu des quatre coins du monde. M auritiusisnotabigisland;it’s difficulttohidethere.Andyet onedayafterlunch,instead ofreturningtohisshopinCentrede Flacq,Aniljustvanishes.Hiswife, Mirna,refusestoadmitthatherhus- bandisnotcominghome.Thepolice havenoleads.Afteratwoyears'wait, sheeventuallygivesintotheadvan- cesofamemberofthegovernment– whensuddenlythelong-losthus- bandreappears…Publishedin2017, L’île au poisson venimeux isBarlen Pyamooto’sfourthnovel.Itisajourney intotheeverydaylifeoftheislandand itsordinarypeople:shopkeepers,office workers,policeofficersandlocalgover- nmentofficials.Adisenchantedlife, amixtureofboredomandintrigue, gossipsandvote-catchers,which breakswiththeusualexoticclichés aboutMauritius. Likehischaracter,BarlenPyamootoo wasborninCentredeFlacq,in1960, intoaTamilfamily.Heispartofthe newgenerationofenduringFrench- speakingMauritiannovelists,together withsuchnamesasAnandaDevi, NathachaAppanah,CarldeSouza, ShenazPatel,etc...Hisfatherkepta grocery-bazar,whichcollapsedafter theIndependence,afterwhichhedid oddjobstoearnaliving.Hismother camefromaverypoorbackground andonlylearnttoreadandwriteasan adult.Thethirdofeightchildren,Barlen Pyamootoowas12whenhismother lefthometoworkinGermany.LITERATURE AND CONSOLATION Theadolescentfoundconsolation forhismiseryfromtheseparationin books:“ We shared our house with a school teacher. On leaving the place, he left some books, late 19 th century novels, and physics and chemistry textbooks. they gave me a liking for reading. my brother too used to tell me stories, like the trojan War. i loved hector, and cried when achilles killed him. that was my introduction to lite- rature. years later, i told my brother he had saved me because he allowed me to dream. it didn’t matter where the stories came from. Literature needs no passport. ” ForBarlenPyamotoo,Mauritians, becausetheycomefromalloverthe world,arecosmopolitanbynature.In theirwayofliving,dressing,making music,evenofeating:“ it’s the poor man’s cosmopolitism ,”helaughs.Asa childheheardpeoplespeakingFrench, Creole,Tamil,Bohjpuri,Chineseand English.Hismindwasopenednotonly toothersbutalsotothecallofthesea. “ i like to havemy roots in several worlds, in mauritius and elsewhere at the same time. mauritius is a hybrid country, it’s creole. We are fromhere and fromelse- where, we are ‘dimoun’, people of the world. ”In1977,BarlenPyamootoolefttheisland togotoStrasbourgwithhisfather, wheretherewasalargeMauritian community.TherehestudiedFrench andLinguistics,andthenbeganto teach.Buthewashomesick.In1994, hereturnedtoMauritiustowrite,and settledinTroud’EauDouce,where hismotherhadboughtahouse.Five yearslater,aged39,hepublishedhis firstbook,Bénarès .Italltakesplace inonenight:twofriendsaredriving aroundMauritiuswithtwoprostitutes theyhavepickedup.Aminimalisttale, fullofmemoriesandghosts,which helateradaptedforthecinemaand directedhimself.Hisnextnovel,Le tour de Babylone ,tellsofanimaginaryjour- neyinIraqbetweentwowars.Thefrench titleisdrawnfromareproachthewriter oftenheardfromhisfather,when,as BY ANTOINE DE GAUDEMAR PHOTOGRAPHS CLAUDE WEBER 