Tribute To A Footprint

FOOTPRINTS IN THE SAND

Come to Maldives; the coral islands welcome you,

Leave your worries and hectic lives behind you,

Bring your friends; Maldives is a secret no more!

Mighty Indian Ocean will embrace you,

Our warm waters will clear your minds, recharging you,

Our coral gardens will enchant you,

Every colourful fish has a duty towards you,

Darting in and out of the rainbow corals,

Welcoming you to their watery world, asking you,

“Is it more beautiful on dry land above,

Or here, in the colourful silence of the coral gardens?”

Graceful palms will sway nonstop over you,

Soft breezes will play with your hair, caressing your earlobes,

Gentle waves and gentler ripples will massage you,

The sun will kiss your skin and tickle you brown,

Throw your shoes; walk barefoot on our shores,

Feel the soft white sand between your toes,

The sugar white grains will ease out your worries,

Take home memories of this tropical heaven,

Leave nothing, but tell tale footprints in the sand,

But alas, the tide never falters in her duties, not here!

Only when you leave, footprints are gently washed away!

Welcoming the next guest to the virgin beaches of Paradise!

= A. Sameer= September 9^th 2001

Tribute To A Coincidence

I am still so humbled at this coincidence! Few days ago I wrote about Dragonfly migration to Maldives and how Dr. Charles Anderson 'stumbled upon' what may be the longest insect migration in the World! He also talks about Raptors following this insect swarm to the South with the North Eastern Monsoons!

Recently we went to Kulhudhoofushi, Vaikaradhoo and also Nolhivaranfaru and we had to return by sea as we could not get plane tickets. On the way to Male' we stopped at Naifaru which is almost the midpoint in our journey from North to Male'. While the speed launch was being refueled my father and others went for a short walk into the island and suddenly he showed me this Raptor! In my previous article about Dragonflies I had written that '' my Dad is the most intellectually curious Octogenarian an average Joe will ever meet!" And true to my words, out of all of us it was him who pointed to me this Amur Falcon eating a garden lizard! Dr Anderson's words flashed in front of me!

" But dragonflies are not the only creatures that make the crossing. There is more to the story. I'm also interested in birds. And I'm familiar with this fellow. This is a rather special bird. It's a falcon. It's called the eastern red-footed falcon, obviously. But it's also called the Amur Falcon. And it's called the Amur Falcon because it breeds in Amurland.Which is an area along the Amur River, which is up here. It's the border, much of it is the border between China and Russia, up here in the far east."

While I am not 100% sure of the identity of this peregrine, I know it is not one of ' ours' ! I am almost sure this majestic bird of prey must have followed the Dragonflies all the way from North East of our continent and stopped at Naifaru (to refuel) just like us!

I have always envied my colleagues and friends in other countries who can photograph so many varieties of wild birds and animals since we hardly have any of these at all! Even as I write this it is hard to fathom that I got this with my short lens! The Falcon was sitting and eating this lizard at a leisurely pace and I took about ten shots knowing this is a chance that may never repeat!

Thank You!

Tribute To My Tripod

This is The Silent One; it would be fair to call it the Patient One too. In the early hours of many mornings my Three Legged One has been my only companion. Many a times human companions have found it uninteresting or quite simply, a burden to leave the warmth collected over 6 hours of bed warming and go out into the open to record un tangible and fleeing shadows and light.

My Faithful One has never buckled under the weight of a camera or a self assigned workload!.
Animals have four legs, and just because my Faithful One has three, it is not a semi beast or three quarters a monster. Certainly my Three Legged One is not one quarter close to an unruly feline or a mammal or a rodent.

Millipedes and centipedes are far superior to my tripod if you count the legs and forget the poise and stance and lithe aluminum bearing! Though my Aluminum One can rise to certain occasions and lower itself if the circumstance calls for kneelings, prostratings or even tip toeing, always the needs are obliged with minimum fuss or bickering! Isn't that a clear sign of civilized mannerism of the cultured and the disciplined? No doubt about that!

How can one thank a three legged companion who is always “Ever Ready”? Who never argues with you? You just type something and blogl it to kindhearted souls who will read this to the very end ! :- ) thanks for tolerating me!

You Work As You Play

This photo was shot around 1996 and this is one of my favourite photos of my children Manal and Maaz. Long before digital photography, I had shot this on film and enlarged it for a photo exhibition held at our Youth Center. Their seriousness and sheer concentration is so captivating. Catching tiny coloured fish that dart in and out of every niche and cranny of the corals during low tides must have been one of the favourite past times of our children since time immemorial.

In a still photo that takes about one sixtieth of a second to capture, we may not be able to know who the leader here is and who is guiding the action. But when you watch someone at play, you know a lot about that person. The person’s dedication to his or her hobby or sport will be in the same proportion he or she puts into life, or chosen field of work. As a nation the Japanese play hard and work hard. I cannot think of any other nation that plays so hard and also works so hard. It is scary to watch the Japanese when they fell a huge tree, strip it off all branches and pull it down a steep slope and people just jump on to this huge log as it goes crashing downhill! One would think they are out of their minds!

We all know that children learn a lot about life through play. Important aspects of life such as teamwork, not to give up, do your utmost even if you are dead tired and what is more important, how to lose with dignity and be gracious in victory is what we learn through play.

The mature people among us must have seen how the latter two qualities have been fading in sports and also how our society has changed now. Coaches stress on winning, not enjoying the play. Coaches in schools must emphasis on the importance of enjoying what we play because if we instill this in our children, they know that they did their best and they enjoyed, even if they did not win. If we stress on the importance of winning what does the losing team get? Nothing, not even the sheer pleasure of the game and we teach our children that the end justifies the means! We must teach our younger generation that the journey should be enjoyed as well as the destination!

Thank You

Tribute to Dragonflies

Gentle Dragon

Few days back I saw this dragonfly snoozing on the Yellow Allamanda vine my wife grows in our balcony. I believe this is a male Green Darner ( (anax Junius) one of the largest varieties of the vast Dragonfly family. Perhaps, it is called this peculiar name because the tail resembles a darning needle!

I have always been very curious why dragonflies are called such a sinister name in English. We in the Maldives have quite different names in various atolls to this seemingly very delicate insect which in fact may be a record breaker! In the north, the common name is HATHARU FIYA DHOONI which literally means Four Winged Bird! Whereas, in Male' the common name is DHON DHOONI.

I found out that in Japan dragonflies are symbols of courage, strength, and happiness. The Japanese have revered this amazing insect so much that they have traditional names for almost all of the 200 species of dragonflies found in and around Japan! Who would expect anything less from the meticulous and nature loving Japs!

Children everywhere seem fascinated with this beautiful flying insects. Japanese children catch large dragonflies as a game, using a hair with a small pebble tied to each end, which they throw into the air. The dragonfly mistakes the pebbles for prey, gets tangled in the hair, and is dragged to the ground by the weight. Although we do not see children using the sap of the Breadfruit tree as glue any more to catch these visitors to Maldives, it was a common sight just a decade ago. Our roads in Male' are not safe any more even for pedestrians, let alone children running to catch dragonflies!

The dragonfly spends most of its life in freshwater and since we do not have large freshwater bodies in the Maldives it was quite intriguing to find these aerial acrobats in large squadrons all at once all over our archipelago! Most of us never give such phenomena a second thought, but my Dad is the most intellectually curious Octogenarian an average Joe will ever meet! I knew he had wondered about the dragonflies' sudden appearances and disappearances for more than seven decades! So, as soon as I listened to Dr. Charles Anderson's lecture on Tedtalks, I was very eager to share this new found knowledge with my Dad! As Arabs say, when you know the reasons, you stop being bewildered!

Dr Charles Anderson is a Marine Biologist by training who was with the British VSO, and he was fascinated to see these four winged wonders in Male' every year at mid October ! His curiosity got the better of him and the scientist in him took over ! Please listen to his mesmerizing lecture on Ted talks India at this link:

www.ted.com/talks/charles_anderson_discovers_dragonflies.

Tribute To A Little Boy

My Son Rose To Occasion

My son Maaz, studying in Malaysia ( on the right) was home for a short holiday. We were so happy to have him with us once again. The day this photo was shot was an exceptionally beautiful day, I was anticipating a very spectacular sunset and arranged for the whole family to cross over to Vilingili just about a kilo meter away ( or just about 7 or 8 minutes ) from Male'.

As soon as we set foot on the island I knew we were just a couple of minutes late for a sunset photo! I was mildly upset about this and had no hope of getting a good photo and accepted the trip was in vain. Almost giving up on shooting a photo we sat chatting on the western side of Vilingili when my youngest son Mazin on the left, just clicked a photo of his brother and it was unexpectedly good. A silhouette of course but needed the subject's profile. I was amazed at this result and it taught me a lesson I shall never forget. Many times we have a preset idea of what should be 'right' and how the conditions should be. Children with their agile mentality are more susceptible for trying different approaches and exploring new angles to what is so familiar to us adults. It is so natural for kids to refuse to be imprisoned in the concrete boundaries adults so often jail themselves in. I took the camera from Zin and asked to sit with his brother and after some adjustments got this charming photo of my sons! One of my favourite photos!

The sun was down but my youngest son rose to the occasion and made my day! We live & learn!