Daily Mauritius

International Women's Day is over and we are back to the stark reality of the 364 other days. The debate and harsh exchanges about women's participation in politics have left us with a bitter after-taste.

'I am a Hindu and my wife is Telugu, but there is no difference,' says Shyam Sungkur, a doctor we interviewed in the Hari Hara Devasthanam Temple this temple situated in Midlands we were told was a Telugu temple. To our questions he adds, 'The religion is the same, the outfits are similar, there are few differences in the cuisine and we all pray to the same God in the same way.' It was on the occasion of the celebration of Ougadi, an occasion believed to be the Lunar Telugu New Year.

Have you noticed how when election times approach, all manner of issues and problems and anxieties and injustices that had simply laid low, suddenly roar back into life? Of course you can imagine why ! This is the time when, according to standard economic theory, the demand for a commodity ( votes) suddenly spikes, whereas the supply remains doggedly fixed . Unless you should think tortuously of stuffed ballot boxes , impersonation or, more ghoulishly, the voting dead the scene is set: demand for the stuff goes up and , accordingly, will raise its price .