Noulakaz

The blog of Avinash, Christina, Anya and Kyan Meetoo.

Mauritius

Ten years of fibre optics Internet at home

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Ten years ago, on 6 June 2014, our copper Internet connection at home was replaced by fibre optics. I was thrilled as I had read that fibre optics allowed for larger bandwidths and, in fact, we got to enjoy 10 Mbit/s for the first time.

This increased speed allowed for new applications: we could watch videos more comfortably and stopped getting the infamous YouTube spinner (probably also because YouTube started having edge servers in Mauritius).

Over the years, our total Internet consumption would increase:

It doubled from 2014 to 2015 and regularly increased (except for 2019 which is an outlier) to stabilise in 2022 (probably because our kids left Mauritius for their higher studies).

From our 10 Mbit/s in 2014, we got 20 Mbit/s on 15 October 2015, 50 Mbit/s on 16 September 2021 and we have been enjoying 100 Mbit/s at home since 19 September 2023.

These days, despite intermittent speed and connectivity issues because of damaged undersea cables, I have to admit that Internet in Mauritius works really great given that the country is so remote. Mauritius Telecom really did great.

We could have used the Internet better

Unfortunately, most people who regularly use the Internet tend to be consumers. For a country as advanced as Mauritius with an educated population enjoying a relatively high standard of living, only a few create original content. I would love to see more artists, more musicians, more YouTubers, etc.

I do contribute from time to time with this family blog (noulakaz.net), my personal blog (avinashmeetoo.com), my own music (avinashmeetoo.com/music) and our website on Mauritian elections (electionsmauritius.com).

I would love to see more Political blogs (with a capital “P”, talking about the future of the country, instead of a small “p”, the politicians).

Who’s interested?

Farewell Raymond “Red” Reddington

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On Monday, Christina and I watched the last episode of The Blacklist, a TV show which ran from 2013 to 2023. We started watching Season 1 with the kids around 2015 and we loved it.

It’s about a special FBI Task Force set up to work with the most wanted criminal in the US, Raymond “Red” Reddington, in order to catch “blacklisters”, other dangerous criminals. During the show, we learn about the way the US and Russia work, about parenthood, criminal networks, politics and politicians, family and friendship. Sure, some of the characters were a bit boring but the main ones were very interesting, starting with…

Raymond “Red” Reddington is the main characters (in the sense that everything revolves around him) and he has the intelligence, personality, elocution and talent to steal the show. Every scene he is in is fantastic and, despite being a hardened criminal, everyone root for him.

Raymond’s sidekick is Dembe Zumma and he is a formidable character too. He is easily the most decent and dependable person in the show. He is so genuine that, even after having been Red’s bodyguard, he is admitted in later episodes as an FBI agent. In real life, he must be very nice to be friends with.

Harold Cooper is an Assistant Director of the FBI and heads the Reddington task force. He is a methodical person who is nice to everyone despite facing enormous pressure. He is the glue that prevents everything from exploding.

Elizabeth Keen is the FBI profiler who is initially brought in at the request of Raymond “Red” Reddington. Little by little, we come to understand that she and Raymond are linked and that, ultimately, she would have to leave the FBI to become Raymond’s heir. Unfortunately, things ended abruptly for her.

Donald Ressler is the other FBI agent and is most of the time contradicting the others. He is a pain in the ass in many episodes but grow into becoming another very good and dependable person.

Finally, I liked the Agnes Keen character as well. She is Elizabeth’s daughter and she is adopted by Harold Cooper who she calls Pops. She regularly gets the visit of Raymond Reddington who she calls Pinky.

So, farewell Raymond, Dembe, Harold, Elizabeth, Donald and Agnes.

Farewell also to the other recurring characters in the show such as Aram Mojtabai, Samar Navabi, Tom Keen, Alina Park, Mr. Kaplan, Cynthia Panabaker, Chuck, Brimley, Baz, Weecha Xiu, Siya Malik, Meera Malik, Herbie Hambright and, of course, Katarina Rostova (among others).

It was a wild ride and we highly recommend The Blacklist. Rated 8/10 by Christina and I.