For the last 5 days, Ive been in a small country comprised of a group of islands in the Indian Ocean known as Maldives. There isn't a direct flight from India to Maldives, so you have to go through Sri Lanka (Colombo) and then Maldives. My hotel was 32 kms away from the capital city of Male (by water). My hotel was situated on a single island, nothing else on it - Just surrounded by blue/green water on all sides. Ive never been in such a silent place ever in my life. All you can hear is the sound of ocean waves when you get up in the morning, and when you sleep at night. Everything was almost bliss. The amazing sunrise and sunsets, the amazing water, the animals, the underwater world. It was something I've never seen before. The best moments were when I would just go into the sea snorkeling, and see the vast species of fishes and corals. I saw almost all kinds of fish there could be, and of most sizes as well. And another thing was, no noise. Nothing. You could just hear yourself breathing, see the mighty sun above you and rejoice the moment.
This vacation was totally a stress reliever. It was like a much needed escape from "everything" so to say. I had enough time to do whatever I wanted. I edited and worked on various songs of mine. I even made a vocal line for my bands' song. :P Thats the amount of time and freedom I had. Even after all the snorkeling, the scuba diving, the photography and all that stuff. This time, I also feel I really let out a lot in my photography. My mind was so relaxed and calm, that I actually had a vision of what I wanted before I took it, and most of the times. I got it. At some moments, I shocked myself also - because the photo turned out to be better than what I expected. It was more of going back to basics. Not clicking every photo on 1600 ISO, editing all modes once again. Setting up the camera once again. I wanted that the picture should be that good that there should be no post processing. And yes, there was very little processing I did this time on photos. Except for some where I added the HDR look and some experimentation and improvisation touches here and there. Then there was the occasion when I went scuba diving. I had always been dying to go for scuba diving since I visited Mauritius back in 2007. I was so fascinated by the underwater world that I just wanted to grab onto the first chance I got to explore it. So finally after 4 years, my parents agreed to send me for scuba diving. I had this english instructor named Frank. Amazing guy, helped me out a lot and he had quite a sense of humor. He first gave a sort of a theory lesson about the basic concept of scuba diving, to-do's and what to be careful of when inside the water. Then he took me in the pool for some practicing, and finally into the sea. Ohh my fucking god! What an experience it was. I went down till about 12 metres. I saw hundred kinds of fish and corals. I saw a shipwreck too. I guess it was a very old ship considering that it was quite small. The whole experience gave me this feeling of freedom which I may never get. I guess the closest thing to this would be going and performing on stage. Im in the water, swimming like a fish. Fearless, glancing through the vast ocean not caring about anything. The only thing that was bothering me was the ear pressure. My ear was just not willing to co-operate with me. :P Except for that, It was magical. I actually cant describe the whole experience so to say. :P After all that, the only thing I could think of was, how cool would be the life of my instructor. He may have swam in so many seas, seen so many things inside the water. Its almost astonishing.
The other things I kind of drifted towards this holiday were Lomography and well, the National Geographic Chanel. :P Well Lomography is basically a form of photography where the effect is sort of which makes the picture look image/old. Basically, less saturation then todays high quality pictures. I spent a lot of time on the internet checking out lomography lenses, lomography videos on youtube etc etc. Its actually fun. Id like to give credit to my best friends sister for that. Thanks Ridhii Di for using that effect in your android phone and educating me about lomography. :D The other thing, well Nat geo. :P If I recollect. Its been ages since I saw National Geographic. As a kid, I really liked it because it had various shows on the universe, space, oceans, etc etc. All the stuff that basically had thousands of questions and answers. I watched more of National Geographic Adventure. This channel had shows telling stuff about various countries, cultures and that stuff. Quite interesting and knowledgable. A show about secret CIA operations in Pakistan after the September 11 attacks in US just ended. So yeah, interesting stuff. :P But yeah, this is my last night here. I have to get up at 4:15 in the morning tomorrow. :/ Early flight, the fact that it takes one hour from the hotel to the airport and that you have to reach 2 hours prior to flying time because Maldives is a muslim country. Sort of lame. I have to get back to normal life - school, the fast paced city life. Yeah, all sounds huge and clichéd, but its true. This place has made me feel so basic and yet so important at the same time. This has truly been one of the best holidays I've ever had, and I guess its the most significant one. :)
PS :- My band goes live this Thursday @ Manajsa in Hauz Khaz. Please come! xD
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