It was a sunny Friday in the year 1984 when I arrived in the island of Veligandu. There was no jetty yet and I can still remember that we unloaded our stuff by hands as there were no trolleys yet.
Life was so simple. The rooms weren’t constructed yet so we slept in tents. There was no fresh water available for shower, so we used salt water instead and just apply lotion afterwards. And then eventually, we transported water from Rasdhoo, placed it in tanks and distributed it to the rooms.
I started my job as a Mason. I didn’t have any idea about masonry at first, however, through hard work, I was able to master my job. In the first operational year of the resort, there were 17 rooms constructed in the east side of the island, the restaurant was located near reception which is now a staff accommodation; situated behind it was the bar which is now the games center. The guest arrival & departure was scheduled every Monday via dhoni or speed boat and most of the guests that time were Italians.
In my 40 years in Veligandu, I have witnessed a lot of great changes in the island. As the resort have been innovating and improving from time to time, I have grown and developed also to the person that I am today. From being a mason, I moved to housekeeping as a room boy, followed by being in charge of the store for about 20 years, then transferred to POMEC (Property Operations, Maintenance, and Energy Costs) as maintenance supervisor and now the assistant maintenance manger.
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