BuGs Blog

Possible shark ban in the Maldives

2009-03-04T07:45:00.000+09:00

Ministry of Fisheries and Agriculture has announced to extend the previous 12 nautical mile moratorium within 7 regions to all the atolls in the Maldives. The government has also announced its commitment to extend the moratorium to a possible ban of shark fisheries in the Maldives. This has proved to be a remarkable step by the current government despite the previous government’s reluctance to act on the issue.

As noted by a lot of divers and environmentalists, the reef sharks have been overfished in the Maldives and the status of the Oceanic sharks are unknown in the Maldivian waters. Adding to it, there is a global concern of depleting shark stocks and a precautionary approach has to be adopted to tackle the problem.
Maldives obtain the benefits of sharks from its existence value, i.e. tourism and from the knowledge and the perceptions of locals and foreigners that sharks do exist in Maldivian waters and it is not been overfished. The benefits could also be redeemed through its non-existing value or through fishing, processing and exporting it. Since the Maldivians do not consume shark and shark products, it is solely exported. However, it should be noted that the main product has been shark fins and shark oil and the meat is mostly thrown away. This has been the main concern of environmentalists about the inhumane treatments for sharks.

From the research conducted by researchers in the field, shows that the existing value of sharks in the Maldives is much higher than when it has been fished. Hence, economically it is more feasible for the general population who is the resource owner of it, to redeem the benefits from its existing value. However, these benefits could only be encapsulated if the existing value is internalized through taxes, royalties, payment procedures etc.

At this point, it should be noted that the livelihoods of the fishermen would be heavily affected from such a ban and we should not neglect them even though the ban is for the betterment of our future. Luckily the Maldivian shark fisheries is seasonal and the fishermen tend to find alternative employment during low-fishing seasons. So it might be easier for the government to facilitate alternative employment for the fishermen.

The current moratorium is just the beginning of the work to climb up the hill. There should be more research, time frame to achieve the targets, monitoring mechanisms etc..

Resort Lease extension! Unjustified!

2008-12-03T15:47:00.001+09:00

A lot of debate and protests have been ongoing about the extension of the lease of resorts from 25-35 years to 50 years. Even some parliamentarians are thinking to extend the lease agreement up to a limit of 99 years or more. I thought I would briefly comment on the arguments proposed by the current government on the reasons for the change!

The current coalition government has the control of the parliament until the next general elections which is scheduled for February of next year. The current government is now accused of speeding up all the bills which are necessary for their own personal gains rather than the benefits of the general public. The resort extension follows the same path.

Firstly, the only asset that we have in the Maldives and our whole economy is NATURAL RESOURCES! The whole economic development in the Maldives is based selling these natural resources. To be precise it is based on fishing and tourism. But we have to note in any case, natural resources are limited and in some point or the other it would deplete and we would not be able to enjoy the benefits for prolong. So, if we want to sell these natural resources or 800 or so islands to the rich and wealthy businessmen for 50 years, would be we able to enjoy the maximum benefits from it? It doesn’t make sense at all!

When we ask to increase resort lease extension to 50 years, it has to be backed with necessary figures. For example, what would be the forecasted demand patterns for the period and how much would we be able to accumulate as resource rent based on inflation rates, interest rates, etc. Tourism forecasting is quite difficult, but could derive an approximate figure, which we could justify whether it is feasible for us to give away for 50 years. These decisions should be based on not only on investors but including social costs and benefits as well. Ultimately the revenues generated by the industry are spent to improve the social condition of the citizens of Maldives.

The resort owners now say that everyone in Maldives cannot be resort owners. So the people who are resort owners should be able to sustain their investment! Yes! It’s true. Everyone cannot be resort owners. But wasn’t lolly Jabir, once a normal citizen like us selling lollypops. No one knows what would happen in the future. Everyone in the Maldives should have a fair and equal opportunity to compete.
The main argument proposed the resort owners is the unavailability of funds from banks. It is truly misleading comment by them. The whole world economy is currently in a huge recession and economists fear that the worst is yet to come. Hence, the banks would be reluctant to give loans and funds to any company whether their lease period is 50 years or even 99 years. Let’s look for typical a Maldivian businessman who owns resorts. These resort owners would have 2 resorts that’s been operating and four or five in construction! How would they be able to gain funds for these four or five resorts at the same time! And these resort owners would not just borrow funds for their business in resorts, but for all their other business as well. The banks might be willing to give the loans to the businessman for a limited time, but after sometime these resort owners would be again asking for an extension.

A four star resort sells their beds at a rate of 300 – 400 dollars per night and the general public or the government gets only 8 dollars per bed irrespective of their price. Even if the bed is sold at 10,000 dollars, the government would only get 8 dollars?

People like us are suffering from the bad practices that’s been utilized by the businessmen in the Maldives. It’s not we who have to surrender all our lands for the benefits of the politicians and the rich and wealthy businessmen.

2.1 Million for President n Vice

2008-11-27T02:39:00.003+09:00

I supported the views of the current president during his election speeches to cut down government spending and to minimize the income inequalities among the population of Maldives. But now, I am really disappointed of his actions!
The huge debates in the Majlis just proved the greedy and selfish parliamentarians. They never want to do any good for the normal citizens, instead they would want to get as much money they could to fulfill their own pockets!
I thought to do some research based on the Gross Domestic Product of some of the wealthier countries and the head of the state. The GDP are based on the figures released by International Monetary Fund for year 2007.

The figures just speak for itself. Our GDP values are way too lower than India or even Bangladesh. But the salaries we pay for the highest post are way too high for our economy to handle. It’s just based on the ad-hoc thinking by the parliamentarians. I remember one member saying, that the figure was derived at a lower rate, but they thought to make it more appealing and nice. It is not just the parliamentarian’s money to do whatever they want.

From what the parliamentarians discussed in the treasury committee in the parliament, I just feel that they never discuss about the economic issues with any economists or even government officials, whether a luxurious figure of 7,782 dollars per month could be paid for the president based on the current economic recession .
The alliance of MDP has the control in the parliament at the moment. Anything that the president wishes could easily be passed in the parliament. I am sure the parliamentarians would meet before hand and come up with a figure before it was passed in the parliament. The parliament has become the best circus of the century. Maybe it’s because we don’t have a circus in Maldives, the parliamentarians thought it might be fun to do so.

The income disparity is so immense in Maldives. Now I wish I could have just stayed back in UK and worked back there. After I completed my masters, I am now receiving a monthly salary of US $346 (MRF 4450/-) and with allowances I would be able to get MRF 6230 or 486 US dollars per month. I know the consequences of an increased salary and I am not just saying to increase the public service salary either. I just wanted to mention to reduce the income disparities in the country and the value of 2.1 Million rufiyya per year on the two key posts of Maldives is way too much for our economy to handle!

We voted Mohammed Nasheed to make good changes in our life and now it doesn’t seem so. The first thing he did was to bring more cash in to his pocket. Well, he wouldn’t mind of a global recession while he gets Rf 2 per minute in his pocket. Will he?

1429 Eid Celebrations - Baibalaa

2008-10-03T07:37:00.004+09:00

Ibra's Education policy

2008-08-18T03:40:00.000+09:00

Wow! I just listened to Ibra’s education policy on DhiFM 95.2. I must say he is a real good speaker. The adherence in his words, the examples he showed is simply mesmerizing. He did not put something special in his educational policy; he just put the bits n bots where the current government have failed. It showed his brilliance and understanding in the education sector.

Some of the positive points he focussed should be highlighted because of its importance and I really cheer him for that. The part where he said he would try to incorporate foreign languages in to our education system including Arabic is something we need desperately. In an era prompting for globalisation, the need for it is immense.

The need to function an independent valuation body for the education sector is another point which should be highly applauded. However, I don’t strongly support his philosophy of giving the whole authority of the valuation process to the parents. But it’s just my view.

He also pressed the need for increasing teacher’s salary and more higher educational opportunities for them. I agree to this one to some extent. I don’t think anyone maintains this statistic in the government. But for sure, most of the scholarships offered by the government are still allocated for teachers.

I strongly disagree with his point of view of abolishing the awarding process for top schools. The current process gives an extra motivation for the students who want to achieve more and who wanted to learn more! I guess everyone at the moment have equal chances as they are judged by the 8 subjects they are taught in school.

However, his long speech which lasted for more than half an hour was well structured and he also said he would challenge all the other educational policies in a debate. So that’s something to look out for!

Just a mere thought!

2008-08-14T01:55:00.001+09:00

Well, another party! Another day in the political arena in the Maldives and the build up for the elections 2008 is getting much more unpredictable! Imagine, for a population of around 300,000 we have 10 and I reiterate, 10 political parties. Wow! For god’s sake! This is too much of our resources wasted on politics!

One funny thing I notice is none of the political parties aims to bring peace and harmony to the Maldivians and to provide a better life. Their main target is to get rid of Maumoon and that’s it! Anni talked about some aspects including tourism, housing and fisheries in his manifesto and I just could not think of how he could achieve in the time frame he told. He obviously needs to change his thinking so that it could be easily accepted by people rather than us wondering whether it would be empty promises! We still have to wait for others to talk about their manifestos, especially from our current president. Would he opt out from issuing a manifesto like how he has done for the political debate! Let’s wait and see what he does!

Back to thought! The public have to fund for the 10 political parties and I can’t see some of them functioning at all! I just can’t believe! Maybe we should start a Maldives Green Party to promote and aware the environmental condition rather than an association or an NGO, because it is more profitable! Easy capital! It’s kind of the easiest way of financing an association of such I guess because you get a yearly capital free of charge! No interest!

Just a mere thought!

A brief look at Anni's transport policy

2008-08-06T03:18:00.001+09:00

Its election time in Maldives and the so called ‘politicians’ have started to announce their agendas and manifestos. Since I am living abroad at the moment, I just get all the news from the local media and just could not imagine the differences in how it’s been reported in here and in Maldives.

The last policy was announced by Maldivian Democratic Party’s presidency candidate, Nasheed (Anni) for the transport sector. The main outcome of the policy was to connect all the islands from a ferry mechanism. He highlighted that Maldivians are suppressed in their islands and the difficulty in transport in emergencies. The mechanism would be facilitated bydividing the country in to different zones and the zoned islands were announced in the news briefing held in Hulhumale’ ferry terminal. However, this information was not available (not even in MDP website).

However, after reading the articles about it in haveeru, miadhu, aafathis and jazeera a lot of questions popped in to my head, like any other Maldivian. The journalists failed to ask key questions or failed to report key factors in the newspapers.

First key question is how could it be done?

Is government going to start a ferry business separately or would it be run through MTCC? I thought Anni mentioned about privatising all government business and the need for government to pull away from the business sector.

By having zone ferries would it still solve the emergency problems, I don’t agree. It might give a little comfort but I don’t believe it’s the complete solution.

How could it be financed?

If ferry services are to operate, it sure has to be profitable or is government going to subsidise the company like STELCO. The business would be highly risky n volatile with the increase in fuel prices in the world. Would this policy be financed by the public and would they be charged?

Finally within how many years would it take to implement such a plan?

I don’t support any political party so far, but definitely my vote in the elections would go to a person who has the best mandate to help the people of Maldives and I hope I would get some answers for this in the near future!

Cut down costs!

2008-07-08T01:05:00.004+09:00

A lot of people would criticise government’s narrow minded economic policy and I must say most of them are true. World Bank and IMF have reiterated in almost all their publications on Maldivian economy about the lack of flexibility and dependency on natural resources.

We do have master plans of almost all the sectors and National Development plans? Do we really follow them or still we are targeting for short term goals. I would leave this for you to answer!

The recent announcement by the government to cut down costs does not come as a shock for me, because of the fact that most of the spending is by the government. This includes parties, competitions, reducing after hours, opening hours, reduce electricity consumption and transport costs, using phones instead of mobiles and to reduce foreign travel.

Shouldn’t this be in our norms in office? It isn’t and mainly because none of us including myself values the importance of public money. We don’t realise the money we spend ultimately would be taken from our pockets!

We need to cut down our costs, not only in government, we also need to reduce our spending. Reduce buying the latest brands of phones even though we never use the functions except calling and texting, use bicycles or walk to reduce fuel consumption, reduce food waste and electricity and even in clothing!

I believe government’s main objective at the moment should not only be this! Government need to work on projects that would reward and generate revenue. A special emphasis has to be placed on population and development consolidation.

The salaries of high level people should be brought all time low. I could not believe that MPs get $4669 per month. Can you imagine that an Indian MP gets around $1500 and ours get $4669 per month? This is not different for the high level jobs and these people would get an average of around $2000 per month. The worst thing is even after I go back home, I would just earn only $550 per month. Salaries should be cut down where ever possible and should be rationale.

The next question is even though we cut down our costs, would it bring us back to normality! Nah... We are in a worse situation than that! But it sure would help!

Environment - Practice before you preach!

2008-06-27T02:43:00.005+09:00

It’s a shame that we talk and blubber around asking other countries to reduce green house gas emissions and to be environmentally friendly when we as a nation are doing nothing in those grounds. Yes, we can plant a few trees, while chop three hundred more trees! Government’s plan to ‘plant a tree for every tree that’s cut’ is just jotted down in a piece of paper while no action is been taken on it.

The roads in the capital are full of garbage.. Chewing gums, suparis, killi... what not? No one is given advice or there is no media campaign to make our roads cleaner.. I had a talk with my friend about it and his reply was ‘Come on.. If I finish eating a supari, I had to keep it in my pocket until I go back home. There is not a single bin on the road..’

He might have a valid point, but still... is it that huge burden for us to carry it back to our home and throw it in the bin. These tiny habits could lead us to a cleaner, tidy and environmental place.

Habits such as to use a recycled bag for shopping instead of getting those plastic bags for each item we buy, to switch of lights and fans or A/C when we leave homes, to use recycled items, to buy our own local produced vegetables and fruits could be minor, but would yield to a greater positive impact on the environment.

The other thing everyone would notice is the amount of vehicles that are in the Maldives. Even though the taxes on motor bikes and cars are doubled the original price, everyone gets away with it by importing as a second hand car or bike.

All guys and girls would follow on the rule ‘to be a great guy or a girl, you need to have a motor bike or to have the latest mobile phone’. But on the reality we as a nation are contributing to the emission of green house gases.

Why can’t we walk or use a bicycle? It’s just a square kilometre.

Yes it’s true... Maldives might be wiped out from the maps of the world in the near future and we have to make the bigger emitters aware of the situation. But for sure, we have to straighten our habits and our life culture as well... Which we never do, so first let us practice it before we preach!

Photo by www.hrclean.org

Vacation!

2008-06-24T19:37:00.004+09:00

Again, I just could not meet up with my promises of writing in my blog regularly...

Anyways I was back in Maldives for the SAFF Championship. Guess what? I finished my exams on 2^nd of June, flew on the same day and landed in Male’ International Airport on 3^rd June at 1420hrs. Got back home at 1500hrs and dumped my entire luggage at home and went straight to the stadium with my camera kit! It was the same story throughout my so called - VACATION. But who cares, I just did what I loved, sports photography and witnessed the best football tournament in the history of the Maldives!

The support for the national team was just overwhelming. With each goal that was scored, I wanted to jump, but was forced to calm myself, since I had the responsibility of catching the wonderful moment through my lens!

The euphoria of winning the tournament in the capital was just overwhelming. I was in the lorry with the players and they just could not imagine it, neither I could!. The republican square was painted in red and the long 4 hour journey through out the capital was just ecstatic.

I witnessed Portsmouth Football Club’s FA Cup win and the team’s march throughout the city and they were greeted with the whole city and I mentioned in maldivesoccer.com that BBC football pundit Alen Hansen mentioned ‘for Portsmouth, the knowledge that you've just won the FA Cup is simply one of the best feelings you can experience’.

But for Maldives, it would be the best feeling that would be treasured for our life time.

I got 14 days vacation of which I spent 5 days in Sri Lanka and then spent one whole day in Maldives before I had to fly back to Portsmouth and on the day I flew back, my mom said unhappily ‘Sinan, you could not spend a total of 24 hours with us’. Yes it was true, but then....

You could see some of my shots of the tournament in www.buggeephotos.com

EIA

2008-05-16T03:23:00.002+09:00

Folks! Am really sorry for being laid back and the slow posting speed! In fact I have some thoughts of writing, but then it fades away with the political nature of our country! LOL... Hope it makes some sense...

Environment Impact Assessments (EIA) procedures have been paving its way into most of the projects that are running in not only in Maldives, but throughout the world. One thought just stroke into my mind during one of our lectures by Dr. Prem Wattage, a famous econometrician who has done studies in various parts of the world about valuing our resources and quantifying them.

Environmental Impact Assessments that are carried out identifies the threats and the damages that could cause to the environment and highlights how it could be minimised or stopped at some circumstances. The project is mostly given a go, cause of the net benefits we would get in terms of wealth, sometimes just forgetting our future generations. The main reasons are that in normal financial analysis, we ignore the environment and the recovery costs from the damages caused to the environment. Sometimes these are represented in hidden costs or totally ignored. Thus companies are faced with huge dilemmas when the environment surrounding them deteriorates.

It is difficult to assess the values of the environment especially to the Maldives, but there are methodologies that could be used to go around with it. I am not sure whether we know how much our resources are worth economically? Do you?

Easter trip

2008-04-05T03:45:00.001+09:00

Well, it has been long since I wrote anything in my blog! It’s that I was not around in Portsmouth in the past few weeks and have been roaming around in the north of England. Met some interesting people, different characters and with different ideologies. After meeting them, it feels if they were given to run the government they could just run it with their fluent words of criticism. Most of them are anti government and the funny thing I noticed about it is that all of their talks and criticism yields to nothing as they don’t like all the political leaders.

About my trip to the north it was fantastic. There was this instance when the weather changed so dramatically in Liverpool. At one instance it was snowing, then it was cloudy, and then rained and in the next minute it was sunny and the sky was blue! You could just experience the British weather in just five minutes!

The contrast between the north and south is immense. In my opinion the south of England is much much better than the north, not that I am in the south. The north is less developed compared to the south and it is less clean. Some of my friends believe that the government gives higher priority to the south. It could be seen clearly in the BBC coverage of the recent storm in England. The day the storm hit the south of England, reporters brought the live coverage in fierce conditions. Meanwhile, two days later when the storm hit the North of England, there was no live coverage and was heavily criticised by the locals.

Anyways, now am back to studies after the long trip to Liverpool, Manchester and Leeds. A special thanks to Afsal, dho and her hubby, aimi and uwa for their hospitality.

Entertainment! 21st century

2008-02-21T00:18:00.002+09:00

Just a thought some of my friends shared some days back. Thought I would share it with you guys! The entertainment these days has changed from mere quality to people’s miseries. We laugh, we joke and we entertain ourselves from the miseries of other people.

For example: The American Idol searches for people and show up the most hilarious or the idiotic people to sing even though they know they don’t have a single chance to progress. On the other hand, Big Brother which shows just everything that people do in a closed house and I know some of my friends who sit in front of the Tally just waiting to see what happens next. In this year, one of the guys was doing IT himself and it was shown in newspapers and almost all the media! I just could not imagine how the entertainment has changed from mere talented young professionals to idiotic talents.

But that’s the entertainment of 21^st century and truthfully I do also laugh and joke about the idiotic behaviour shown in some of the programmes!

Valentine

2008-02-14T03:15:00.002+09:00

It has been so long since I have posted anything in my blog. It’s just that after the trip to India, things were hectic. I just had a very tight schedule filled up with exams and assignments. After that during the one-week semester break, me and my class mates went to Isle of Wight, London and even went to fishing down the coast of Portsmouth. Even though the classes have resumed, this time I hope to continue to post one post a week. Let’s see how far I go..

During the weekend I went on a trip to London where we just explored different things in there including lives of Londoners, their expressions and the surroundings. The one thing I noticed is how much the whole place has been lived up to Valentines’ day. Everywhere you look at you would see things in red or either discounted for sale for Valentine’s Day. It’s one of the commercial events of a retailer like many other occasions such as Christmas. TV advertisements are full of hearts, shop windows are decorated with red, and even the Maldivian post has decided to post roses to celebrate the lover’s day!

Things evolving it might be wrong, but like many other such cases if your will is to express your feelings to your lover, what’s wrong with it? But for my liking, I would prefer to express my feelings on every day, not on a single day. But it’s just another day like Mother’s day, Father’s day or children’s day! Just a funny thought circulated in my head during a walk along the sea front!

Trip to India: Hindhu food or Muslim food

2008-01-06T01:27:00.000+09:00

I just returned from a trip to India. It was a fantastic trip in many ways. A funny incident happened during the flight from Munich to Delhi in Lufthansa and would like to share it with you guys. I got a seat just near the toilets and the cabin crews’ area which made my whole flight miserable as people were roaming around making noises and you could hear the calls for flight attendants throughout the flight. During the 6 hours 45 minutes trip I could not sleep at all. Ok, let’s continue with the story. Just as I boarded the flight, two gentleman came over and asked an Indian cabin crew, apparently on her first flight

“I just changed my seat and I have asked for Hindhu food. Could you arrange it?”

The flight attendant responded calmly “Yes sir, it won’t be a problem. If you have asked for special food it won’t be a problem”

Then one of the guys asked the flight attendant disappointedly.

“No. I did not ask for special food. Even on the flight from Boston to here I ordered for Hindhu food and they just brought me Muslim food”

Confused flight attendant again said “Yes we can serve you Hindhu food. It won’t be a problem. We have vegetarian food”

Again the guy complained “It’s not vegetarian food I’m asking. Can you ask your superior to arrange Hindhu food for me?”

At that moment, the flight captain on the speakers said that they are ready for take-off and the two gentlemen went to their seats meanwhile the confused flight attendant went over to her superior.

An Indian guy sitting next to me, who was also confused asked me “Is there Hindhu food or Muslim food?”

I said “I don’t know!”

Democracy! Would we enjoy it?

2007-08-21T12:12:00.000+09:00

I guess I have started a common interest towards the politics in these few days that I have stayed away from Maldives. I guess I missed my chance to vote this time and would have added one more vote to the Presidential System. Not that I support DRP or any other political party. It is just that the Presidential System suits Maldivians much better than the Parlimentary and the Maldivians have decided the best for my likings.

But the real question I would like an answer would be whether we would be able to experience the true taste of democracy! People say democracy would not be achieved without pain and are we ready to face it?

First of all in my point of view, we are not. The only main fact being that our economy is not strong at all. We do have some frozen, fresh or dried tuna to sell to the international market and which is highly dependent on the nature and the climate change. The current depression which most of the scientists believe is from the El-nino near the equator in the Pacific Ocean! So obviously that sector is not strong as it sounds. Besides, being highly conservation based fishery and the rest of the countries around Maldivian waters don’t consider it, our economy would definitely suffer and would not be stable at all!

Next is obviously some thing we market: Tourism. Highly dependent on the nature, the atmosphere in our neighboring countries! And we can’t dependent on it at all?

What else do we have? Nothing! Nothing at all! No agriculture, nothing to trade, nothing to sell…

You might ask why it is linked to democracy. Hmmm when people fight for democracy as it now happens, people take the advantage of our economy and our treasures to sell out to the public. The public is really bought by politicians like India and Sri Lanka. I am not criticizing the Indians neither the Sri Lankans like Imadh Solih who studied in India like me. But the thing is people mind could be bought so cheaply without a strong economy and this would ultimately lead to internal fights and demonstrations. People are so opposed to the government and they could be bought near the election period with some money or some brilliant idea which has no ground at all!!

For example: Usual employee of the government gets around MRf3000 with over time allowance. If the politicians give him a 1000 buck or promises for a better housing regime, people would move to it. People would buy it. Politicians say books should be free of charge and hospitals should be free of charge? Why? Because our economy is not that strong the people would have a tendency to buy that idea.

But ultimately it cannot be implemented in real time basis. We do not have such a strong

economy to produce such free services. And the politicians who have their own priorities would never think about it. It is just votes they need even though our economy collapse…

Economy of a country is not a toy to be played with!!

Independence day celebrations

2007-07-28T23:28:00.003+09:00

Independence day celebration pics for all of you that missed the show

Independence

2007-07-27T19:03:00.000+09:00

It’s been 42 years if I am not mistaken that we got our independence from the British. But did we really feel the independence we had is the frequent question that everyone use to ask and the politician complains that they did not have the independence!

Even though I work in the government I do not support all the activities that’s carried by the government it self. But for sure, I feel that the independence we had is quite more self comfortable rather than the independence we are having at the moment.

Some would blame President Maumoon, but some would blame his cabinet. But I would definitely blame everyone in the nation, including me, my self and my friends and everyone in the nation for disrupting the peace we had. We just cannot fulfill or taste the full independence with turmoil and hatred. We have to love each other, and have to have peace and the smile we had before. When people speak of Maldives, the brand name would be sure “I haven’t seen any where else in the world which showed such hospitality and affection” Shall we join our hands and bring those affection back again!!

TOILET THOUGHTS!! 'JUST FRIENDS'

2007-07-16T23:06:00.000+09:00

Here’s another toilet thought. But this time it was definitely not from the toilet.

Hmmmm.. let’s go on with the thought…. “Just friends”. What do you mean by the phrase?? Its common used word but I guess I do not have a definition for it. But let’s look at some thoughts I had about it.

A fried of mine had a relationship where he explains his relationship as ‘just friends’. But the girl was all over for him and he just pretended it to be friendship or ‘just friendship’. He could have sex with her, he could spend almost 24 hours beside her but still he called the relationship ‘just friendship’. Maybe I am a guy who has not turned European, but definitely wish some one could explain the meaning of the phrase.

Let’s look at another relation. One of my friends again! Her partner and she studied together and they were going out together, stayed together, and I guess did everything together. But still they called it as just friends

Another relation. But this time more complicated though. The guy seems to like her and want to start a relationship. The girl wants to start a relationship too, but she hesitates too much and ended up in “just friends’

So my toilet thoughts tried to make a definition and here comes it

‘Just friends – Friends, but not friends. Relationship but not relationship. Maybe a relationship but not a relationship for sure. Might yield to a relationship and might not. Friendship… nah that’s ambiguous.

LIVE EARTH - JAMMING FOR THE ISLANDS

2007-07-10T01:20:00.001+09:00

More pics of the bands..........

ZERO DEGREE - LIVE EARTH SHOW

2007-07-09T03:08:00.000+09:00

The name speaks for it self. The legends of Maldivian music, Zero Degre atoll performed in Live Earth show. They did a few songs but was not up to my satisfaction whose expectation is quite high. The lighting when they were up was horrible. But anyways cheers.. Here's for my new found friend and to all my friends. Click on the photos to get the best view.

2007-07-08T21:42:00.000+09:00

I am not in to Maldivian Music much and can't remember the names even. but i love to take photos and managed to take some shots. Here's Amazon jade for u.. More pics of other bands coming soon..... click each pic to get a better view

TOILET thoughts!!

2007-07-06T00:48:00.000+09:00

Just a thought in my silly brain that just struck me when i was in the toilet today. Was wondering whether we get a helping hand when we really need them. But the ground reality is we would never get them if we don't ask for it. Most of the people i know would say easily that friends are the first one to lend a hand when u need a help.. But it is just when we ask for them?

I guess friendship is much more than that. A friend should know when his friend is in pain or feel lonely.. When the friend realy feel to share but he is reluctant... I am not a psychologist and i am sure i would never be one! but just my feeling that when some one is in a lot of stress he/she would definitely hide!! It is us, friends who should sense the "DANGER" sign and help them out!

just a thought.. just wanted to share!!

MIADHU CRYSTAL AWARDS 07

2007-07-01T01:28:00.000+09:00

Miadhu Crystal Awards have brought a revolution to the movies industry. The government have had so many award shows and this one by Miadhu rocked!! Not that there were places for improvement but overall i would give them 7 out of 10 which is very high according to my standards.

The red carpet was awesome and the photographs in famous award shows rocked through my head. My fellows Nattu and Millzero, both of them pros were of a great help giving tips on lights and how to adjust my camera flash..

So overall, Miadhu Crystal awards came in as a very good show as i did learn a lot of stuff from it.

Lastly it took me one whole day to decide which pics i would post on the blog. As i took pics for Jazeera Daily i was reluctant to post a pic here for my friends. But atlast i thought i would post a few of the shots i managed to get...

If u have any comments to make on the photos pls do as this is my second try..

Cheers!

SAY NO TO DRUGS

2007-06-27T04:15:00.000+09:00

It is not olden days any more. Where ever you go you would face the so called "parteys" (locally known for Drug Addicts and other gang members). It seems major proportion of our youth is involved in some extent in drug trafficing or other..

My cousin who was so good in studies lost his future because of it. Once he was one of the leading accountants in Maldives, but now he is no man. lives in the island trying to fight against drugs with the help of his family.

In my own opinion, the govt is unable to act upon and to minimise it due to a lot of constraints. Drug trafficing is highly involved with world known gangs like MAFIa and other gangs that are in India and Pakistan. So assume how much difficult it would be with a 1200 islands scattered all over the indian ocean.

But we need to act.. from the parental level to the govt level and i think we should before it is too late..

Picture taken today: From the demonstration held today to stop drug trafficing

WORLD MUSIC DAY

2007-06-25T04:43:00.000+09:00

Hi everyone,

After a long time here's my first post. I went to the World Music Day festival which was held on Friday Night. The show was awesome but the lighting was horrible. Met Notsogoodphotography and Obofili there... Later on found Dude crush and Clopp taking pics..

I went to test and to improve my photography and i think i need a lot of improvement to get some quality images. Hope i would get some more chances to take shots....

One year almost

2007-06-18T02:00:00.000+09:00

It has been almost a year since i posted anything in my blog and i guess i should start from now on.. I wish i could.. but by laziness is killing me!! errr!!!!

The fast and the furious

2006-07-02T22:33:00.000+09:00

The name seems to be ironic to me now. It's a pity that some of our youth watch the movies and really try to follow the stunts in the tiny and narrow roads of Male'. It was a shock to me and my friends to hear the news in the early morning. One of my closest buddy’s brother was a real bad victim of the horrible incident. A cop who were having a talk with his friend lost his leg and have been paralised for the entire life because of it.

But the real question is that what are the speedy freaks doing in the streets of Male’ and why are they allowed to do it when everyone knows about it! Even my 13 year old brother was asking my mom to send him to watch it! In fact he woke up one day around 4’o clock in the morning to go there!! I really thank god that he was not allowed!

But some times, the speedy freaks should learn is to think positive!. None of us do I guess! We always think that rules are meant to be broken and it makes us loose one of our friend’s life or an innocent person. The thrill that they get for 30 seconds has made a person crippled for his entire life!

It has been a long time since I wrote anything in here, but just wanted to share my deepest thoughts regarding the incident with all of you guys!

Trip to Kyoto

2005-12-11T10:28:00.000+09:00

Well, the whole day we spent on exploring the beautiful scenary of Kyoto, their long historical places. We saw a kimono fashion show as well including dose stuff.. heheh I manage to capture some kewl pics:d There 's too much to write if i start to describe in detail so i wud drop it.. anyways enjoy da pics

KIYOMIZU-DERA

2005-12-07T17:58:00.000+09:00

Atlast the training is over. We are currently visiting to Kyoto for a study tour to learn more about Japanese Culture. We came to Kyoto by bullet train and i manage to take some pics of mountains with snow. It was really difficult to take a good shot. Kyoto is the oldest city in Japan and it was the previous capital too. We visited Kiyomizu Temple, which is located in Otowasan, one of the Kyoto's Higashiyama(east mountains), commanding a great panaromic view of the whole Kyoto City.

The temple was founded by Yenchin in the 8th century (780) and the present structure was rebuilt in the 17th century (1633) consist of Niomon(two stories gate of the Deva Kings), Sanjunoto (three storied pagoda), shoro (bell tower) and some others.

The view from the temple is simply amazing, with red leaves all over the place. I really enjoyed the nature around here. Though my hand was freezing, i manage to capture around 192 pics. By the time i returned to the bus, my hand was really shivering bad. But i manage to show a bright smile :D

panaroma views

2005-12-04T10:05:00.000+09:00

Well, i've been surfing the internet for a new camera and I came across this software provided by Columbian University- Autostich. It is damn easy to make pana. U just have to grab the pictures and it is done. www.cs.ubc.ca/~mbrown/autostitch/autostitch.html

PICS

2005-11-29T21:59:00.000+09:00

The first three pictures is taken in Tokyo Sea Life Park. The next four is taken in Yokohoma City. The rest is taken in Misaki in Kanagawa Prefecture.

Tokyo Sea Life Park

2005-11-29T20:52:00.000+09:00

It’s another day and it’s another aquarium. This time it’s much bigger and more stunning. A Japanese architect designed Tokyo Sea Life Park. The design illustrates a dive into deep sea. The surrounding in the park is designed such that the view merges with the waters of Tokyo Bay. Lets run some statistics… hehehe. Well, Japan has the most number of aquariums in the world. Out of 144 or more, larger aquariums in the world, 68 are in Japan and Tokyo Sea Life Park is the biggest in Japan. There are 542 different species of fish in the aquarium. This accounts around one fifth of the species in all aquariums in Japan. Will u believe that for this aquarium nearly 13 million US dollars is invested annually? This aquarium displays 166 tuna of 6 different species. It is the first aquarium to successfully display tuna, which is around 17 years ago. The tank is made from 26cm thick glass specially designed for aquariums and the water for this tank is brought from deep sea. In this aquarium, various filters are used which filters around 2200tonnes of water per hour. Ozone is used for killing bacteria and facilitating oxygen for the species. I was so amazed of the clarity in water in the tanks. Wow!!! And wow!! I could not take a good picture of the tuna. The tuna moved so fast and due to the thickness of the glass I was not able to take a good picture of them. Sorry folks!! But I have some amazing pictures of the rest of the aquarium, which also have penguins and some other sea birds.

Hagoromo-no Matsu

2005-11-26T22:33:00.000+09:00

We visited a famous site in Japan which is called Hagoromo-no Matsu. Kami no michi(God's road ) is the site of celestial nymph legend called "Hagoromo-no Matsu(Pine of Hagoromo). The legend goes that the person saw the saint bathing in the sea.The clothes of the saint were laid in the branches of the pine tree, which is now very very old. The legend asked the saint that she has to dance inorder to get back the clothes and she agreed and danced until she went to the skies. The japense also have the tradition of picking up stones from the beaches, and if a person finds a stone with only single white line, than he would have good luck. Kinda good luck charm. It was kinda interesting. We aslo went to see the Miho shrine and the Monument to elene, which is a monument dedicated to the french ballerina, Elene Giuglaris who loved the Noh play"Hagoromo" and dreamed that Miho-no matsubara, but died before visiting the pine tree area. A lock of hair of the deceased is buried beneath the monument.

Yazumi port

2005-11-25T22:01:00.000+09:00

Well, it's another port, which is much larger than yesterday's one. They land pole and line vessels, longline vessels and many more. We watched the unloading of the pole and line vessel which is very much huge compared to the maldivian ones. They catch around 400 mt of catch before they land. They adopted the system of pole and line fishery from the Maldivians, but they catch more than the Maldivians.

Shizumi Port

2005-11-24T14:15:00.000+09:00

Today we visited the shizumi port. One of the largest in Japan. They had 8 transhipment vessels which carries around 2000mt of tuna in each vessel. Well, these vessels collect fish for around 1-2 years and loads the fish in the port. It takes around 1 month to load the entire stock. They keep the tuna in -60C. By keeping in that temparature, tuna doesn't get spoiled. It retains the same quality when it's caught. After loading to the collecting vehicles, it is kept in a storage area which is also -60C until the prices is high enough. They sometimes keep the tuna for 2-3 years until the price is high.

Will u believe? One big bluefin tuna is sold at the same price of a toyota car?. and by each shipment they get around 20 million US Dollars... dats's huge money!!!

S-Pulse Plaza

2005-11-23T17:58:00.000+09:00

The plaza is built by one of the major soccer clubs in Japan which belongs to this city. The plaza ranges from football stuff to lots of various activities. Lots of food stalls and various fashion stuff as well. Why cannot maldivian clubs build stuff like this? None of the clubs I think sell their jersies or anything related to them. In through out the world, the clubs organize to sell the products related to their clubs. I guess, Maldivian clubs should start it. As they are also building their popularity among the Asians.

TOKAI University fish aquarium

2005-11-23T17:29:00.000+09:00

It’s a holiday. We thought we would head to the fish aquarium. One of the coordinators took us there. Wow!!!!!! The aquarium is awesome. The biggest tank that I have seen so far. There are so many fishes in the tank including skipjack tuna, sand killer sharks and even rays. The tank is I think 6m high. The smaller tanks got some small fishes and some marine species as well. I guess, in Maldives we should build one cause we have more marine species than in here. It seems that Tokai University have marine research vessel which conducts research on this marine species. Well, as a whole I should note that the trip to the aquarium is remarkable.

Trip to Shimizu

2005-11-21T17:41:00.000+09:00

Well, the trip in the bullet train was awesome. My eyes got blur after looking outside through the window. It was travelling over 285km/hr. I donno how the F1 drivers survive.... well after we got here, we went to see the orange farms in here.

Wow!! it was awesome. There were oranges on the streets and you could just pluck it and eat. We went to the farm and had an orange eating competition. I was joint champions with participant from Seychelles who ate 11 oranges

The pics are taken on the way from TokyI ate 11 which was the highest. One from seychelles o to here. It was really difficult to focus. But i manage to take some nice pics. I've taken some pics from the orange farms as well.

Anyways, we are going to get more training on fisheries statistics. I hope it would be a good one.

Tsukiji Whole Sale Fish Market

2005-11-19T18:40:00.000+09:00

Well, now i know where the big shipments from Maldives arrives in Japan. It is the Tsukiji Fish market. It is close to Narita Airport as well. Just maybe 1 and half hours without traffic. Well this market is huge. Do u believe that it sells around 24,000 tonnes of tuna everyday. Japan is one of the largest tuna consumers in the world. They consume around 1/3rd of the consumption of the world. They consume most of the tuna as sashimi. A favourite food in here.

Well, sashimi consists of raw fish, thus demands high quality fish to be delivered from all over the world. It seems that Maldivian fish have a high good value. The average price is around 3000Yen per kilo of tuna. that is around 250dollars per kg. Wow!! that's huge amount. I saw one tuna from Norway which weighs around 174.4kg. Damn the guy would get a lot of money.

Maldives exports mainly in fresh and frozen. Though frozen have lesser value compared to the fresh form Maldives fish have higher price in the market. Though it is sold at 3000Yen by the wholesalers in the auction the sellers in Maldives get a less amount than that. Cause they sell it to the middle men with much more lower price.

Here are some pics i took. The market not only sells tuna, but over a range of 400 marine products.

Am in Japan

2005-11-17T19:04:00.000+09:00

After a hard working 2 months, i am in Japan to attend a training on Fisheries resource management. The place is damn cold. I thought it would only be the earthquakes i have to get scared, but it was not to be, the place is almost around 8 degrees.

Would post some pictures of fish markets and some of the places i visit in the coming days...

Final Day in Korea

2005-09-03T18:52:00.000+09:00

Everyone has left except me back to their countries. and I would be leavin from South Korea around 3:30 and would be back in Male' around 11:30 i guess....
So today my advisor invited me to a wedding which he conducted. It was very beautiful....... and later we went to see a budhist temple in the mountains. It was very beautiful as well. Later we went to see the World cup stadium. It was marvelous. I am very happy to see da stadium.. One of my advisor's friends gave me the flag of Korean worldcup, which she and her husband treasured from the world cup to me!!!! isn't it fantastic. i was so happy.. thanks..

Happy Concert

2005-09-02T00:12:00.000+09:00

Wow! what a night i had. Today is the statistics day of Republic of Korea. They had a lot of events today and we attended the concert - Happy Concert. The items were really kewl:D. Korea's famous artists played and it was nice. i have taken a lot of pics and videos as well. Check out more pics from da "More pics link"

BBQ

2005-08-29T22:57:00.000+09:00

Wow!! after all the statistical work, yesterday was an off day.. We had a great bbq last night. Me and two of ma friends with the co-ordinator went out for shopping.. We took almost 2 hours in the shopping complex.. Assume how much stuff we would buy... hehehe

We bought a lot of meat and chips and stuff... It was a great night altogether and everyone enjoyed. Later we sang songs.. and Mr.Debashish from India sang a fabulous song about the course and our life in here. It was great fun.. and Later Mr. Erdal from Turkey as well sang in his language. He sings very well.

We are again arrangin a bbq on our last day in here... so we would enjoy it as well... hehheh...

Chinese gymnastics

2005-08-28T10:54:00.000+09:00

Wow!! what a weekend i had... There was lots of analatycal work and am glad that i had finished almost 95% of the analysis. so back to writing work of it. I had a lot of fun as well. We went to see the Korean National Statistical Office on Friday. The place is huge with 20 floors.. imagine the small room we have and the 20 floors of statistical work that they do.. heheheh... Anyways.. the visit was fruitful as i learnt a lot of info from them.

On the same day we went to see a Chinese gymnastic festival and i took some awesome pics... You can see more pics from the More pics link.. The chinese were so acrobatic.. i was amazed to see them bending there bodies.. heheh.. There was this fireworks show behind the water fountain. it was marvelous.

Yesterday i did nothing basically except analysing my data. and guess we are having a bbq tonight.. so it would be great!!!!

Would u like to give a try?

2005-08-25T11:54:00.000+09:00

I went for a walk and was shocked to see this restaurent who was having eels in there menus. I never knew that they eat eels in here. They had eels from different sizes big and small.. Would u like to give a try on this food? hehehe

Night Out!!!!

2005-08-24T11:40:00.000+09:00

Last two days i spent my entire time on numbers and by the end of yesterday i got sick of it. So me and ma friends in here went out to see a music show given by some phillipinos. The show was really kewl:D. They played some old english songs and some new korean songs. The best one was shaggy's angel. It reminded me of my days i spent in India. Specially the night i went out to Forum In bangalore to have dinner with my friends-rashyd and daliah.
Miss those times

The show was really kewl and now i am completely refreshed. so back to numbers again. hehhe

Trip to Seoul

2005-08-23T14:09:00.000+09:00

I was very busy in the last week or so. had to do a lot of statistical work and guess i dream of numbers now a days..

Well but to the bright side of it, i had a very good trip to Seoul. It is a completely different place from Daejeon. The place is noisy with a lot of traffic as it consists of 1/3rd of South Korean popoulation. I remember we started to go to a place at 7:30 and we reached there in almost 2 hrs. But the driver said without traffic we cud have gone there within 15 mins. Imagine the traffic.

Well, the other thing i noticed is that these ppl never sleep in this city. When i went out from the hotel for a walk with 3 of my friends around 1'o clock i saw people going for jogging and busy with there walk.

The three days I spent in seoul went flying. The first day we went to see some of the Industrial places and it's amazing. The Hyundai car manufacturing factory was awesome. and guess what?? A car is made in the factory in just 57 seconds. There are electric robots to do everything from screwing the nuts and bolts and checking whether the screw is fastened or not. We also visited a steel manufacturing factory of Hyundai.

The second day we spent on shopping and visiting the statistical office in Seoul. The statistical office was very good. quite different from ours. They have palm laptops to gather information from surveys and the data is automatically saved, which is then sent to the main statistical office for processing and analysis. About shopping, i did not find anything which i can buy, other than nuts which i ate the whole day.. The prices of products are too expensive compared to the prices in Maldives.

The third day was cultural day. hehhe. We visited a lot of cultural places. We visited the king's palace. The place was huge and beautiful. and guess??? The King has seven or more wives, and each night he calls upon a lady to satisfy him and the ladies wait impatiently for thier calls. And the security of the palace is high too. There are no furnitures in King's room cause there might be weapons hidden inside the furniture.

Then we visited the Korean folk Village. Wow!!! the place was really really beautiful with korean traditional houses and all kinds of things used in the olden days.. and guess people live in that village. The food available in there is even traditional food. The best part of the village tour was the cultural show. The gymnatics and the horse skill show was really good. plus the Korean cultural wedding was really good too.

Well the trip is over now.. and i guess i better go back to play with the numbers.. hehhehe..

I took almost 900 pics in the trip. I wud select the best of it and would post it. If u want to see some of the other pics you cud visit to ma msn space.

2005-08-03T23:13:00.000+09:00

I guess we have to look at deeply about how Department of Higher Education allocates scholarships. When they announce the results in the notice board it has to be clearly mentioned in which category he did not meet up the expectation. If they state that a person is not qualified academically is not the right remark i guess if that person got a high grade.

Then we must look at how much a person should score in order to be qualified? then i guess the number of people applying to the scholarship would decrease and those people would not spend 2-3 hours waiting to submit the application form.

I guess a 75% grade is a gud score... maybe not for the people in Department of higher education. It might happen like the rumours.. before the schol is announced it might have been reserved by a high authority person. might be.. who knows??? i am sure that i am in a mystery now.. cause i feel i got a gud score.. but the department of higher education did not think so.. might be dat what i feel is not gud huh?? if that's so..it's too bad..

2005-08-02T11:16:00.000+09:00

Well.. yesterday was a superb day for me in here.. went out to have dinner outside in one of the famous shopping malls in daejeon. Carrefour is famous for it's variety.. u can get wide range of food, clothes and other stuff from here.. heheheh.. i bought a kewl shirt from here.. lol

2005-08-01T11:27:00.000+09:00

This is the famous Daecheonghosu dam. It provides the water for the city and near by Cheongju area.

2005-08-01T11:26:00.000+09:00

Have u ever seeen a news paper on the screen of a car?? well here it is.. a nice one.. heheheh

2005-08-01T11:25:00.000+09:00

Nice pic huh? this is a pic i took in one of the main streets of daejong. have a a look.. hheheheh

2005-07-29T14:14:00.000+09:00

Hiyya guys.. i just wanted to give a try on this one..