Faratas, Dholl-puri & some Alouda, s'il vous plait!

Mauritius has trés more to offer than the other islands in the Indian ocean, especially for the culture and connection-seeking Indian traveller

- Jamal Shaikh

It is on Day 3 of my first trip to Mauritius the 56th country I've visited-that I pass by a roadside food stall with a sign that says "Dholl Puri".

"Is that a local version of the paani puriwe get in India?" I ask my driver Hussain, who, like most Mauritians with roots in the Indian subcontinent, speaks English with a heavy French accent. (He also speaks a little Hindi that he has picked up from the Bollywood songs that play in his car non-stop!)

"Dholl-puri is the most popular savoury snack in Mauritius," Hussain tells me. "It consists of a puri (flatbread) or farata (the Frenchified version of the Hindi word "paratha") rolled up with a gravy made of veggies, broad beans etc. It's delicious!"

Dholl, I later learn, is yet another Frenchified Hindi word for... don't hold your breath... our humble dal!

Flash back in time

To my surprise, Mauritians of Indian origin are very different from the Indians in South Africa.

For one, they left India in the early 1800s, while those in South Africa arrived only a hundred years later. As a result of the timelapse, few Mauritians with roots in India can trace their ancestors.

The little island in the Indian Ocean was part of the route that ships sailing towards the West Indies had to take to go around the Cape of Good Hope. The Suez Canal hadn't opened yet.

Tamils came on French ships from Pondicherry, and a few years later, English vessels brought immigrants whose records say they boarded in Calcutta. Certain old families speak a smattering of Bhojpuri that has passed from generation to generation, which suggests their origins are possibly in and around Bihar.