The joy of freedom and travelling - and writing about it

Me in Dhigurah on Friday, January 06, 2023.

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Ma Sha Allah, just 3 years remain before I turn 50, Alhamdhulillaahi. And in recent months, without any volition of my own, I am noticing that some of my priorities in life are changing. I now keep seeking more and more freedom while at the same time seeking to distance myself from toxic people and environments that give negative vibes.

Some friends ask me whether I am an introvert or extrovert, and when I consider an answer for that, I can say that I can tolerate crowds up to a limit and time until I want to be alone by myself. In that sense, I am my own best friend as I can enjoy my "self" by myself in the solitary environment of my own room. I do enjoy reading books, watching films, listening to music etc., but I can enjoy my loneliness too without even engaging my mind, in peaceful activity like meditation.

And as I grow old, I am also noticing that I am developing a great patriotic love for our nation state, the Maldives.

Some Maldivians have managed to travel to all the inhabited islands of Maldives. I consider them extremely lucky because they got to experience so many different ambiences and cultures unique to each island of the Maldives' archipelago.

One of them I have met personally is Ahmed Shiyam, who courageously has documented his knowledge and experiences, and converted them into an astounding short story collection that exposes both the good and the bad sides of our small society.

There are also those who prefer the urban atmosphere of cities like Male' rather than the rural character of the so-called "Raajjethere", one reason, according to a friend, been that in the 2 square kilometers of Male', almost all goods and services are available within walking distance while, in contrast, some outer islands even up to today remain devoid of such basic services as potable water and sewerage systems.

Different people prefer different environments, which can range from an appreciation of human structures such as civilization (architecture, art, etc.) to experiencing nature (mountains, rainforests, etc.)

Some of my friends who can afford it, routinely travel out of Male' (some to Maldives’ islands and some to overseas countries) because they can't tolerate Male's congestion and pollution for long periods while others, in contrast, cannot tolerate the quiet environment of our pristine islands.

In my younger days, I was more fascinated in traveling out of Maldives, and to date, I have managed to visit a few countries such as Sri Lanka, India, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Australia, France, Kuwait, and Switzerland. They were eye-opening and mind-expanding experiences.

Too bad that at that time it did not occur to me to write about all those experiences. As one of my Maldivian female friends recently pointed out, “Travel writing is very liberating”, and I do hope to write, even short blogposts rather than reviews, of the islands and other places I visit in the future.

As I am ageing, I am, unsurprisingly, getting sentimental, and consequently, I am now more interested in traveling to islands in Maldives which I haven't been to - rather than places in other countries. It slowly is already happening, In Sha Allah, as recently I have been luckily able to visit both Vilimale and Dhigurah within a span of a single week - and already got to write about it, and I pray that I get to visit all the inhabited islands of Maldives in my lifetime. Aameen.