A Walk Through the Streets of Port Luis
BENGALURU: There is something to be said about walking. I don’t think it’s an Indian thing, this particular love for experiencing a place through the people that throng the streets. I think, it stems from the greater need to join in, to belong and to be a part of what is regular and mundane. And the need to be a traveller and not a tourist. There is another reason I love walking in cities as I learn about people, a different civilisation, about lives different from mine.
Those walks tell me about the underlying similarities that make all of us human. The walk through the market lanes at Port Louis was one such experience. Before I got there, I explored Caudan Waterfront, the shopping area spread out near the port in the capital city of Mauritius. Like any modern shopping space, it was shiny splendour packed in warehouse-like buildings. Metal and glimmering glass-fronted facades created an ambience of modernity.
I could have been anywhere in the world. Just like modern airports, which are in denial of their country’s heritage, shopping complexes forget that the actual charm of a place lies in its uniqueness, in that confluence of styles you can get only there.
I wonder if years later, someone else, maybe a writer like me, will look at Caudan Waterfront as a unique symbol of Mauritius in the 21st century. But there was something more original that I wanted to visit.
Across Caudan Waterfront, through a subway, you emerge on the other side of the road, and enter lanes that are the bazaar areas of Port Louis. These are shops that have mushroomed all around the Central Market building of Port Louis and all the way till Chinatown. Neatly arranged roads on a map meander in real life with shops fanning out onto the sidewalks and people selling wares everywhere. I felt like I was unearthing a treasure and experiencing Mauritius that was not just about those serene beaches, picture perfect lagoons and shades of blue.
The Central Market resembled any old bazaar building in India with rows and rows of stalls selling perishables and a range of other knick-knacks. These are not neat and organised like Portobello Road in London with the right amount of everything.
This is like India and it's a joyful mess. And therein lies its character. There are people walking around haggling, others slurping on a drink, or gobbling up something from a roadside vendor and there is always the child whose ice cream is turning quickly into milkshake.
As you walk towards Chinatown, you see those old, faded signboards. At every corner, buildings stand in honour of another time. I wish I was an architect or more of an enthusiast, to recognise and know the particular style and influences but sadly I’m not.
I do know that some of these buildings were very pretty, and for that, I believe, there must have been some French influence.
British Colonial styles are much more bulky and heavy and without any delicacy. It was one stroll that took me to another time.
— Bhavani blogs at http://merrytogoaround.com