Mo ti zil Moris
My island, Mauritius
Hey there, on the 12th of March, in Mauritius, we celebrate our national day. We acquired independence in 1968 and for our national anthem a competition was launched at that time. It was won by Mr Prosper coming up with the lyrics which were afterwards put into music by Mr Gentil, it goes as follows:
Glory to thee, Motherland
O Motherland of mine.
Sweet is thy beauty,
Sweet is thy fragrance,
Around thee we gather
As one people,
As one nation,
In peace, justice and liberty.
Beloved Country,
May God bless thee
For ever and ever.
Source: www.govmu.org
One of the Mauritian attributes praised by foreigners is the capacity of locals making them feel at home. The warm welcoming smiles, the endeavour to always satisfy their needs and being of helping hand whenever required. This situation does not only apply for foreigners as these attributes are also exacerbated when greeting friends and relatives trying to make them comfortable at home. This reminds me of a song from The Cinematic Orchestra, To Build A Home. I was having friends for dinner recently, and throughout the long conversations I just realised how important it was to have our house filled with joy, laughter and love. I thanked them heartily by contributing in building our home as well as helping us celebrating true values.
We all have some places where we do not feel alone be it our homeland or some other places familiar to us. Like the song from Maxime Leforestier, San Francisco telling us of a blue house that the owners have casted the key and anyone can walk in to share his life. That’s how I feel about my homeland, my motherland. Nothing here is complicated, you can have a simple life and enjoy it to the maximum.
Kaya praises our Zil Moris in one of his songs. He has left his imprints besides being far now. Pou mo ti zil Moris…
-- Steve
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