Meet the expats - Amruta Sagar Mudhole : a Young Indian Family Finds Solace in Mauritius

This week, we met the Mudhole family from India. The Mudholes, a sweet family, decided to put down their suitcases in Mauritius, so as to add a new chapter in their life. Amruta Sagar Mudhole, an Environmentalist, introduces us to her family and a gives us a sneak peek into their lives. 

Coming to Mauritius proved to be a blessing for this small Indian family, as currently they are being able to spend better quality time together. The Mudholes set their feet in Mauritius as a result of the posting of Sagar Mudhole as Vice President Finance with Indian Oil Mauritius Limited. Following this decision, husband and wife decided to collaborate for their professional commitments.

For them, it has been a conscious decision to move to Mauritius, especially when the opportunity to apply for jobs here was offered to them. “Mauritius is a lovely place. We decided to come to Mauritius to add a chapter in our life, where primarily we could get more family time. We were also very keen to spend more time together and most importantly, give it to our daughter Ria, who is now 10 years old. Before coming to Mauritius, we were in Mumbai and definitely had to compromise on family time and lifestyle owing to the demands of our careers and pace of life. We wanted to give the best possible to our daughter in her formative years. So, we can definitely say that the push to come to Mauritius was the lifestyle and pace of Mauritius. Of course, it did offer different challenges as well as opportunities to our careers.” 

In Mauritius, Amruta is currently not working but she is using her time to complete some leftover work from her previous projects. “I have been writing a book on Biodiversity in small forest reserves and with a special focus on sacred groves. Mauritius is very rich in its biodiversity. Be it floral and faunal. But there is no concept of sacred groves. Sacred groves are small forest reserves which are dedicated to a deity. In India, especially the rural areas, people are god fearing and hence, they are reluctant to meddle with these groves, which ‘belong’ to the deities. As a result, the Biodiversity is preserved or further nurtured in these groves, which are like a bank where many plants, animals and microbial species are safely and naturally preserved.” 

Moreover, she is also helping some youngsters with free online coaching in biology and environmental science, but this is purely a private activity with no money or commercialization involved. She is doing it as a result of love for this field and children.

Mauritius as a destination  

For the Mudholes, Mauritius is a lovely place and they have fallen in love with it. “It has become a place we call home. Everybody loves the beaches and beauty of Mauritius. We also love it. But we love the people of Mauritius, its culture, its cuisine.”

The transition from Indian to Mauritian life has been smooth for this family. “Shifting to Mauritius was a very easy thing to do, thanks to all our friends and neighbours. Shifting and settling in Mauritius was very quick and smooth. The only challenge was the language. But since most people in Mauritius could well understand English and Hindi, this challenge was easily taken care of.”   

For this amazing family, life has changed for the good from the time they moved to Mauritius. “We are now much more peaceful and loving. There is very little stress. We are able to have family time and enjoy good health. Work and life balance have had positive effects on us physically as well as emotionally. The good weather and the clean environment have improved our health and hence more happiness.”  

The only one thing Amruta would like to change is having the local markets open till a little late in the evening. 

The environment of Mauritius

As an environmentalist, Amruta argues that the environment of Mauritius shows very high standards, especially with the air quality index and water quality. “However, I feel it is necessary that while Mauritius is showing rapid development, especially in the infrastructural developments, it should ensure a sustainable development. I know sustainable development comes with a cost but Mauritius deserves it. Moreover, I feel every person living in Mauritius must be made aware of his/her footprints in the environment. We should take care of the environment before it is too late.” 

In order to improve our own self, Amruta states that we all need to realize the impact of each one of us on the environment today. “If we vigilantly observe each activity of ours, it has some effects on the environment. If we can think about it and act on our activities that are impacting us adversely, definitely it will be useful. If I want to give the simplest example of all, we can observe the amount of garbage each one of us is creating. We need to imbibe the principle of 3R’s, i.e. to Reduce, to Reuse and to Recycle. We need to understand we are following the use and throw method of living and it is really harmful for the environment.”