Stopping the watch

by Tatyana Popova (Bulgaria)

A leap into the unknown Maldives

People are not friendly, they are always in a hurry. They look at their watches, they look at their phones. They do not communicate with each other, they are detached. They look transient. We drive by car, bus, tram, subway from A to B in minutes, hours. We hear horn noise, we are in a hurry and then we wait .. we are waiting for the traffic light ... We stroll and we can walk round it in 10 minutes. We hear animals interacting, they are close to each other. We are quiet and waiting… waiting for the sunrise… There is one place that makes us the most beautiful gift - tranquility. Stopping the watch in timelessness during the fastest era is like finding water in the desert. The place is a small island- Kuda Bandos, Maldives. We have heard different descriptions of the Maldives. I only have one. It’s a medicine - healing people from the rush. A place where you are alone and with others in the same time. You don't look at your phone or your watch. People observe. They are intoxicated. You are not looking for opiates, they are revealing in front of you, you are lost. You are lost in colors, in sounds, in timelessness. The blue summer, the tenderness of the night are not an illusion of cinema and literature, they are reality, they are right in front of you. The water is always warm, the air is always warm, people are warm! Thousands live under the ocean. There are also sharks. They are friendly, look eternal. We are all silent, the peacock does its reverence, and we wait… we are waiting for the sunset.