My mom was terribly anxious when my first child was born. Yet, I had taken the full responsibility of being a mom ‘like a big girl’. Eventually, my mom was pleasantly surprised and felt proud of me.

Then how come I am unconventional as a mom? I live in a modern era where the life of a working woman is such a rush! Hence, when it came time for me to go back to work, I had no choice but turn towards a nursery for the day care of my baby (with all the possible prejudices it created within our traditional society).

Today, I have two daughters and both attend school. However, I am not there in the afternoon when the kids are back home, so I am not there to prepare snacks and beverages to welcome them, as you would see in movies. My kids would usually see me in the evening when, in winter, it is already dark. When I happen to come earlier, they would usually ask why I am so early (chuckles). Hence, compared to my childhood, my kids have not experienced coming home smelling food being prepared. However, they do experience coming home and sharing cooking time with me as I also catch up with them about their day and homework.

I am the practical type of mom – so when it’s bring and share at school I might be ordering something rather than prepare those cute little sandwiches that we all love to eat. Yet, whatever I plan to give them to share, I always try to bring in our special touch. For instance, for my daughter’s birthday cupcakes – which I ordered obviously – we did the decoration together and we enjoyed it!

At this point of the post, you may be wondering where am I leading you. I wanted to share these few experiences of my life as an unconventional mother to say that it is high time to break the normalised image of a mother that society has built over time. Too many women suffer from mom guilt because they have a career!

There is no one way of parenting just like there is no one way of finding love or expressing your emotions. With the world going through so many major events, one after the other, we all face too many tensions and worries. It is therefore time to realise that there is no standard ‘perfect life’. Not everyone will eventually pursue higher education, buy a brand new house and car, get married and eventually raise a family.

The same applies to modern working mothers (of all working class). How a mother bonds with her child, how she manages her time with them or even how she figures out her daily routine, can no more be standardised! We all have different lifestyles and working schedules. We cannot judge others based on the fact that they do not live like us.

On the contrary, it is time to support each other, no matter how we live our lives (provided you’re harming no one, of course). Above all, it is time to normalise that women share their anxieties about how they feel as working mothers and not feel ashamed or fear being judged. There is always a working woman who is stuck in a dilemma where she has to choose between work and her family (which I think happens to both gender of parents). For the benefit of future generations and the welfare of women, there should not be a standard image for the perfect mom. The only perfect image of a mother is in the eyes of her children…

The post The Unconventional Mother appeared first on VS Online.

I may not speak for new generations but for mine, when we hear about basketry, it generates an image of some ‘grandma’ basket made of Vacoas or rattan.

What if I told you that this basket can be made trendy to the point of being a fashionista’s iconic accessory ?

Ever since I laid my eyes on Toti’s products, I have been subdued by the classy look of their Vacoas handbags! It’s all revamped, fresh and so damn trendy – not to mention that the raw material is natural.

Toti is based in Rodrigues and offers various products made out of natural materials such as Vacoas, wood and coconut. They take orders through Facebook and can send products to Mauritian clients.

The best part is the added service of having a personalized product. You may need some special basket to add some flair to your bathroom, for instance. Toti hears you out and delivers splendid products. The sky is really the limit here, just open up to your creativity and Toti may help you in bringing it to life…

Although I have not personally ordered from Toti (just waiting for the need to place an order), I have seen several positive customer feedback on their Facebook page.

What strikes me with their range of products is the flamboyant colours used which add life to the ‘grandma’ basket. The paintings are so professional! We can also recognize their inspiration from the famous Frida Kahlo. I strongly recommend you to have a look at all their products on Facebook as I’ve really had a hard time selecting which ones to add to my blog post.

If you’re more about the discreet, classy type, Toti also offers wonderful products decorated with laces, cloth, ribbons and pearls.

Besides being aesthetically appealing, these products are also environment friendly. Since we are going through a phase of re-inventing our consumption in terms of plastic, Toti offers such a beautiful alternative!

About Toti

Behind the wonderful works of Toti is a French interior decorator and artist, who came to settle in Rodrigues with her husband. Her artistic side obviously took over when she discovered the traditional Vacoas products from Rodrigues and wondered why these products are not being artistically exploited to give them an innovated look. The result we all can see it, she has transformed the ‘grandma’ basket into beautiful works of art which can be appealing to every generations! We can clearly see that she inspires herself from the tropical island she lives on as well as the African culture to which she has been exposed during her stay in Africa. As a bonus, her ideas also crop up from her travels around the world and we end up with this incredible mixture of traditional and modern…

Special Message from the artist

When we grasp a look at the products offered by Toti, we cannot help but feel this difference in the authenticity and originality. This is the message that the artist behind Toti wants to spread – be original and make our local artisanal products unique! We have the potential both in Mauritius and Rodrigues and now more than ever, we should be striving to bring forward ecological alternatives. She therefore encourages local artists and entrepreneurs to invest more in local materials and make authentic products which reflect our islanders culture as well as help in protecting our environment.

The post Trendy basketry appeared first on VS Online.

I have the habit of looking for gifts which are going to be practical and useful. With my second daughter moving school last year, I wanted to show our gratitude to the carers of her day care centre with something special…

Most of the time, I look for gifts which should be long lasting, practical and of course appealing. Since we had just come out of the lockdown, and I knew some small businesses would be finding difficulties in gaining back their economic momentum, I also wanted to support a local business.

Hence, I started searching online among the several local business pages for any great idea. I eventually shortlisted a few and found the rare pearl – personalised bags from EcoZire Tote Bags!!! The persons who received the gifts are all women and as expected were totally delighted to receive a bag with their names embroidered on it!

It is not difficult to order, you just have to reach out to them on Facebook messenger. About the service received from EcoZire – I would say that the ladies are very helpful, responsive and can go the extra mile to satisfy their customer. I definitely recommend anyone looking to order from them to go ahead without hesitation! You can discover their range of products on their Facebook page.

The story behind EcoZire

The name EcoZire was inspired from the desire for an ecological world i.e. an ‘eco desire’… It is a small local business created by two ladies – Karen Yan and Anouchka L’assiette – who are teachers but also very determined in bringing their contribution to make this beautiful island (and this world) plastic-free!

Their adventure therefore begins in June 2020, with their Facebook page (and a team of four other ladies) where they have gradually reached a lot of people with their products. Their motivation is to be able to bring forward a product which is a sustainable alternative to plastic bags or any other single-use bags.

EcoZire also plans to introduce other products which as per their motto, will be inline with ecology.

About the tote bags

Their tote bags are made of 100% cotton and can be either be embroidered or printed with customised designs (isn’t this exciting?). There are multiple advantages of having the tote bag such as:

• it is value for money with a good quality material;
• it is a re-usable bag which can also be washed;
• it can be used for any purpose – lunch bag, gift bag, marketing tool for businesses, errands bag, you name it!
• it makes a perfect gift for friends, colleagues (why not corporate gift?), or even your customers;
• it creates less waste than plastic bags or even paper bags you get from shops these days;
• it contributes to the sustainability of our country in the long run…

The cutting edge

What inspired me to write about EcoZire is not only my positive experience as a customer but also their noble cause for starting a business. We all know about the recent law of banning single-use plastics in Mauritius and yet, there are few who have actually realised that the purpose of such legislation is to effectively reduce our waste. For this law to be really effective, we need businesses to introduce concepts like EcoZire – reusability of products. Hence the choice of bringing into the lime light this local entrepreneurship. Hopefully, there will be more of such blog posts in the future.

The message that the EcoZire team has for us is about our future generations and the type of world we are leaving behind for them…

“Let’s work together for a world free of plastic for our children” – the EcoZire team

The post Personalised tote bags for sustainability appeared first on VS Online.

Following last year’s lockdown, I have noticed an increase in the number of Mauritian businesses (small and medium scale ones) offering services on Facebook. It is always so nice to see how talented Mauritians can be and how beautiful their products can be. Hence, I thought about bringing some of these talents forward as a satisfied client or a potential one. This blog post therefore introduces a new category of posts which I shall be writing – Mauritian Treasures.

The real beauty is how these persons display the Mauritian ingenuity and despite the economic precariousness, they have bravely ventured in starting their business and make it work with all the means they have at hand.

These are those Mauritian Treasures which I am going to share with you because I believe that Mauritians have come a long way and can achieve wonderful things with their talents and skills!

My motive is also to showcase how one’s talents can be used to make a living and that we should get rid of the stereotype of having a degree to get a job. There is no greener grass on either side. However there is a best fit – some of us are born for the corporate world while others are born with innate talents to come up with unique products/services…

The post Mauritian Treasures appeared first on VS Online.

What do we know?

To be honest, I wasn’t completely correct in my understanding. I was literally confusing it with trisomy… Hence, I thought about asking around, approaching my peers to see what they know about it. I have shared their responses below.

“What I know is that it is described as a neuro-developmental disorder that manifests itself with difficulties with social interactions and communications. I think they tend to have repetitive behaviours. But I think beyond that they can be highly capable individuals who interact with the world differently than what is expected in ‘normal circumstances’.” – Yovania, Public Health Professional (currently full time mum)

“Autism is a lifelong developmental disability that affects how a person communicates with, and relates to other people. Autism also affects how they make sense of the world around them. Many people with autism can live independently while some others may need specialised support.” – Arjun, IT professional

“What I know, in general, is that it is a psychological disorder where the child has difficulties in communicating and he/she has specific behaviours. I remember there was an 8 year old autistic girl at the swimming pool who would not let anyone teach her, she would rather observe and learn on her own.” – Noorina, French educator.

“From what I know about autism, is that compared to the old belief, it is not a mental sickness but a neuro-developmental disorder which can be detected at an early stage of childhood. I consider autism to be a way of being different and unique in the way one communicates, thinks or expresses oneself and we should all be able to welcome this difference among us. Too many times, I’ve heard people making fun or criticize autistic children, including the parents (yes it still happens in 2021!!!) without understanding anything out of it… This is why awareness is crucial as well as multi-disciplinary care which is adapted for the autistic children so that they can grow up, develop and integrate society with the same opportunities that we all have…” – Caroline, Counselor

Obviously, as we all tend to do these days, I also went googling about it to get more information and pretty much what my friends have stated sums up what is autism. It is a disorder and not a disease, hence it is not transmitted from one person to another and has no pathology. Instead, it is a disorder of the brain or I would rather interpret it as a different development of the brain. The signs can be detected in children as early as 12 months but mostly during the 2nd and 3rd year. Characteristics would be communication difficulties, repetitive behaviours, and the lack of eye contact or interest in people. The toughest part is that there is no specific cause for autism, it may be genetic or non genetic (environment influences) which compared to a disease, there is no such prevention.

How do we treat it?

Since I stated that I would interpret it as an altered brain development, let’s just use the analogy of a plant which is not growing straight. We would usually use a support to help it grow properly. The same applies here where therapies exist to accompany autistic patients to enhance their communication, social and motor skills. We cannot expect them to become completely ‘normal’ yet these therapies would help them integrate our society. It is has also been observed that autism may changes over years where children of 6 years can have less severe symptoms. Some children have also shown to have lost all symptoms as they grew up.

How about our role in it?

I personally find it unfair to expect only the autistic person to adapt and try to integrate our society. What if we did our part in facilitating their integration? From the conversations I’ve had about autism, I’ve also heard about bullying and the taboo around it. I firmly believe that it is not acceptable that in 2021, people are still making fun or turning away from autism. If completely insane behaviours, as we see in TikTok videos or any other sharing platforms, can be tolerated (or worse made viral), then it should be easy to understand that not all human beings has the same brain development…

I also read that 1 out of 50-ish person is autistic and coincidentally, 3 out of the friends I have approached, are close to or know someone autistic which means that it does not just ‘happen to the others’.

Since we consider ourselves ‘the normal ones’ then we should be able to open up our mind and accept autistic people without mockery or judgement. Let’s all change our perspectives, let’s see them as special beings but not because it is a disorder but rather because they have different potential. So what if they like to be alone? They can have brilliant ideas (even better than ours) thriving in their minds and if we show compassion, we may end up discovering these ideas. We may be used to communicating verbally but they can always communicate through their special ways – drawing for instance. All it requires is an understanding mind on our side…

Famous autistic persons

The proof that autistic persons have different potentials is the existence of those famous persons who, according to experts, display(ed) characteristics of the autism spectrum. They have nevertheless been successful and unique in their field of expertise such as Albert Einstein, Charles Darwin, Bill Gates and Susan Boyle among others. It shows that they can become rich and famous too or I would rather think that their special brain development actually gave them the cutting edge to be the difference (and revolution?) in their fields…

How can we help in Mauritius?

As I mentioned earlier, autistic children require special support and therapies to enhance their social and communication abilities. Unfortunately, we lack in specialised institutions and general awareness. In this line of thought, the director of Dukesbridge, a private school in Mauritius, has taken the initiative to raise funds to set up a professional centre for children of special needs (autism, ADHD, down syndrome and other disorders).

He brought up the wonderful idea of making a music album with children of the school which not only spreads awareness on several topics like our multicultural nation, our history and autism but also will help in financing a non-profit organisation to set up the centre. I therefore invite you to discover the album ‘Children of all colours’, by Dukesbridge United, on iTunes and Amazon, until the CDs are out. You can also like and subscribe to the Dukesbridge channel on YouTube and enjoy the video clips of some of the songs.

‘Roy the Special Boy’

If you still feel unsure about autism, have a look at ‘Roy the Special Boy‘ on YouTube. It explains, in a very simple manner, the challenges of an autistic child as well as the parents. The best part of it is that it is for all audiences – children and adults. Fun fact about the song – apart from the lyrics which describes autism, you will notice that the singer seems to sing in a kind of robotic voice. This is again a characteristic of autistic children which I think has been brilliantly integrated in the song.

The post Demystifying Autism appeared first on VS Online.

Since the announcement of the COVID-19 pandemic, countries all around the world have gone through lockdowns maybe once or twice or even more…

Over here in Mauritius, although we’re only a tiny dot in the Indian Ocean, we have not been spared… Anyway, this post is not about the pandemic or the disease but mostly to share with everyone the local ‘culture’ during the lockdown.

We are currently at our second national lockdown and this time I can assure you that Mauritians are all like “deja vue, baby!”.

So what’s the Mauritian daily activity in lockdown? Those who are working from home are either super happy or totally going berserk. Some are loving it not to have to go through huge traffic everyday, to and from work, while others are feeling stifled at home. Well, some are made to work within an office while others can adapt anywhere – so it seems. Therefore, there are those who, since day one, have applied for their WAP (Work Access Permit) and this time, some have been ‘creative’ enough to make fake WAPs to be able to leave home…

What about those who have some extra time? Mauritians are very fond of … eating! Hence, since the lockdown, there are those who are at bread making again (a remake of the first lockdown) to improve their 2020 versions (hehe!). Others are baking/cooking for the ever hungry kids who are at home.

As for shopping, during the first lockdown, Mauritians discovered – to my great satisfaction – online shopping! I was however quickly disillusioned as the prices online were ridiculously too high… Luckily, the government then came up with the alphabetical order scheme – we all get two days per week to buy our stuff according to the alphabetical order of our surnames.

Apart from those who are obediently staying at home to avoid the spread of the disease, there are of course those exceptional beings who wander around for very ‘exotic’ reasons such as the urgent need to seek revenge following a quarrel…

However, the best part of it is that Mauritians are very good at making fun of local events like the recent speech of the Prime Minister, last week, which was long awaited to know if the lockdown would be lifted or not. The social media thrived with memes on that day since most of the population got confused by the message (thanks to its clarity…). The Mauritian humour is definitely one of a kind – it’s like the natural way for us to divert the mind from the serious matters.

Hence that’s how the days go on during lockdown, with messages sent the whole day on WhatsApp, news being shared and cross-checked for authenticity, vaccination being debated as well as carried out, memes and local jokes being shared on social media, new recipes under trial in kitchens but also (sadly) families struggling to survive and of course the anxiety and confusion as the authorities keep trying to contain the disease and its impacts on the country…

The post The Mauritian Lockdown appeared first on VS Online.

Let’s tread a little back in time, in 2007 more precisely, when I had started a blog named SouOnline on WordPress. Back then the web was just getting its full swing on content contribution by internet users. It was only the beginning of what is now a full fledged content based internet. Blogging had become a hobby which helped to express my thoughts and feelings and also a platform to publish my writing.

Since 2013, my life took a new turn where I embarked into a married life and parenthood. All those who are going through these phases or have gone through, would definitely agree that it’s a full time duty! Yet, no matter how tiring it sounds (and it is!) these are special years which you eventually cherish as they stand as years of emotional, physical and mental growth in a person’s life. However, there was not one single day where I was not in my whirlpool of thoughts. Although I had deliberately given up blogging, there were moments, now and then, where I wish I could’ve laid out my thoughts in a blog post.

Anyways, I am totally thrilled about this new blog which I am ‘co-hosting’ with my husband, Vimal. After almost eight years, things on the net are so different and it is going to be an interesting experience for which I am all keen! Besides, it is a new me writing the posts and I am all excited to share with you the new thoughts in my beloved whirlpool…

The post A whirlpool of thoughts appeared first on VS Online.

I’ve recently reached a 6 months milestone at my new job and 3 years of experience in web development and these are really but oh really the bad things that happen to us web developers:

$developer_woe[0]:

Spending hours figuring how to actually integrate these new customer requirements (I’d say whims) and when you actually do it, they’d say “Euhm, you know, we finally liked it as before…”

$developer_woe[1]:

Discovering Internet Explorer launched a new version (Gee why does it still exist anyway???) and no tweaks done for previous versions works for this one! (IE is EVIL!!!)

$developer_woe[2]:

Receive the designs late and being told “Could you possibly find it in your capacity to still meet the deadline? We totally understand if you’d like to work from home too… ” (oh come on you gotta be kidding me right?)

$developer_woe[3]:

Actually integrating the late designs and discovering that no matter how much you’ve optimised your code previously, you will have to adapt it to the present design.

$developer_woe[4]:

Oh no, the internet is slow today or no wait my pc also is running slow! And what? Gee today’s supposed to be our delivery date!!! (actually it makes sense why there is “dead” in deadline ! )

$developer_woe[5]:

The client just sent a mail, he’s happy with what we delivered, BUT (there’s always a butt euhm but !) he’d like a few changes – see document attached (don’t freak out on the list of changes, they are only minor – or are they?)

$developer_woe[6]:

Testing over and over again a page, becoming mad about how that’s not working when it was simply a matter of file permission! (Duh!)

$developer_woe[7]:

The client has decided to migrate to a new server. “Oh great! Good for him!” Well it seems that now, nothing’s working. “Why’s that?” Oh the new server runs on an old version of PHP, nothing too serious…

$developer_woe[8]:

The client is more than happy of his website now. He even brought us a list of  “add ons”. Looking at his list, it’s in fact all the web site to be revisited -.-” (why do they  think web developers are magicians?)

$developer_woe[9]:

It’s Friday night, everyone’s at the pub (or even at home) chilling out and you’re stuck with a slow machine, a bugging javascript and a backache from too much sitting in front of your pc. (No comments, 1 minute of silence please…)

The post The Woes of a Web Developer appeared first on VS Online.