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On Blue Lagoon Our nine days dream-like Maldives tour of last month is what I’m going to write about. Maldives simply teaches a traveller colour. To be precise – colour blue. As if “50 shades of BLUE” are here! I literally had to Google to know the names of different shades of Blue! From azure to aquamarine, persian to peacock … and what not? Only turquoise has so many shades! And these are the colours that introduced us to that surreal world. As far as the colour of water is cyan, it’s not very deep and if there are patches of Delft-blue in it, those are corals – home of more vibrant colours – all the lovely fishes are waiting there to swim with you! And one needs to travel through realms of sapphire if s/he is to roam from one island to other! We could manage to be only in 8 islands of Maldives, including a sand-bank, out of its hundreds of treasures. And left each of them with heavy hearts; because we felt that days, even months, aren’t enough to be content with living there. Each one has its own charm, its unique enchanting power. The broken beachside at Rasdhoo, full of gravels, where tourists usually don’t come, has some hammocks. For, may be, hours we sat there, listening to the whistling wind. Thoddoo has its cradles IN the water – letting us swing with the ripples. At the western most tip of Ukulhas there are some typical Maldivian string hammocks along with some large boulders. We saw the saffron sun setting on the sea. Even long after the sky turned purple from magenta, we were wrapped by the alluring cold west wind. Waves washed our feet as we indulged ourselves by sitting just on the waterline to have our lunch on that white sand-bank! Never had a better dining space before! The emblematic Maldivian postcard beauty lies in its resort islands. As we could not afford staying there, had to be content with a day-trip at one of them. It was Centara Ras Fushi Resort and Spa that showed us what solitude means. The luxurious over-water villas on the blue lagoon, green path-ways, and having drinks while sitting on tools under water - with shade by an umbrella in the late evening are experiences that floated us over cloud nine. It’d be incomplete unless I allow some space in my write-up about how I felt of the locals. We found them wandering around, ear-phoned, most of the time swinging or just sitting on local string cradles. At a remote piece of the beach at Thoddoo a father was making sand castle with his son while at the same island three teenage girls were having their evening picnic with papaya, pineapple, and some other fruits they had brought in boxes. We found parents, especially moms, at Maafushi to use motorbikes to fetch children from school whereas at Ukulhas natives were riding them out of mere enjoyment. Coming from the hustle and bustle of over-crowded Bangladesh, we were literally astonished to find people leading such a slow paced life. The thing that touched us most was their simplicity, how they were enjoying themselves. Almost all the faces we met, greeted us with a genuine welcoming smile. It was a sharp contrast to the daily life back in our country where we are simply running. They opened a new window for us with the teaching that unless we enjoy our lives, there is no meaning in all these meaningless rat-race. Maldives, with its precious gems, added new colours to our grey experiences. Despite my stance of not visiting a country twice and experiencing as many new lives as I can, I’ll definitely visit Maldives again; on a starry moon-lit night probably, lie down on any of the thousands of its bends and listen to the waves, discovering myself.