For my last three days in Male' it rained solidly, as I scampered round under an umbrella trying to buy assorted curiosities and round up as many people as I could to say goodbye to. My erstwhile colleague jasminefegredo wanted a coconut-scraper, I wanted a set of the characteristically Maldivian turned wooden chessmen, all so confusingly similar, and since my ( Read more... )

Addu and Foammulah, the two atolls in the far south - south of the Equator and quite a distance from most of the country - are quite independently minded. They seceded briefly - the Suvadive Republic lasted three years in the 60s. The British had a base on Gan in Addu at the time and their inconsistent and lukewarm support for the secession was a ( Read more... )

I've had no internet lately, so no time to talk about the three weddings in the space of two weeks, or learning to make short eats, or the overnight picnic trip to the uninhabited island of Vattaru with half a dozen guys, or the fact that I'm now back in Male' and am flying down tomorrow to the southmost atolls of Addu and Foammulah, which I hear ( Read more... )

A local environmental 'NGO' ('club' would be a more accurate word perhaps), spearheaded by the island youth and rather grandly called Kaanu Greenpeace, is having its grand opening this evening. The deposed president is supposed to be coming. There have been ongoing preparations for some time rising to a frenzy the last couple of days. The Community ( Read more... )

Spent several days this week on Kendhikulhudhoo, the nearby island where I also lived and worked for a few months before transferring here. It's a much bigger island, long and thin, and in a stupid arrangement has a village at each end, so getting about is a drag - particularly as most of my friends are in Kendhikolhu, where I was staying, whereas ( Read more... )

The koadi procession finally got under way on Sunday, after two days' delay. (It would normally run for two nights, but whether because of the weather or something else, only one was held this year.) Irfaan rang me up: 'Where are you? Do you have a white shirt? I will come, I will come.' He came to collect me, gave his approval for a white T-shirt ( Read more... )

Sanbow summoned me to breakfast in the cafe again, where the fare was roshi with rihaakuru. It's the second or third time I've been offered rihaakuru in as many days - I don't remember seeing it all that often in 2010, and much though I love most of the Maldivian food specialities, this one I would be quite happy to see less of ( Read more... )

The dry weather lasted longer on Saturday, with the result that the bashi, the making of the koadi, and the football were successfully dispatched, in that order. But the koadi procession in the evening was again rained off ( Read more... )

The boat for Kudafari (and several other nearby islands) left Male' on Wednesday night. It was an overnight trip, fourteen hours in all. I dare say I have described these trips before. The boats are cargo boats with two covered decks and no facilities for comfort other than hard wooden floors on which one can, if one has been prudent enough to ( Read more... )

Back in Maldives for the first time since I finished teaching here two years ago. In spite of the alarming political upheavals, ordinary life in Male' goes on much the same on the surface. (Not far from the surface, the free health care introduced by Nasheed has been reversed, so my landlord is having to pay Mrf1200 per day for hospital treatment ( Read more... )