Two years after the British landed in Mauritius and took possession of the island, Charles Dickens landed in Portsmouth England, on 7 February 1812. Little could his mother suspect that she was giving birth to one of her country’s brightest literary geniuses of all time. The world is today celebrating the 200th birthday of the great writer, except Mauritius.But then, Mauritius is not in the world, and Mauritians are a race apart.