Laal Pasina

This novel by Mauritian acclaimed storyteller Abhimanyu Anta marks the beginning of a new era in his writing. In this novel, he liberates human suffering, bound by the limitations of time and space, and establishes it on a sublime ground of simplicity. It will be considered an achievement not only for the author but for the entire Hindi literary world. Set against the historical backdrop of Mauritius, this novel tells the story of the struggles of Indian laborers who were lured to Mauritius by cunning French and British colonialists under the guise of gold. These naive and helpless laborers arrived there with their families, carrying only the bare necessities. They broke and leveled the rocks, and through their hard work, the land literally began to yield gold in the form of lush and firm sugarcane. Today, sugarcane cultivation is the foundation of Mauritiuss prosperous economy. But what did the Indians, whose blood and sweat transformed the rocks into fertile soil, receive? This novel excavates the pages of Mauritian history that are stained with the blood of Indian laborers, and which the fires of time have not burned away. Today, Mauritius is seen as a prosperous country.