1. When the Sea Calls, You go
There are some journeys we meticulously plan—spreadsheets, itineraries, Google Docs with color-coded hotel options. And then there are the journeys that happen to us. The ones that start not with a plane ticket, but with a feeling. A longing. A silence that grows a little too loud to ignore.
That’s the kind of journey that led me to the Andaman Islands.
I wasn’t chasing adrenaline. I wasn’t even looking for an adventure. I wanted to escape—life, city lights, headlines, the fatigue of constantly being “on.” So, when a friend suggested scuba diving in Andaman, I laughed and said, “Maybe next time.”
But sometimes, the sea has plans for you.
2. Of Fears, Fins, and the First Dive
We reached Havelock Island on a sleepy afternoon, the kind where the sun seems undecided and the sea looks like it’s humming to itself. The island smelled of salt, rain-soaked trees, and something nostalgic.
The next morning, I walked into a local dive shop, still unsure. The dive instructor, Arjun, had kind eyes and the kind of calm you only see in people who spend a lot of time underwater.
He said, “You’ll love the silence. That’s the real magic.”
I signed up. Half-reluctantly, half-curious.
That first dive is now inked in my memory like a poem.
The gear felt foreign at first. The tank was heavier than expected. The wetsuit clung tightly to my city-soft skin. But as I lowered myself into the water, clutching Arjun’s arm like a lifeline, something shifted.
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I went under.
And then… quiet.
Not the kind of silence that echoes. This was the kind that fills you.