This is a very different experience in my life so far. Yesterday was my birthday and I am here in this strange island where I have only two close friends, a few smileys and plenty of strangers! Actually even the two close friends could very well be gone when i go away from here. So, basically I thought im a stranger here and all the people around me are strangers. Then came my birthday.
I knew it was my birthday just 3 hours before 0000. I was sad. Sad because here I am, so far away from my family and friends, lost and perhaps forgotten. I wondered if anyone would care about remembering my birthday. And sure as anything, I knew nobody here would celebrate it for me. So... I thought I would celebrate it for myself. So i invited my two buddies and celebrated with some drinks and food at midnight. I thought they were very kind to come and celebrate.
I got plenty of text messages from my friends and family but didnt get any from my best buddy. I called him and reminded him it was my birthday and he wished me. I was happy.
It was evening and I was setting up my aquarium ( which I would talk about in another post ) when I got a call from one of my closest friends here. The other was with me. We were leaving home to go to the beach to get some wood for my aquarium. And there my friend called me and told us both to wait for him. We waited. He came in two minutes and told us he needed a hand in moving something heavy in his yard. Damn it! He never asked us for any such help before. So we went. But this guy wont try to hurry. Instead he was stopping by anything he could find any interest in and here I am getting late to go to beach, cos it was getting late in the evening. I was nagging him to leave us as quickly as possible and I dragged him literally into his house to finish the work.....
And there it was!

A birthday cake straight from the hearts of some strangers! I couldnt believe my eyes! I noticed the neighboring kids and women gathered there to give me the surprise party! All the faces were so full of truth. So genuine. I was touched. I remembered all the people i loved. And I was completely wordless.
I actually felt a little awkward to say thanks cos I couldnt express how thankful I was. They all know me. I dont even know their names.
Oh yeah, I guess you would have figured out why they decorated the cake like an aquarium. They know I love fish.
We went to beach, I got some beautiful woods for my aquarium. I was cleaning them while somebody knocked on my door softly. I looked and it was one of the boy kids from the party. Him and I are very friendly since he seems to love me and I love kids (when they arent nosy). I opened and there were two mothers with some kids and guess what! they brought me some milk white seashells for my aquarium!!! the kids wished me happy birthday and gave me the shells packed with a colorful paper. I cant express how i felt.
So, they were gone and I wanted to write about this strange yet beautiful experience and there it was AGAIN! Jackfrost, my blog friend had wished me on my birthday! What more can I say!
I must admit this would be an unforgettable birthday in my life. Thank you all. you made my life beautiful and joyful for a whole day! :D

My friends didnt visit me for three days and I started realizing how I waste my time and Life in this Island. Here's a pretty close estimate;
For every 24 hours;
* At least 9 hours of sleep
* 4 hours watching television
* 1 hour Just smoking / drinking coffee
* 1.5 hours eating
* 2 hours on call
* 3 hours searching and trying to connect to a wireless internet zone
* 2.5 hours working and doing all other necessary stuff
* and at least 2 hours, doing absolutely nothing in particular.
Sigh! I better start living.

I heard girls love guys who cook dinner and invite them for date. Well, I cant cook very well. Besides, I hate the smell of cooking in my apartment. I HATE IT. So, whenever I wanna cook something it holds me back from attempting. But to day Im too hungry and I have to cook prepare something! Something which doesnt require cooking and mixing smelly stuff! I called my niece who was such a genius to tell me to make something which doesnt require cooking! Thanks Nada! And heres what i bought from the local shop (basically, all types of fruits I could find there fresh or canned!) to prepare a delicacy of my own recipe!

I cut the apples and oranges into small cubes, and chopped the tomato in smaller ones, mixed the canned fruit cocktail and finally the yogurt was mixed. And heres what it looked like

Either I was Just sooooo hungry or this was so delicious, becos heres what it was after about 5 minutes!

I always liked what the cooks do to garnish when I see cookery programs on TV. So I tried it today for teh first time and WOW! I came up with such a cool tomato rose! What do you think?
Wanna date me?D

About two days ago I began this trip with the parliamentary members on their visit to the Islands of this atoll. Long story short; When I arrive on the islands the people look at me cos im a stranger I can understand. And I like attention. BUT, this seems quite more than attention to me; they would stare at me until i feel sort of naked! Why? Whats so strange in me? Do i look like an extra terrestrial organism? then what is it? uhhh! I get so F*G irritated! I don't like being Looked at!!!

Good music is less than rare. According to me, good lyrics makes a big part of good music. Whenever you hear a music your brain calculates how much its related to your life, mainly the wordings. A person who is in love, wanting to fall in love finds romantic or even dard-bhari (associated with sweet pain) lyrics intoxicating. I fit into this category. Im a poetic freak. The day before yesterday, a Bollywood movie, with a bunch of newcomers, flashed on my TV screen while I was changing channels. It didnt catch much of my attention until the next time it came on TV while I had a high volume (because I was making a coffee in the kitchen). The song straightly hit that special spot in my heart and I just enjoyed listening to the 15 seconds trailer of it. And it started to come on the channel very frequently and everytime I turn the volume of my TV to a high level when it comes. I was totally taken away by the intoxicating male vocal and the associated lyrics! This Songs' got me really! I recorded it into my camera and re-edited the 15 second clip to one minute by repeating it in such a manner that it wont sound so boring (Atleast, not to me). Im sure, anybody who understands a bit of Urdu or Hindi would find this song so killingly sweet! Its totally LOVE! the song is from a forthcoming movie called Haal-e-dil. It literally means the situation of heart, but it has a lot more to it in its original language. Urdu is such a rich language. So for me, it means something like, the endurance of a heart?! Anyways, the song is called Jaan Ve.

So guys, check out this intoxicating song here on my youtube page. And leave a comment on what you think abut the song! Enjoy!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4tymXeanCM

For those who wanted to see more pictures, here comes some pictures I took lately. check them out!

Until next time

Water is a blessing! Or perhaps I should say "the blessing". Because water is the reason for life on earth! The story Im gonna tell you is another strange thing i noticed from this Island. Myths and superstition used to be such a main part of Island communities of Maldives. Now that the Nation is going through a fast pace of development, these myths dont find their possessive position in the community any more! And still the people believe in some strange thins about their islands which makes the Island special...
The other day I went to beach with some friends. I was just quenching my thirst for natural beauty, using my not so pathetic digital camera! I noticed some deep holes dug by hand on the beach; there were about three or four of them. I captured one of the holes with the sea and sky in the background, just to get a dramatic picture and nothing else! A new friend i got here was with me there. He told me the water at the bottom of these pits are supposed to taste fresh water rather than saltwater. these one foot deep pits dug two or three feet maximum from the sea are supposed to taste water? Noway! I dashed back to the pit, touched the seeping water at the bottom of the pit ans tasted it. It tastes SALTY! duhh! Why would I even taste? I felt stupid but then I realized the water was NOT as salty as the sea water. Reality or Myth, It was a little less salty than sea water! Maybe there is a natural phenomenon to explain this. Im not much a scientist... Anyone out there? hehe. here is the picture of the Freshwater hole.

until next time

Im in this Island called Funadhoo in shaviyani Atoll. I will be working here as the TVM correspondent for quite a long time. After arriving here the first thing I noticed was how beautiful this island, especially, was. So, of course, a very first thing I did, after cleaning my apartment, was take a tour around the island and what I saw was breathtakingly beautiful. And surprisingly, the locals dont seem to be so astonished at such beauty of nature! At least not to me! Here is a picture of the very famous lake in here called "Dhah falhu". Its a narrow lake which runs from end to end on one side of the narrow, long island. One end of this lake is gradually becoming more of a mangrove-type pond while the other end lets inn lagoon currents and keeps clear. here is a panoramic view of the lake I took. Well, this picture, as some of your expert eyes can see, is not possible with a normal digital camera like mine! Of course, the praise goes to photoshop again! Its made by joining three pictures together and covers 180 degrees! Rather than making the edges soft and some level adjustments, the main contents of the picture is not altered, so you can be sure its how the place looks in real! Yeah, its breathtaking! What do you think?

Well, since im not a pro user of blog.co.uk, i cant post any bigger a picture than 500 pix. Anyways, I think some of you who are interested in photography or photoshop might find the real pictures interesting...., so here comes the real pics!

... until next time

Just when I thought I was lucky... EVERYTHING IS GONE. I just hope God sees me. Nothing else I can expect for.

When the heavens weep and roars cry,
They think the world is grieving with them.
When the lakes dry, the lands barren,
They think the hell on earth is being to them.
When God listens to earth, let out its sorrows,
They think God forgets them.