Journey to meet Dhon Adhambe - Part 1

Thursday morning 7:38am captan Abdullabe started the engine and my journey begins on this small but beautiful dhoni which is destined to reach Baa Atoll, my destination. I played thaas (cards) with my friend Haneef, Abdusattar, and Ibu on the 8 hour boat trip which we stopped for lunch cooked by the boys of Kappi and for Haneef to pray facing Mecca the Qibla.

Today is a hot day and the sea is very calm and almost not windy. This made me thirsty a lot. we fulfilled our thirst with coca-cola by Universal Enterprises and Resorts Pvt Ltd and aquafresh water by the same coke company served in silver bottles named Bon aqua very fresh.

At 16:14 I was on the island with my two modern backpack filled with 3 shorts, 6 t-shirts (branded) and 1 long jeans (Denim). After keeping the stuff at the house I went to meet Hassan and Kareem who were playing football on the dhandu. I joined in and few runs and I was dead tired and sweaty. But it was very nice experience. All the girls wearing burugaas are looking at my shorts. wow.

At six o-clock I went into the gifili (a room with a well known as a valhu) and I put the dhaani (a stick joined to a large coast milk can) inside the well and fill it up with water. Poured it on my head with cold water of the island. It was so araamu. Each drop of water touched my skin with a sensation that I wished to last forever. The dhaani filled with islandy cold water pouring onto my head cleaning the accumulated salty heat of the trip of my whole life. I felt like this is honestly the most satisfactory experience a person can ever have in an island. Meditative, dark, no sound except the sound of waves and an occasional bird flying with nature, and a giggle behind the coral walls of my gifili, my meditation garden of delight. I repeatedly did the dhaani movement up an down, up and down over my head until I reach the movement of no return and then I let go as pure white coming out of the shower. I dressed well and came to my folding bed (faijehi endhu) and nothing, nothing has changed in this island in the past 800 or so years since it was populated first by the settlers from Sri Lanka, except may be my iphone 3Gs and the Wataniya signal that enabled me to write this blog entry. I sleep now and good night.