Inheritance of language

Ramanaidoo Sokappadu is an important name in Mauritius. He is the assistant director, Financial Services at the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development; a Board member of the Stock Exchange of Mauritius; a short-term consultant at renowned organisations like the Commonwealth Secretariat and World Bank; and more. But ask Ramanaidoo how he identifies himself and he will tell you that first and foremost, he is a Telugu. That, despite Ramanaidoo being not the first or second, but a fourth generation immigrant whose forefathers had left India more than two hundred years ago.

Ramanaidoo's great grandfather Sok Chinniah, had landed with his family from Visakhapatnam on the shores of Mauritius in 1874 to work as indentured labour on sugarcane plantations. When the practice was abolished in 1940, Sokappadu's family was one of the few that didn't return to India.

Education was a luxury that Ramanaidoo's parents couldn't afford, but they saved their hard-earned money to have Ramanaidoo educated. He chose to study in the land of his forefathers and earned himself a Bachelors degree in Economics from Andhra Loyola College, Vijayawada and subsequently graduated as a gold medalist in Mathematics and Statistics from Nagarjuna University.

Full report here Times of India