The winds of change affecting one of the most beautiful tourist destinations in the Indian ocean, not far from India and Sri Lanka, seem disturbing. Here is a recent news story from Maldives…
“While the holiday makers change into their bikinis in their £1,000-a-night rooms and recline in the sunshine, the face of the real Maldives, rarely seen by outsiders, is slowly changing, says The Independent.
“Traditionally, Maldivian women have tended to wear brightly coloured, form-fitting dresses, and sometimes small scarves to pull their hair away from their faces. Little girls have been given as much freedom as their brothers to play outside, and women have had equal rights to access to education and divorce.
“But this way of life, inspired by a moderate interpretation of Islam, is disappearing. Women in the poorer, outlying villages have been switching to a full headscarf and Arabic-style, loose, flowing, dark robes. They say they prefer to stay indoors. They have begun sending their children to the local mosque to be taught by the growing number of Islamic preachers on the islands.
“Men have begun growing beards, and asserting their dominance. New, grand mosques have also sprung up, paid for by donors in Kuwait, Libya and Iran.
“Islam has been practised in the Maldives since the 12th century, and since President Abdul Maumoon Gayoom came to power in 1978, religion and government have become increasingly intertwined. In 1997, Islam was declared the state religion and the government has declared that the Maldives is 100 per cent Sunni Muslim.
” ‘The tradition has always been that you are Muslim in the private field,’ said one Maldivian political analyst. ‘The government respects Islam but is not Islamic. However, if the government does not act soon, it will find itself overtaken by a more extreme power, instead of the pro-democracy forces it so fears.’
“Tourism is a vital industry for the Maldives. Half a million visitors each year provide 70 per cent of the country’s foreign currency, and the resorts try to be as environmentally and culturally sensitive as they can. The challenge now is to keep the tourist dollars coming in while taking care of the spiritual and material needs of Maldivians.”
The country profile of Maldives is available at the BBC website.
Swaraaj Chauhan describes his two-decade-long stint as a full-time journalist as eventful, purposeful, and full of joy and excitement. In 1993 he could foresee a different work culture appearing on the horizon, and decided to devote full time to teaching journalism (also, partly, with a desire to give back to the community from where he had enriched himself so much.)
Alongside, he worked for about a year in 1993 for the US State Department’s SPAN magazine, a nearly five-decade-old art and culture monthly magazine promoting US-India relations. It gave him an excellent opportunity to learn about things American, plus the pleasure of playing tennis in the lavish American embassy compound in the heart of New Delhi.
In !995 he joined WWF-India as a full-time media and environment education consultant and worked there for five years travelling a great deal, including to Husum in Germany as a part of the international team to formulate WWF’s Eco-tourism policy.
He taught journalism to honors students in a college affiliated to the University of Delhi, as also at the prestigious Indian Institute of Mass Communication where he lectured on “Development Journalism” to mid-career journalists/Information officers from the SAARC, African, East European and Latin American countries, for eight years.
In 2004 the BBC World Service Trust (BBC WST) selected him as a Trainer/Mentor for India under a European Union project. In 2008/09 He completed another European Union-funded project for the BBC WST related to Disaster Management and media coverage in two eastern States in India — West Bengal and Orissa.
Last year, he spent a couple of months in Australia and enjoyed trekking, and also taught for a while at the University of South Australia.
Recently, he was appointed as a Member of the Board of Studies at Chitkara University in Chandigarh, a beautiful city in North India designed by the famous Swiss/French architect Le Corbusier. He also teaches undergraduate and postgraduate students there.
He loves trekking, especially in the hills, and never misses an opportunity to play a game of tennis. The Western and Indian classical music are always within his reach for instant relaxation.
And last, but not least, is his firm belief in the power of the positive thought to heal oneself and others.