Chapter 28

“Indonesia is an Archipelago with around 16000 islands give or take few hundred depending on whether it is high tide or low tide. Most of them are not inhabited. The larger ones being Java, Sumatra, Kalimantan, Papua and Sulawesi. Jakarta is in Java Island. As this is situated at eh convergence point of South China Sea Indonesian and Pacific Ocean, it has the highest variety of Marine Life in compared to any other part of the world. You can say it is the epicentre of bio-diversity. It is said that there are around 3000 types of fishes in this region. The multi-coloured coral reefs with scintillating hard and soft corals are diver’s dream.” Udhi started

“When did you become an expert on Indonesian Geography” Neel asked.

“I was there for a month and I decided to get to know the place”

“It is also one the most economical place to learn diving” Udhi continued

“You mean scuba diving?” Raghav asked

“Yes sire. You can’t see coral while sky diving” Udhi replied with a naughty laughter.

“Ok my bloomer” Raghav replied with his hands held high

“I registered for a dive course. It cost me only 300 USD. At this price they there was one theory class, four equipment trainings in swimming pool and four supervised dives and the written test. At the end I got Paddy certificate.”

“That was a good deal” Neel said

“What do they teach in theory?” Raghav asked

“This included what equipment to use, what are the best practices to follow, how to take care of the risks of air embolism, nitrogen narcosis, oxygen narcosis, decompression sickness, and the discipline and etiquette under the sea. The trainer explained that we should go down as visitors and not as plunderers and the colourful artifacts are only to see and not to borrow for our sitting room.”

“Is there so much funda you need to learn if you are only doing this for fund once a while and not as a professional?” Neel asked

“Even if you are diving for fun you need to be aware of many things. For example the absorption of Nitrogen into blood is much higher when we are in deep waters ie when we are in a high pressure sorrounding. So when we come back up to normal atmosphere the nitrogen will suddenly bubble out of the blood. These bubbles could be quite dangerous and fatal. So if you have spent some time in deep waters then you should not come up quickly. You should plan your ascent slowly and spent some few minutes at regular intervals so that the nitrogen is released back in lung and come out as part of our breathing. Based on the duration you have spent under, the depth to which you went down, whether you had dived in the previous days etc there are tables that tells you how long and deep can be you next dive and how long it would take to clear your system.”

“Then he took us to a swimming pool and taught us how to handle the equipment and made us practice various exercises that we are expected to be familiar with to handle occasional emergencies; what to do if I run out of air, what to do if the air supply cable (the regulator) comes off, how to handle a cramp, how to take off and put on the total dive gear in the sea both at the surface and down under. He made us do this in the pool and told us that we should repeat this in the sea, for him to be convinced that we were good enough to be let loose in open water.”

“Wow sounds scary” Neel commented with an artificial shiver

“After these four sessions he took us to a nearby island resort called Kul-Kul-Kotok. It was a one hour journey by boat from Jakarta and is part of a small cluster of 128 Islands called Pulau Seribi. This litarally means 1000 islands. This is not the best of the dive spots of Indonesia. But it is the nearest to Jakarta. The boat ride was quite nice. The sea was calm and weather was refreshing. We sat on the deck discussing about diving. There were two other girls with us for the dive training. Devi was a colleague from the Jakarta Office of Insight and the other was her friend Salomi. We were all excited about the impending adventure”

“Wherever there is Udhi there would be girls following” Arjun commented with laughter

“Shut up you idiot” Udhi replied pretending to be angry.

“We reached at around noon and checked into the resort. This resort consisted of a number of cottages near the sea. The cottages we well spread out.  The Restaurant was also a cottage which was extending into the sea. “

“After dumping our stuff in the room we walked back to the restaurant. Suddenly Devi jumped up as if she saw a ghost. We looked in the direction she pointed. There were couple of large Monitor Lizards walking around. We were quite startled. They were quite large almost as big as a dog. The gardener who working in the vicinity reassured us. He explained that these are quite harmless and there was no need to worry”

“We gathered in the restaurant as the dive was planned only for the next day. We ordered for some chilled beer. The seafood options available were amazing. We ordered fried squid rings as starters. It was Amazing. Then we had prawns, fish, Kalamari and sticky rice for lunch. Man , it was awesome”

“”My mouth is watering hearing this” Arjun replied

“After lunch we lazed around in the couches in the restaurant. Then at around 430 in the evening all of us decided to take a dip in the sea. The water was cool and pleasant. There was wonderful coral formation even near the beach. We were a bit worried about the many sea urchins around”

“We finished by around seven and decided to have an early dinner as we had to get out early for our diving”

“The dinner was also outstanding. There was a wonderful spread available as buffet. There were a variety of dishes from diverse cuisines; Japanese, Thai and Indonesian style. I hogged on Sushi and Sashimi. I don’t want to describe more. You guys will dye of jealousy” Udhi teased

“After dinner Devi returned to her room. Salomi and I stayed back in the restaurant sipping our beer. She was originally from Malaysia. Completed her MBA from Wharton couple of years ago. Now she was part of the World Bank team posted at Jalarta.”

“Smart Chic” Arjun commented.

“She is quite smart and quite a sweet girl. We shared our stories laughed at our follies and discussed Indonesian markets. The banter was pleasing and the discussion was cerebral”

“The right combination for Udhi” Arjun said

Later we went for a stroll in the beach. The night was calm. There was moon light and we walked along the stretches of sand talking about inconsequential stuff. She reached her hand around my elbow and I put my hand around her shoulders. It was cozy. Then we sat at the beach holding each other’s hand. We felt  a unexplainable warmth and connection among each other. Then we got up and walked back to the resort to our respective rooms”

“RETURNED to respective rooms?” Neel asked with his eyebrows raised

“Yes you heard right” Udhi replied

“How disappointing” Raghav responded

“We were all tensed in anticipation of the dive the next day”

“Oh I see”

“As she opened the door to her room she turned her gaze back. At that point I also looked in that direction. Both of us laughed knowingly”

“I got into my room and crashed straightway without even changing. I slept like a child dreaming about corals and colourful schools of fish dancing around me”