L'Ile Maurice

No, dont get too excited. I'm not travelling to L'ile Maurice. Not yet, atleast.... For the ignorant, "L'ile Maurice" is french for "Mauritius" !

The reason for this post - I'm surprised at the number of people who ask me if i'm from Mauritius !!

It all started back in November 2007, during this trip to the Netherlands. We all remember how i was stopped and frisked by the police in Paris Nord, which eventually led to missing the connecting train to Grenoble. What i did not mention in the post was the stupidity of this french cop who stared at my residence permit (which clearly stated my nationality as "indian") and still asked me "Vous etes de l'Ile Maurice, monsieur?"

6 months later, in April this year, i was back in Bangalore and on Commercial Street with some french colleagues. Obviously, i was taking every given opportunity to practice my french, and our conversation was overheard by some random customer in a saree shop where my colleague was deciding what to buy for his wife back in France... next thing i know, the guy walks up to me and says "Vous parlez francais, vous etes mauricien?"

And now i'm back in France, and in the past 2 weeks i have been asked thrice if i'm from "L'ile Maurice". This includes the security guard at HEC, one french classmate and a staff member of the MBA program. An american classmate thought i was indian by origin, but born in france...

Of course, i can assume that this confusion is an indicator of my level of french, but that wont be too modest. But it's funny i should be perceived as a Mauritian in this place. We had a session on "stereotypes" last week, trying to teach us that at a certain point our cultural/national identity stops and our personality begins, and each of us draws this line at a different point. I guess you dont meet too many indians who speak french !!