I finally learnt to look beyond the cacophony of shopping malls and commercialised happiness, an unrelenting lifestyle and the long cringing hours. My feet on the sand and my soul up in the clouds, I almost stumbled upon nirvana, in Maldives.

The first impression you have of Maldives is not the sun and the sand but that it seemed as though people from almost every country you could think of had all found one common realisation, a deep sense of peace.

Initially, every raving sound of the waves reminded me of the dreadful tsunami but after one safe day, I was all set to float in the ocean for hours at length.

In the middle of the Indian Ocean to the south west of India, this archipelago of 1,200 coral islands boasts a highest point merely two metres above sea level. The beaches bathe in white sand, the skies are a clear blue and the water, crystal.

I boarded a two-and-a-half hour flight from Mumbai to Colombo. After halting for an hour at Colombo and some sips of refreshing Sri Lankan coffee, I took off for the capital city of Male. As the plane started to land at Male airport, my heart skipped a beat. The plane almost appeared to land on the seabed. One moment, it floated past islands and fishing boats and the next, the land gently slides in sight, seconds before we actually touch down. The airport is on an island, Hulele, which has been “extended” to make the runway long enough for the larger jets to land.

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