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MUMBAI, INDIA, January 5, 2005: In the 17th Century, 14 Indian women from Daman, Surat and Pondicherry set foot on a speck in the Indian Ocean called Reunion. Four centuries later, their descendants have returned to India to trace their roots before they participate at the third annual Pravasi Bharatiya Divas for non-resident Indians. A tiny island in the Indian Ocean, Reunion has a strong Indian connection. Thirty-three per cent of the 750,000 population is Tamilian. Muslims from Gujarat make up six per cent. Others are from Andhra Pradesh and Kerala. They look Indian. The women wear sarees, kurtis and nose studs. But they speak only Creole and French. Seated in the lobby of West End Hotel, Marine Lines, a day after their arrival, forty-four-year-old doctor Amode Safia narrates how her father was from Bharuch in Gujarat. Safia, one of 14 siblings, was born to a Muslim father and a Hindu mother. “My husband was Hindu but we had no trouble,” she says. In Reunion, they have two names–one Indian and one French. So Parvati, a 38-year-old teacher, is also known as Monique Tacoun. But her 15-year-old daughter calls herself Kamala. “I have been to India before,” Kamala reveals. “But every time I come I discover something new.” She is learning Bharat Natyam at the National Music and Dance Academy on Reunion.

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