WHO CARES…

A Réduit

Ghindee Lutchmun, la battante.

Boiteuse, elle parcourt le campus de l’Université de Maurice quotidiennement pour vendre ses pistaches pour avoir de quoi nourrir sa famille et payer le loyer. Rencontre…

 

<<Pistass bouille, salé, grillé.>> Les étudiants passent, indifférents, devant Ghindee Lutchmun. Depuis l’âge de 62 ans, elle vient à l’université avec ses amuse-gueles avec l’espoir d’empocher quelques sous. Aujourd’hui âgée de 65 ans, elle vient toujours parce que sa pension de vieillesse du gouvernement – de Rs 2200- ne suffit pas.

 

Buvant son café à petites gorgées, elle raconte pourquoi elle fait ce métier: << Mo pena mari. Mo garson maryé, ena trois zenfants. Li tou sel pa kapav roule lakaz, mo bizin travail.>> Evitant les agents de sécurité de l’université qui l’empechent d’y exercer, elle fait le tour pour trouver des clients. Certains achetent pour l’aider tandis que d’autres font semblant de ne pas la voir. 20 minutes de cela, assise au bord de la route, elle arrête une jeune fille musulmane et lui dit <<Asté enn dé paké, narien mo pane vendé depi gramatin.>> Touchée, la jeune fille prend 2 sachets de pistaches et lui remet Rs 10. Ghindee précise qu’elle ne demande pas l’aumône parce qu’elle est en bonne santé, sauf son pied droit qui s’est cassé deux ans de cela.

 

Repoussant ses cheveux blancs qui lui tombent sur le visage, elle dit qu’elle a perdu son fils de 16 ans dans un accident à Pailles, survenu 14 ans de cela.<< Ki sanla pou donne ou kasse zordi zour. Mo gagne Rs 150 par zour ar bann pistass ki mo ressi vendé. Parfois narnien pa vendé.>> C’est pour cette raison qu’elle préfére la plage de Belle Mare, où elle travaille les dimanches.

 

Premchand qui travaille à l’université dit acheter les pistaches de Ghindee pour l’aider. <<Parfois mo donne li enn ti kass en pliss, >> dit-il humblement.

Parlant du gouvernement, elle dit qu’il ne peut faire autrement et doit augmenter les prix. Réaliste, elle dit que le pays importe ces produits et que les prix qrimpent sur le marché international.

Avant son marriage, Ghindee habitait Mount, Pamplemousses. Elle s’est mariée avec un coiffeur de Bel-Air et depuis elle y habite. Elle aura 66 ans le 3 décembre et compte continuer le travail tant qu’elle pourra. C’est ainsi qu’elle explique sa vie de battante sur le campus de Réduit.

 

Yaveen

Yr1.

Debate over Press regulation…

There is still much controversy about whether the press should be regulated or not. Some years back the notion of a Press Council was evoked and recently the govt has come up with the Media Commission Bill. But, both created an uproar among journalists who feared for freedom of the press.
So, do you think the press should be regulated?Are our laws enough to ensure responsible journalism?

Are the journalists’ fears justified? Will they really gag the media?

Do you think Mauritius should have a Press Council just like in Australia? Wat are your views about the Media Commision Bill?

N according to you, how was the Media Commission Bill reported/treated in the press?

And lastly, will all this fuss about media regualtion remain mere rhetoric?

Ishtiba (also posted on my blog)

Independance Day

 

As you may all have noticed, we are living in the Independance dream these last days and till 12th March….The concept of “Patrimoine Nationale” arises only prior to the great celebration….

Instead of focusing on the festivities on the 12th March 2007 and the flag raising ceremony at 18hr at Caudan – which is, by the way, not a place that is related to the Independance day of 12th March 1968 – Our leaders should have a more focus on how to make people dream of a better future… Please Please Make us becomes more proud of our country in the years to come…. Make Mauritius a more lively and livable place…

“Nous Pay Nou Fierte” – we certainly are proud of the achievements of our country but to what extent will we remain proud of it, when we know that our economy is in deep need of reforms…

Our flag: Is our flag only the symbol of the Independance in schools?? Which brings me to ask : Do the children learn the meaning of the colours of our flag at school??? May be it is considered to be outdated to teach students about the meanings lying behind our Rouge-bleu-jaune-vert flag….

Inevitably we ask ourselves how we are defined as citizens in this country…. and as superficial or paradoxal as it may appears, the following quote is a description of how i see our politicians dealing with people:

“Between the ambitions of the elite and the survival of the masses, the state often appears to survive essentially as a show, a political drama with an audience more or less willing to suspend their disbelief” – O’Brien 1991

Three cheers for the Republic of Mauritius!

Hip!Hip!Hip! Hourray!

Happy Independance Day! Long Live Mauritius!

Nou pay nou fierte!

Zaynah-Yr 4  (Also posted on My Blog)

On the Future of Journalism

If you’re interested in the above subject, you should read the following post:
Are blogs a ‘parasitic’ medium? by Robert Niles on the USC Annenberg Online Journalism Review.

The way I see it, there are two options for the traditional media:

1. Stay the way they are. Blogs and other web 2.0 sites which are value-laden complements may then overthrow them one day.

2. Evolve and accept that readers and viewers have their say and open up their ‘online pages’ to allow open discussions and comments

Christina Chan-Meetoo

Minor Restructuring

I have recently come to realise that our external visitors (i.e. who are not students of the Communication Studies programme) might be confused by my postings regarding lecture notes (which are, on top of that, password-protected as most come from copyright-protected textbooks. Sorry for that!).

I have therefore decided to delete all posts related to lecture notes and to create special pages for each of the modules that I am teaching this semester. Students will find new links to their modules in the upper banner on the blog.

Please be sure to visit your module page regularly to get lecture notes and material as well as information on assignments to be submitted.

Apologies to all our external visitors (You may still be bothered by some UoM-related announcements though )

Cheerio,
Christina Chan-Meetoo

Signature for module registration

I have noticed that some students have not yet signed in the Module Registration Sheet. Kindly do so in the examinations section of the Faculty (even if you have been succesful at registering online – they need the signatures to validate

Christina Chan-Meetoo

Results Transcripts for Yr 3 & 4

All results transcripts for Year 3 & Year 4 are with me. Please come and collect them at my office. You will need to sign in my sheets to be able to collect your transcript.

Christina Chan-Meetoo