And Thank You For All The Fish.....

The day I returned from Huraa Island and en route to Gan Island I was received by my Maldivian contact, 'Murray', at the domestic airport at HulhulMale Island, next to the International airport. He was bursting with excitement when he told me "one of the ministers in your state has died and there is a bit of excitement in your country". I was nonplussed since I was not up to date with the news and he was indeed familiar with Indian politics than most Maldivians being a businessman himself; but I learnt the details later. The unforgettable Tamilnadu Chief, Ms. Jayalalitha, had just passed away creating a political vacuum and political intrigues had already started playing up in this influential southern state, which would lead several months later to historic events that would change the dynamics of Tamilnadu politics for ever. "I told him that it was not my state but a neighboring state - Tamilnadu, and we do have some issues with them, in fact". "Yea...

The average Maldivian is a mix of many bloods and races as the official guide book tells you. When you first look at a Maldivian what comes to mind is African Arab lineage. But you see a lot of other Maldivians with a blend of Chinese or Sinhalese features, others you would definitely identify as ethnocentric Tamil and about a few others you just cannot decide. This is not helped by the fact that affluent Maldivians are increasingly marrying Thai, European and other foreign nationals who come to settle for good, finding work and a good life in this tropical paradise. Nevertheless Maldives is 100% Muslim and they follow the Sharia law, though this is increasingly getting diluted by Western values. The language too is nothing similar to any other known language. Some Maldivian words are present in Hindi too - 'Majaa' for 'fun', for instance and many imported from Arabic. There are Arab, Sinhalese and Indian influences on the language as well. The script too, doesn't ...

After an uneventful one and half hour flight from Trivandrum International Airport, I was finally in Malé, the capital of Maldives. Not actually Malé, but Hulhulmalé which hosts the international airport, an artificial island near Malé, to accommodate the ever-expanding population of Maldivians in a country where the water to land ratio is increasingly becoming skewed as more of this archipelago of atolls sinks every year. Standing in the queue at Maldivian immigration at Ibrahim Nasir International Airport, Malé, I noticed a couple from my home state behind me, obviously here on a work permit, considering that so few Indians prefer Maldives as a holiday destination. I took the opportunity to ask the man some questions in our native language and he was all too happy answer, though he was clueless about the island resort or Huraa Island where I was supposed to go in the next couple of hours. Still he did tell me that I most probably would have to take a boat to Malé island, maybe cros...

The holiday I was planning was long overdue. My choice of Maldives was for rather subtle reasons. Maldives is known to be a expensive place to go on a vacation. The country is multi-currency, so the dollar is as good as the local currency, with a slight depreciation. It is chiefly known for water sports and everything related to the deep blue sea, and I am not particularly attracted to anything that has to do with water. Even the water sports in Maldives are much pricier that those available in other South East Asian nations such as Thailand, Malaysia or Singapore. The whole idea of a vacation for those who came to Maldives was to go diving, snorkel, surfing, boating,  hot air ballooning or simply lie on the beach twiddling their toes. I was averse to sun bathing and I didn't know how to swim, so all of the above was not so appealing. Kerala and South India in general have a deep link with Maldives, of which even the Maldivians are sometimes unaware. The cooking is similar to Ker...

 Afsi, the boat captain, lowers his fishing line  He catches the first- big one  There he lies -ready for the BBQ  I try my luck with the line  Woah, a tug at the line, an adrenaline rush, and I have caught one.  Him again. Small fry  I catch another one.. lucky me! Bigger one this time  Fish out of water  Posing with my catch  So we have three!  And Afsi catches yet another one! Heading back after a successful fishing trip

 Coral  Coral  Coral Submarine Cable laying ship  Coral  Coral again  Coral  Coral  Coral  Coral  Coral Coral  Sea Crab watching us  Afsi caught it. He says this one is edible.  The sea crab displayed  Coral  Coral  Sea cucumber  Sea cucumber close up  This crab is big, but we couldn't catch him, he's hiding himself well  Coral  The cable laying ship  Look at those spines. Can't guess what it is, but Afsi says it's dangerous  Close up of the evil guy  Coral  Coral Beautiful Empty shell  Can't guess what this is,Afsi says something living inside this shell. A living fish in the shell like the one above  Starfish. Poisonous?  Starfish in a puddle on the seashore  This sea crab is very agile, He's not edible. Hiding himself in some flotsam on the seashore ...