Our family home and boutique was very humble. The structure was built at the south west corner of Aleppo Street and Yoloff Street in Port Louis, and formed part of a larger residential complex on a square terrain. Aleppo and Yoloff were paved streets, though not without its expected potholes, in an area that was not a priority of the Municipality. The other two streets that enclosed the terrain were dirt streets that got muddy in rainy weather.
Our stone house had one large room on Aleppo which was our boutique and one room on Yoloff which was our bedroom. Detached from the L-shape structure was a makeshift kitchen with an elevated stone slab on which stood our stone stove, and on the other side was a small concrete slab, our bathroom, from where a small drain led to the main basin outside in the yard. The kitchen-cum-bathroom was very small and an adult could touch the tin ceiling with his hand extended upright. This was where for many an afternoon I helped with starting a fire to make dinner, and where I learned from my sisters and sister-in-law to cook rice, fry fish and prepare the Mauritian “rougaille” (tomato sauce) and “satini” (tomato chutney). Just outside the kitchen we had, sitting on the floor, a rectangular stone slab on which we ground, using a fat stone rolling pin, various ingredients such as onions, garlic, chillies, coriander, coconut, tomato, to make a “satini” or “curry paste”. I knew all these by age nine. Rice cooking, now as easy as abc with the press of a button, was then more complicated and required lot of practice. The rice was cooked in a large pot filled with water to the rim, and when the rice was ready, the extra water was drained, apparently a waste of nutrients.
This was how we cooked dinner in 1960s
Satini Tomato A Local Mauritian Favourite Dish
Stone Grinder Essential In Every Mauritian Family
We had a courtyard, and on hindsight I realized it was really small, just a couple hundred square feet. We were privileged though to have a fence around the courtyard, built with odds and ends pieces of lumber and tin sheets. No other tenants in the complex had any private fenced area. I remember when a cyclone hit the Island our fence always fell flat to the ground and as a small kid I felt uneasy with the sudden openness of the yard, the insecurity of the place and the lack of privacy. Fortunately we always quickly found and paid some hands to reinstate the fence.
The king of our courtyard was our dog, a medium size dog acquired for the sole purpose of enhancing security to our home. We did not walk the dog or take him out for any activity or leisure. He was fed with the dinner leftover and not dog food, but I think he was content to have a place called home. He always remained in the courtyard sitting or sleeping, a good dog, under the small tin canopy that extended from the walls of the structure.
Then we reared a couple of chickens, sometimes they were caged, sometimes they were at liberty to roam the courtyard in search of food, mainly worms from the ground, though we did feed them with maize once a day. Occasionally panic stroke us, when one hen escaped over the fence and we had to chase it all over the neighbourhood. Every afternoon at around four o’clock I would, at the request of mom but mainly for my own curiosity and pleasure, be on standby in the courtyard and waited for the hens to lay their eggs. Sometimes I was too eager to pick the still warm eggs and the hens would not hesitate to show their true colour and fighting stance. Occasionally I saw how hens got intimate. The male chicken, called a cock, always majestic with its head high and proud, would jump and sit on top of the hen, pinching its neck with its beak. It was all over in a few seconds. Interestingly a hen does not need a partner to lay egg, all it needs is sunlight.
The Proud And Majestic Cock
The little plot of land we were able to plant green onions, chilli peppers and chouchou (a type of cucumber) among others. Imagine the extreme pleasure we derived from experiencing the produce as it grew bigger and bigger day by day. The chouchou was the most fascinating as it grows like a grape vine, its tentacles reaching, curling and clinging on to the wire mesh. The chouchou itself has a unique shape, the Chinese call it “hand palm cucumber” due to its resemblance to a pair of clapped hands, and it has all over the body small prickly hairs like an unshaven face. I always felt funny and tickled when holding a chouchou. Other frequent visitors to our courtyard included ants, insects, flies, worms, spiders, birds, lizards, butterfly, centipedes and rats, all of which were mesmerizing to our small eyes. We were also delighted to see small plants and flowers, for no apparent reason, sprung out of the ground, an enhancement to the landscape of the yard.
Chouchou Plant Curling and Clinging To The Wire Mesh
The Hand Clapped Shape Of The Chouchou With Prickly Hairs
Then in the middle of the yard was a stone basin built on the ground, where stood a large rectangular flat stone which our maid used to wash the household clothes everyday. The clothes were hanged to dry on wires fastened across the yard. The basin had its own water tap and a metal drum used to store water. If we were not taking a bath in the kitchen, we boys would be standing by the drum scooping the cool water over our body, somewhat of a quick shower.
Stone Slab Where We Washed Dishes and Clothes
Our Clothes Were Washed On Stone Slabs
There was a small gate which connected us to the other side of the courtyard where we needed to go and use the only washroom in the complex. Eventually we were able to build our own private toilet in the sanctity of our courtyard, a far cry from the public latrine, which many a time I had to be there as the bodyguard for my sisters using the facility at night.
In the yard under the canopy we had a small square table and four long wooden stools, our dining area except when it rained we would move in the bedroom. Hanging above the table was a small square cupboard, short of a refrigerator, to keep food safe from flies, insects, rats and cats. Two sides of the cupboard were wood and the other two sides were mosquito mesh to keep the air circulation.
Like most Chinese, my parents were Buddhist and we had an altar mounted on the wall facing the courtyard. The altar symbolically had two Gods to protect our family, Guan Yin, Goddess of Compassion and Guan Yu, Guardian of Justice. Every night my mother lighted joss sticks and incense and recited the Buddhist verses under the altar.
Most Chinese Families Had An Altar At Home
On Sunday afternoon when the shop was closed, our family often visited our two uncles at their place close to Champ de Mars, their abodes more spacious to entertain all three families. Our house would be locked and deserted, and the courtyard quiet and susceptible to break-in, but our beloved dog never failed in his duty to keep the place safe.
To us small kids the courtyard was a small jungle, a small paradise.