[Blog] OPEN LETTER TO THE HONOURABLE PRIME MINISTER

Dear Prime Minister,

Please consider the humble request of a citizen facing the ailments of old age and the torturing pains of Post-Polio Syndrome.
Over a period of more than 50 years, I have written thousands of poems, dozens of plays, hundreds of literary and non-literary prose pieces in our national language. Moreover, I have translated into our language some world classics – Shakespeare, Molière, Blake, Keats etc. – and much prized religious literature – books from The Old Testament, the New Testament; pages from The Holy Koran; The Bhagavad Gita; The Upanishads.

My main mission in life has been and is the promotion and development of a supra-ethnic language, the foundation stone of a national culture.

All my works can be freely accessed on https://boukiebanane.com hosted and supported by Tewin Sham, CEO & Co-Founder, Icy Evolution Web Hosting. 

I have already bequeathed my exclusive property rights [©] to Institut Cardinal Jean Margeot (ICJM), Maison de Carné, 1, Celicourt Antelme street, Rose Hill, 71360, Mauritius, to support the institution’s education and intercultural mission.

Moreover, my friend Dhiren Moonesamy (dhiren.moonesamy@gmail.com) has kindly accepted to be the guardian of my works to ensure that their integrity and perenniality are secured and fostered.

Creative writings enter the public domain (no exclusive property rights) 70 years after the death of the author. However, my wish is to get all my writings to enter the public domain immediately. In my humble opinion this can be done if the state buys the property rights and then hand them over to the world.

As I have already given my rights to ICJM, I suggest that the state of Mauritius and ICJM agree on a deal to be decided by them. They will have my full support. All proceeds will go to ICJM.

Moreover, the state, through the National Library, will have to negotiate with Icy Evolution Web Hosting for the transfer of all materials from https://boukiebanane.com to the National Library website.

As I am almost at the end of my tether, I would much appreciate it if you could treat this as urgent.

Brotherly namaste,

Dev Virahsawmy

(aka Narendraj Virah Sawmy)

Date: 17.01.23