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Where the waters speak
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Out and about A holiday in the Maldives is perfect to ponder about life and take in the sights
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Photos: (ABOVE) AFP, (BELOW) MADHURIKA SANKAR
Making an impression The Maldives
An uneasy state of being settles over human beings when something challenges the limits of perception.
The Maldives is such a place. We have all been seduced by beautiful images of the tropical islands, and languid notions of vacations in turquoise waters.
Blisful solitude
Of sitting on white sands with nothing but a pina colada and a laptop by our sides, and (I have a snapshot image of beachside perfection courtesy Sandra Bullock in The Net), soaking in the Sun, giving vent to our creative energies.
The waters ensconcing South India are peppered with islands and the flight to the Maldives from Thiruvananthapuram is a mere 25 minutes.
The islands’ legendary beauty and isolation seemed appealing; so was the off-season package to a relatively undiscovered island.
I landed at the airport near the capital Male, and took a sea-plane to the Palm Beach Resort in Madhiriguraidhoo, North Atoll.
The Lonely Planet’s guide’s description of it stood out a little from among the 1,200-odd islands in the archipelago.
The tourism industry in the Maldives is known for its phenomenal professionalism.
The resort was very nice, but it needn’t have been in this quiet and intoxicating nookof an island.
I’ve never seen a more beautiful place before.
I did end up fulfilling the promise to myself of spending five days by the beach with a pina colada and laptop close at hand.
A view from the sea-plane
But, I couldn’t write nor read. I just took in the visual overload.
One of the larger islands in the Maldives, Madhiriguraidhoo is all squeaky clean white sands, and encircled by shallow, blue-green waters. Coupled with the intensely dense tropical vegetation of the island interior, the shades of blue, green and white explode in the mind’s eye.
Like all islands in the Maldives, the weather is almost uncomfortably hot all year round because of the latent heat retained by the surrounding Indian ocean.
And, if you’re vegetarian, you’d better pack some baked beans along with your swimsuit unless you intend to put yourself on a diet of bread and salad.
And, though off the beaten track, a holiday here may not be ideal if you are looking for anonymity.
A hotel staff member told me that I was the first Indian guest who was not on the resort’s roster.
The 2004 tsunami tragically altered the topography of the Maldives, even submerging a small percentage of its low-lying islands.
The eco-system of the Maldives is fragile; it’s a sinking paradise.
My heart has been permanently affected by this small, fishing nation with an untouched environment that belies a surprisingly long history. I yearn to go there again. Who says beachside vacations have to be all sun, sand and no soul?
MADHURIKA SANKAR
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