Dives....Dives....Maldives....

Never could traveling be so exciting! The excitement to travel overseas has finally come true with the trip to Mal'e, a scenic, cavernous isle more popularly known - "The Maldives". Wow.. the Maldives, the very name brought in my mind screens of images flashing all over. A lovely island, a boat house, the unfathomed blue ocean and me, me and only me.. Erm! Why just me? A lovely girl(s) to the picture as well and of course the rest of the guys who I am supposed to be traveling with, as long as they don’t slither into my reckoned business of gathering wool.
The very next instant my memories tuned into a screechy note that slowly emerged to bring in the saying (my trip to pune), "I am ok with it being domestic for the first time but never for another one". Yeh! I did it, it’s gonna be Maldives and am off destined to be flying in the international zone. As usual with the routine, I had my formalities checked up, the passport, boarding pass etc. Never did girls seem so beautiful nor guys so pleasant and so, happy am I. All seated and ready to go, yup I got a last few calls just to make sure they know am gonna fly and finally it’s time I got my cellular switched off. Get.. set.. go..


We boarded in at 10.30 am, and reached Mal'e by 12.30 when the pilot announced it was just 12.00 noon. I felt something was seriously wrong just to realize the change in time zone within a matter of two hours. Overseas business has set in! Ahh.. the sight I longed to see. The sapphire tinged, icy blue ocean could never fill my eyes. Setting myself ready for the enjoyment, I reached the resort in an air-conditioned speed boat and unplugged my luggage to be carried over.

I heard the receptionist calling "Mr.Kairan Kumar Subbha reo" (looks like mal'e accent) to hand over the keys of the suite...Nope its "Mr. Kiran Kumar Subbarao" oh yes yes its me! The island was one such of its kind. Full of suites spread over acres and acres of land. I opened my room and got amazed to see the furnishing, fully guided roadmaps, and the refrigerator in particular was fully loaded. Bewildered, all I could do is gape and look at it in wonder. Unpacking my trousseau (yeh! This place is gonna be my new bride for the next few days) I sat analyzing every inch of that map in particular. It took me almost four hours to decipher the tremendous info about that little island and every intricate that was fabricated to make it wonderful. Resting myself for a while, I was in full spirits to attend the dinner party that night. Mind it! It wasn’t a mere dinner, music was followed by the live DJ who played awesome notes - a mix of bing and bang, and I was all into it. Sinking and sailing away in the music, I was enthralled by the ambience and the luster of notes that made it livelier.

Now, day two was complete fun. Volley ball, tennis, squash, swimming and what not! But if you were to ask me what I did, I’d tell you, "just shut up! There’s a lot more I need to learn. I’ve spent years of my life only dreaming and it’s serious time I learnt some gaming as well." :)

Day three was the most frivolous of all. "Water, water, water everywhere and not a drop to drink." Who needs to? I was completely submerged in the humpty activities of water gaming tasks and my gosh! I just forgot my lunch. Nah, never mind as long as you are loaded with fun and only fun. There is a water scooter game, which needs a special mention at this point. This ultimate, excitement loaded racing on water was supported by one of the sang-froid instructor at the resort, he asked "Do you wanna drive?" with excitement I said "Yupe" in the process of changing the seat positions, I found my self all stranded in the deep blue sea. Goodness gracious! I slipped from the scooter, fell off and was floating atop. To my dismay I could hear a voice telling me "Elay!! Don’t worry, be happy" and when I turned around it was none other than this guy who pushed me off in the icy-cold sea(the instructor himself). Phew! Hard task, but freaky enjoying enough.

Another game, not a game but still it was played. A big rubber bung, say a wheel sort of was fastened to a boat and six people sit on it and then, the boat would race away at max speed. Then the sailing, it gushed at a pace of the wind such that one would eat his nerves and piss off his pants, cry and wail to be saved. Apart from such high-end activities we also enjoyed a little of canoeing, and snorkeling. Snorkel was the loveliest part of it. A slow float over water made me realize the power of nature’s ravishing beauty, the fishes, snakes and the virgin beauty of the sea seemed impacting on my deep memories forever. "Ringa-ringa roses, pocket full of poses," the kindergarten game was ventured amidst the sea, when we were gaining consciousness and declining the hydrophobic factor.

Starry, bright-night, and the most memorable of all. The final day concluded with a Gala-Dinner at Lagoon (Lagoon is a restaurant name), that felt more like a costume-party just because everyone were in formals, the guys in formal pants and women in sarees. Very unusual for a night out party that too in an island, but the night seemed too little for all the owls and crickets boozed up in strong solutions of CH3CH2OH until late night up to 2.00 a.m. in the morn. Loaded with 25+ and more of delicacies, my tummy hasn’t been exposed to carry up loads of this kind - Mexican, Italian, Indian, all in a mix and much more.

The good part of the complete holiday would be the jumbo umbrellas where two elephants could cuddle up when it rains, the open showers and ultimately the warmth and hospitality I could feel pulsing all through the trip. And, the very few backlogs were the costly water bottles, all the time-drizzles, and the distance we had to walk from the restaurants to the suite, dinner and so on. Just as darkness could get visible, so also I didn’t mind the tedious activities encountered in the trip. After all, its mere fun, pure pleasure and hoards of lovely memories to be cherished for the rest of my life - my first holiday abroad.