Streets of Male'
Since in my previous post I've talked about transport
facilities in Male’, I thought of giving you in-depth view about the streets in
Male’ city.
Maldives, the city of Male’ has become my second
home after living for almost 5 years. People around the world has this picture
about Maldives as the paradise on earth. But if you peaked into the city of
Male, the commercial hub of Maldives you will get the idea that this city is
nothing like you normally see in photos of a magazine. Well I do not want
to offend anyone, but for me it felt like a small hell.
The roads are so narrow and there are no proper
pavements or sidewalks. Motorbikes are everywhere, cars and pickups also
crowding the small roads. Motorbike is
the most common transport facility in Male’ city. To my surprise the rider or
the passenger, do not where helmets. When I first saw the motorbike riders
without helmets, I asked from my husband “aren’t they supposed to wear it?
Aren’t the police supposed to fine them because they are not wearing any
helmets?” And then I saw two police officer riding a bike without helmets,
which actually answered my questions.
In Male’ it is not compulsory to wear a helmet when
you are riding a motorbike. So your head is basically not an important part... To be
honest another amazing factor is there are not many accidents, and no news
which mention that people die due to motor accidents. I only saw two accidents
during this whole 5 years; those accidents cannot be even called as
“accidents”. Because one time two bikes hit one another, and both riders check
the damages, said “sorry bro” to each other and went on their own ways like two
cool riders… funny. I was actually waited and watched to see a live argument,
but my bad.. hehe.
When you are walking on the streets you have to go
along with the flow. Since there are no proper sidewalks, sometimes you have to
walk side or middle of the road. In the middle of the road? Yes this is just to
avoid most of the construction works and to avoid pick-ups or lorries which are
parked in front of some shops and warehouses to load or unload the goods. So
when you are walking on the road you have to move like a snake by squeezing
yourself and sometimes dragging yourself among the vehicles and people.
For the first time if you are walking in Male’, it’s bit scary. This is because most of the, actually all the motorbike riders
ride without any rules. Even on the roads there are no road signs, not even
mentioned whether it’s a one-way road or not. Even if it’s a one-way road,
riding in the opposite direction is not a problem. Also, both vehicles and
motorbikes they do not know the right-side preference. No driver nor rider
cares about zebra crossing or crossroads. Even someone is crossing the road on
zebra crossing, still motorbikes will go behind you or in front of you. Even at
the crossroads no one check the other sides, just squeeze their vehicle without
thinking about others.
The people on the road will also increase your
level of patience. Most of the locals are not in a hurry at all and walk really
slow. Further they will stand in the
middle of the sidewalk and have their own little conversation or enjoy their
cigarette. Walking while they smoke is also irritates me a lot.
Almost all the apartment entrances are faced to the
road. So, when you are leaving your apartment, you have to watch both sides of
the road before you step in to the road. In the city of Male’, you will rarely find
houses, most of the buildings are apartments and office buildings. Since Male’
is barely 2.2 square kilometers in size with around 350,000 population, the
locals use even the tiniest space for a commercial purpose as much as possible.
Literary the city is a congested concrete jungle. The buildings are not
aesthetically pleasing to the eye. All the buildings are connected to one
another where you can see what your next-door neighbor is doing. So, you have
to be bit careful when you open your windows….
Garbage is the other issue in this small island.
When you walk along the waterfront around the island, specially where there are
ferries and other boats are ramped you can see floating plastic bottles,
garbage and few dead fish. Within the city there are no garbage bins, only few
bins are deployed near the main roads, but still people are not accustomed to
use them. So, you can see lot of garbage lying on eve corner of the streets.
Early morning cleaning crew regularly cleans the streets, but after 12 noon garbage
starts to pilling up on the street.
After reading all the above negative facts about
Male’ city, you might get reluctant to visit this small island. But it
shouldn’t be that way, because there are lot of aesthetically pleasing places
you can view and friendly people you meet when you visit Male’. I’ve wrote this
post because not many people know the other side of Male’ city. For many, Maldives is a dream destination and tourists never experience the above unless
if you spent at least few months in the city. If you get a chance to visit
Maldives, come to Male’ city, it’s unique, experience it before your leave.
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