Packing for Maldives?” The questions started pouring in much before I buckled up for the turquoise coral islands that lie scattered in the Indian Ocean. “Sewn the sails on your boat, like the Giravaaru fishermen?” In my black bag, I was throwing in flip-flops and cans of sunscreen, but the beefy, ebony-skinned Tamil fishermen’s boat must have been laden with grocery, for they were the earliest settlers of Maldives.
In 5th century BC, they sure needed no sunscreen! “Carrying an insignia like the strapping Koimala?” I am no princess, but folklore talks of an Indian prince called Koimala who entered Maldives via Ihavandhu and started the imperial House of Theemuge.
However, on way to Maldives, I was thinking neither of the prince nor the fishermen. The 1,199 scattered islands that together make for the Maldives were not on my mind either. I was thinking of India – rather Indianness – that I would find in Maldives. In the balmy summer breeze, the aircraft was hurrying on the Male airport, but my mind was still droning with the India-Maldives connect.
When I stepped beyond the arrival gate and took a deep breath of salty Maldivian air, I shrugged all thoughts of prince and seafarers. But little did I know that it was Indianness that I would first bump into. Amidst a sea of humans, there stood a man with a Constance Moofushi placard. The luxurious Constance Moofushi Resort that sits in the South Ari Atoll was a 40-minute sea plane ride from the capital.
“So, is Indian food served in Constance Moofushi?” My voice was drowning in the clamor of the propellers and my fellow passenger had to strain her ears. “Oh! Yes. Every Wednesday is the Indian menu. Executive Sous Chef Harsh Vijay Rawat is from India.” Well, so India was waiting for me at Constance Moofushi, a 4-star resort which takes pride in its all-inclusive package – a not-so-heard of tariff concept in Maldives.
The room rate includes all meals, all beverage, water activities like snorkeling, diving, night/dawn fishing, among others. I knew during my stay in Moofushi, I will not have to open my wallet at all. That is how all-inclusive the package deal is!
But Vijay is the not the only Indian on the island with silken sand, swaying palm and 110 land and water villas. There are nearly 40 Indians employed in Constance Moofushi – 15 of them in the kitchen where, on Wednesdays, the theme of large buffet spread is Indian. Perhaps the Indian connect is logical – Dhivehi, the Maldivian language, is replete with Sanskrit words and Hinduism was practiced in Maldives before the monks brought in the teachings of the Buddha; Buddhism remained the dominant religion until 1153 AD when a Moroccan scholar converted the king – and consequently the nation – to Islam. Later, when the Portuguese invaded the island in 1588 for cowry shells, ambergris and ocean routes, they actually administered Maldives from Goa.
As I stepped into Constance’s Manta restaurant which epitomizes barefoot luxury, the whiff of Indian spices was heady. And behind the wooden food counter stood Harsh Vijay Rawat, the Executive Sous Chef, who trained at Institute of Hotel Management, Panipat. Thereafter, he rustled sumptuous fare in the Caribbean before moving to Maldives six years ago. Last year, he joined Constance Moofushi Resort where he cooks Indian-Maldivian dishes and even sources his fresh produce like crabs and prawns from India.
That evening, even in the unfamiliarity of Dhivehi language, I caught the inflexions of familiar sound – roshi, farata, ambu asara, sambosa, muggu, alooi… The traditional Maldivian cuisine is spicy and the spices are straight out of any Indian kitchen – cumin, coriander, chilli, fenugreek, turmeric. So are the names, though a little twisted and lost in translation. Roshi is actually a maida (white flour) roti; farata is parantha distorted; muggu is just another name for moong (green lentil); order ambu asara and a bowl of mango chutney would land on your table; alooi cutlet is potato cutlet… In Maldives, most meals conclude with betel leaves slathered with lime and piled with slivers of areca nut. Again, oh! so Indian.
Five days later, another speed boat took me to the capital for the flight back home. Faraway in the horizon, I could see Male as mere squiggles of blue, green and red…On the choppy ocean, I hastened back in time and was reminded of the beefy Tamil fishermen who sailed towards Maldives in 5th century BC; I remembered the gorgeous Indian prince who must have been dressed in finery for the coronation. I have not forgotten the taste of samosa at Constance Moofushi Resort.
I do not know whether the earliest seafarers and the prince felt at home in Maldives. Perhaps they did. Perhaps they did not. I certainly did.
Preeti Verma Lal
