"I have visited India quite a few times, and I have devised a way to explain where Reunion is. When people first hear the name, most of them do not know where it is. I then tell them I am from Mauritius, which most of them readily recognise. Then I tweak it and say it is an island very close to Mauritius, and is a French island," he says.
Explaining the Tamil connection, Ramasamy continues, "When slavery was abolished in Africa in 1848, and the colonial powers in the continent could not have Africans working in the plantations, they turned to the British for help. They drew up an agreement with the English to get Indians as indentured labourers. Most of the first batch of 3,000 Indians who landed in the African continent were from the southern part of the country. They landed in Reunion, which was then a French colony."
"According to the agreement drawn up with the British government, each person would be provided rations and paid Rs seven. The contract was valid for five years. A few merchants from the French colonies of Pondicherry and Karaikal came on their own."
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