KUDAGIRI: Don't judge an island by its naysayers

 

Sometimes you just need to experience yourself something you have formed a perception of from other sources which may not be necessarily true.

This is exactly what happened when on Friday, despite my misgivings, I decided to join some relatives to picnic in the recently reclaimed Kudagiri picnic island accessible by a "dhoni" ferry in under an hour.

A relative had the same misgivings as me and declined to come because he too thought that the newly planted trees would take years to grow and provide shade and therefore the island would be unbearably hot at the moment.

But it turned out that we had forgotten one important factor which is that if it was windy, the cold breeze from the sea would cool the island and at the same time we wouldn't feel the searing heat from the sun on our skin.

Fortunately it turned out that as per the current weather, the western winds made us feel cool without needing us to take refuge in the air-conditioned room we had rented. But I became aware of this only when I landed on Kudagiri.

I thought the harbor and the western beach along with the "thundi" (an attached sandbank) would still be sedimentary because it was a comparably recently reclaimed artificial island. But the lagoon and harbor surrounding the island were pristine, and the talcum powder coral sand pure white beaches clean, which I supposed was the result of garbage bins set up at every ashi for people to conveniently dump all kinds of refuse and waste.

And the lagoon was ideal from all sides of the island which made it convenient for anyone to swim in the lagoon just a few feet away from the ashi they were renting. This is in addition to the parameter marked areas for snorkeling while water sports were concentrated on the eastern side of the island which I suppose was to safeguard swimmers and snorkelers.

Talking about renting, Maldivians in recent times seem demanding everything from the government for free whether that includes "goathi" (land plots for housing) without even bothering to take into account the millions of Rufiya - or dollars - to carry out work such as dredging and reclamation of land.

Even a former leader of a certain defunct political party now doesn't seem to realize the big picture and supports these crazy calls on the government to provide free housing without considering the fact of how the government is supposed to pay back the loans it takes to fund these expensive projects. At Kudagiri, some services are free while others are not and therefore I feel that as far as Kudagiri is concerned, President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih's government is doing a fine balancing act.

There were gas cookers along with apparatus for heating water at the ashi which also contained taps for washing hands, utensils, and other kitchen and dining paraphernalia. A nice touch was Fenaka's provision of chilled drinking water from taps attached just on the outside of the wall of the ashi.

But to the dismay of picnickers, this clean water from desalination plants have not been provided to indoor and outdoor showers, toilet wash  basins, etc. So for those who wanted to do the ablutions for prayers they had to wash their mouth from the clean water from the taps or from the mineral water they brought with them although single use plastic was not allowed while the staff turn a blind eye to those who did bring them. This contradiction naturally became a running joke.

This lack of pure, fresh, and clean water was a really thorny issue particularly for anyone who wanted to stay for more than a day. With regard to my family, they took showers from this bad smelling and foul tasting ground water because we only needed to be in that unhygienic state for only a few hours until the ferry came to transport us back to Male' (and Hulhumale) towards evening.

We rented both an ashi and an air-conditioned room with open air toilet because we needed to change clothes for swimming and otherwise, and there were children who needed to change diapers. However, for those who did not rent a room but settled for an ashi only, there were toilets behind the mosque - one for men, one for women, and one for the disabled. Of course when the queue got long and you couldn't hold it in anymore, you just take refuge and relieve yourself in any toilet that is immediately available.

I was impressed there are some tall coconut palms and middle sized date palms and banyan trees but the Magoo, Hirundhu, and Dhihgaa would definitely take years before they can provide shade.

Concerning the food at the restaurant, before we visited, we had been getting some really nasty reviews which made us take food on our own. But once again this also turned out to be a false alarm even if you think that the taste of food is subjective depending on people's personal taste. Just to experiment, we ordered continental breakfast along with Maldivian breakfast (mas huni and roshi) and they turned out delightful. I ordered Chicken Fried Rice for lunch and it was simply delicious.

There was a PA (public address) system which announced to the whole island the times for departure ferries. It also announced that tobacco smoking was illegal except at two huts specifically set up for the benefit of the smokers.

So, all in all, despite a negative blogpost I wrote about Kudagiri at the time President Solih officially inaugurated the island, and which was based mostly on negative feedback, this trip turned out for me to be an eye-opening lesson that I should not form my assumptions based on other people's personal bias and prejudice.

Kudagiri turned out to be a generally pleasant and good experience for me though I can't discount the fact that all these factors aligned on Friday which made picnicking on the island a positive experience for me and my relatives. There was no fault in the stars during this weekend, I suppose.