This Surprising Debut Takes Readers To A Crossroads Of Empires And Cultures
Vinod Busjeet, like his main character, is descended from the Indian workers brought to Mauritius by French and English colonizers. His debut, Silent Winds, Dry Seas, reflects that critical history.
Midway through Vinod Busjeet's debut novel Silent Winds, Dry Seas, the young protagonist describes an Urdu-Hindi word, "tamasha," as one that he has "often heard in Bombay movies, a word that has become part of the Kreol language on the island. A word whose meaning encompasses song and dance, fun and excitement, as well as commotion and drama." For a story told in a relatively gentle register, it certainly has all of this in good measure.
Over 200 years ago, Mauritius, a jewel-like island in the Indian Ocean, was a French colony, and the
