Location

Triolet is a small town on the island of Mauritius

Mauritius

Mauritius , officially the Republic of Mauritius is an island nation off the southeast coast of the African continent in the southwest Indian Ocean, about east of Madagascar...

. It serves the district capital of Pamplemousses. It lies exactly 7 miles (about 11.3 Kilometres) from Port Louis

Port Louis

-Economy:The economy is dominated by its port, which handles Mauritius' international trade. The port was founded by the French who preferred Port Louis as the City is shielded by the Port Louis/Moka mountain range. It is the largest container handling facility in the Indian Ocean and can...

, the capital of the island. The village is a patch of civilisation amid green sugarcane

Sugarcane

Sugarcane refers to any of six to 37 species of tall perennial grasses of the genus Saccharum . Native to the warm temperate to tropical regions of South Asia, they have stout, jointed, fibrous stalks that are rich in sugar, and measure two to six metres tall...

 fields, near the north-western coast of the island. To its north lie Trou-aux-Biches, Mont-Choisy and Grand Baie

Grand Baie

Grand Baie, is a seaside village and large tourist beach in the district of Rivière du Rempart on the island of Mauritius. The village is on the western side of the northernmost point of Mauritius and was the site of the British Invasion of Île de France in November 1810.Grand Baie may well be the...

 which are coastal villages, while to its west are Pointe-aux-piments and Balaclava. On the south lies Arsenal and to the east are Morcellement St André and Plaine des Papayes.

Economy

The economy of Triolet has historically mostly been agricultural. Like other towns in Mauritius, it was largely set up from Indian origin Indentured workers and African slaves working on the sugar estates around, the latest of which to shut down was the Solitude estate. With time the population has evolved and many of the indentured workers evolved to small planters and land-owners. Following the diversification policies of the 70's, 80's and 90's sizeable parts of the population moved to manufacturing and tourism. Recently a significant portion of the population has also gone into the civil service and service sectors, especially IT and Finance.

Infrastructure

Triolet village has a main road that is almost perfectly straight, which goes all the way to the north-western coastal village and popular tourist resort Grand Baie

Grand Baie

Grand Baie, is a seaside village and large tourist beach in the district of Rivière du Rempart on the island of Mauritius. The village is on the western side of the northernmost point of Mauritius and was the site of the British Invasion of Île de France in November 1810.Grand Baie may well be the...

. Along this main road most of the infrastructure has developed. It has mostly parallel secondary roads that cross at right-angles.

The village has a village hall where political and administrative decisions are taken, a women's centre and a youth centre. Triolet has most government services operations represented, including Police, Fire Station, Post Office, National Pensions office and Social Security Office.

It also has three government primary schools and various private primary schools. It has 2 state secondary schools, Lady Sushil Ramgoolam State Secondary School, Triolet State Secondary School Boys, and 1 private secondary school, the International College.

Lately, various banks have opened in the village, with nearly every bank in the island having a branch there. There are various major department stores such as Courts(Mauritius) Ltd, JKalachand Ltd, Galaxy Ltd there.

Recent infrastructural developments include a Children's Playground and a village market, the first phase of which has been completed.

Triolet has one football field the Rabindranath Ghurburrun Stadium that is used for local football tournaments. This is not really a stadium as it is not regularly maintained and has little or no seating arrangements.

A sports complex is believed to be planned to cater for the lack of sports facilities in the village.

Nomenclature

The exact point at which the small town lost amid sugarcane fields came to be named Triolet is not known. However, Triolet being a french word gives credence to the village having been established during the french colonisation of Mauritius.

Etymology

The word "Triolet" has its origins in a very specific type of French poem, before the french renaissance. Un "Triolet", a "Triplet" in English, denotes a very specific type of poem. Triolet is the oldest and simplest form of poetry that was used during the golden age of lyric poetry.

The Triolet is also a method for timekeeping in western classical music, where the time-scale of a note is divided into 3 distinctive divisions (rather than into 2), which may or may not be of equal length. Their being three, gives rise to the word Triolet, the French equivalent of triplet.This is demonstrated in the article on the western music.

Localities

1. Solitude

This locality is the region at the southernmost of the village, named thus as it used to be a very isolated location, hence the name "solitude", french for "loneliness". It is also where the solitude lake is located, a place where many of the town's children and sometimes older people likes to go fishing, the locally called "Tilapiea" being the most common fish in the lake.

2. 7th Mile
This is the region near the south of the town, where the milestone marking the exact distance of 7 Miles from the capital Port-Louis is found.

3. Montagne Chatte
This locality lies near slightly further north of 7th mile.

4.Brahmasthan
This region is marked by a Mandir (Temple) where the remains of an indentured labourer were cremated. It was believed that an indentured labourer who had wanted to return home to India was murdered by the landowners so that he would not need to be paid a huge sum. After his demise a number of unfathomable incidents occurred after which a cremation ceremony had to be organised to pacify his soul. He was of the Brahmin caste, hence the name Brahmsthan, from Brahmin-asthaan, or death place of a brahmin.

5. Cinema Cassé
North from 7th mile, there used to be a cinema here. Upon the destruction of the cinema this region due to an incident inside the cinema it was named cinéma cassé, literally, "broken cinema".

6. Derningham
This locality was originally named Darlingham. This proved quite difficult to pronounce for the town people who mainly speaks creole and, in the distant past used to speak their respective countries of origin's languages. They used to pronounce Daarling, which became Daarning. From there, the name became Derningham, as it is still used today.

7. Margaret Hall/JSS Square
On the cross-roads leading to the Lady Sushil Ramgoolam SSS lies an empty plot of land where there once was a hall known as Margaret Hall. While the hall is gone, elders remember the place as Margaret Hall. This area is currently called JSS square after the state secondary school which used to be called Junior Secondary School(JSS).

8. T.B.S Lane
The Triolet Bus Service has its headquarters here, and hence the lane and the region around is known as T.B.S lane.

9. Chemin Japonais/Chemin Pointe-aux-Piments
The road leading to the village of Pointe-aux-Piments used to be called chemin Japonais. Nowadays it is simply called chemin Pointe-aux-piments, road to pointe aux piments.

10. 8th mile
This region is named after the milestone that marks exactly 8 Miles from Port-Louis, the capital.

11. Anand Square
At this location is a disused cinema hall known as Anand Cinema. Currently in renovation since 2007, it has given its name to the area around it.

12. Camp Lila
Located along the road to pointe-aux-piments, this is a densely populated area.

13. Camp Sada

14. Camp Moti

15. Trois-Boutiques
At this point there used to be three different shops at each side of a cross-road, hence the name Trois-Boutiques, three shops.

16. 9th Mile
This is the point of the milestone marking exactly 9 Miles from Port-Louis. The milestone can be seen right beside the wall of Dhaneswock Sewraz Govt school, adjacent to the pedestrian crossing.

17. Terminus
This place is where the Maheshwarnath Mandir is located as well as where the T.B.S has its bus terminal.In french, Terminus.

18. Trou-aux-Biches Road
This is the region around the road that leads to Trou-aux-Biches.

19. Chemin 20 pieds
Further north from the Terminus region lies a large road that leads straight to Grand Baie. While most main roads are 18 feet wide, this road was made 20 feet wide, hence the name "chemin 20 pieds" the "20 foot wide road".

Politics

Triolet is part of the main axis of the Electoral Constituency Number 5 (Triolet-Pamplemousses). It is traditionally a fortress of the political dynasty, and a pro-Mauritius Labour Party constituency. However, a significant portion of its population also support the Jugnauth dynasty. The various groups that confront each other in village elections bear more or less allegiance to one of these two main parties.

Landmarks

The village of Triolet is recognizable by three main landmarks

1. The Solitude Lake, a freshwater lake formed from a natural water source at its south, in the region known as solitude.
2. The chimney tower of the old Solitude Sugar Mill.
3. The Maheshwarnath Mandir (Hindu Temple) located near its northernmost tip.

The Maheshwarnath Temple legend

According to legend during the town's main hindu temple's construction a huge pot of gold and silver coins were found buried on the very spot where the temple was being made.It is believed by many that this gold must have belonged to Indian Ocean pirates from the previous century, who used to attack east Indian company ships for their gold and other precious goods.The money found was then used for the construction of the temple.

The first MahaShivratree Pilgrimage

The presence the Maheshwarnath Temple, the largest of its kind on the island, contributes to the religious significance of the village. The village is believed to be the starting point for the first-ever Mahashivaratree pilgrimage. The pilgrimage began when a resident of Triolet had a vision of a sacred lake surrounded by dense forestry.

A group of sages, set out on a journey inland in search for this lake. They discovered the Ganga Talao

Ganga Talao

Ganga Talao or Grand Bassin is a crater lake situated in a secluded mountain area in the district of Savanne, deep in the heart of Mauritius. It is about 1800 feet above sea level.It is considered the most sacred Hindu place in Mauritius...

, also known as the Grand-Bassin

Ganga Talao

Ganga Talao or Grand Bassin is a crater lake situated in a secluded mountain area in the district of Savanne, deep in the heart of Mauritius. It is about 1800 feet above sea level.It is considered the most sacred Hindu place in Mauritius...

 (literally: the big lake). With time, this has given a major significance to the Mahashivratri festival on the island and people from several Hindu Traditions on the island annually converge to this sacred river, the local equivalent of the Ganges River

Ganges River

The Ganges or Ganga, , is a trans-boundary river of India and Bangladesh. The river rises in the western Himalayas in the Indian state of Uttarakhand, and flows south and east through the Gangetic Plain of North India into Bangladesh, where it empties into the Bay of Bengal. By discharge it...

.

Lore

Triolet is largest village in Mauritius by population as well as area.
Triolet is the longest village in Mauritius, stretching nearly three miles, from Solitude

Solitude

Solitude is a state of seclusion or isolation, i.e., lack of contact with people. It may stem from bad relationships, deliberate choice, infectious disease, mental disorders, neurological disorders or circumstances of employment or situation .Short-term solitude is often valued as a time when one...

 to Trou-aux-biches.