I had a Shivali moment
What is a Shivali moment? A shivali moment is that one moment where you’re so lost in a particular moment/place that you actually get lost catastrophically.
I have had many such moments in life. But recently when this Shivali moment happened again I was not on land. I was in an Ocean. Last leg of my Indonesian trip was reserved for snorkeling at Gilli Islands. I was to snorkel for three days but it rained and I got only one day to snorkel. I got lucky that it didn’t rain the third day. I booked a package and along with my group hopped on to the designated boat. We were a good mix of people. An american mother of two from Singapore was by herself. She took a three day vacation just to snorkel (I found it quite impressive). There was a middle aged digital nomad, a couple with a kid from Singapore again, a hot young couple from Australia and a guy from Bangladesh was there. We chatted, introduced ourselves and got comfortable to do this together as a group. We got the instructions and the plan was to stop and snorkel at three designated places including a stoppage at Gilli Meno/Air for lunch.
We reached our first spot. Got the instructions regarding the equipment and then one by one everyone started to jump into the water. I stepped into the water, stabilised myself and started exploring what’s there beneath. Underwater, it was all very jaw-dropping for me but just that I had to keep my jaw in control. I took me some time to get comfortable in water, paced my breathing, and was figuring out how to go far and beyond to discover. I was trying to swim with a life jacket on. Later, I got to know that it was stupid of me to do that. It was just eating away my energy under the water while I could have just floated. I saw a beautiful world beneath. There were a lot of thoughts inside my head and still there was a sense of calm under the surface of water. I was absolutely loving it and getting lost in the given moment. Little did I know that I am going to get lost for real. After a while I noticed that my people are not really around me. Not just my people there was no one around in my vicinity. I started to panic. Immediately realised that I have energy to float for two hours if I don’t move my limbs, and I am wearing a life jacket. I was sure I would find some help in the mean time. I relaxed. Took deep breaths in between the ocean. And then removed that breather from my mouth to shout for help. Now the thing is you don’t know how far your voice is going, given that you are in an ocean. I shouted “Help” at least three times and noticed that two guys on a small boat heard me. I saw that the boat was coming towards me and thanked all the gods that exist. Guys gave me a hand and pulled me up. My boat was nowhere in sight. I had forgotten the colour of my boat but thankfully i knew that its seats and interiors were green. I was basically looking at the faces of people in different boats to see if i can spot my group mates. The guys moved the boat towards the second famous snorkeling spot and on the way i spotted my boat. I figured out that they were also looking for me. A lot of people sighed together as i jumped back into my boat and bid bye to those two saviours. Later when I was back in my boat I got instructions on how to be aware of your surroundings when in water. I was a bit angry that how can they leave a person behind!? Do they not check or count people when they move the boat from one place to another? But my otherwise violent and argumentative ass didn’t say anything in that moment. If I would have been in India I would have fought in hindi, I am sure. I was scared to go inside the water again for the next leg of the snorkeling. But with fear and nervousness in my heart and I went into the water again. This time I followed someone from my group. My attention was divided and there were just SO many people around me in this phase that I could not concentrate well on the snorkeling bit. I got a photo and video though at this spot. But it was nothing like the first stop where we stopped. Time over and everyone headed back to the boat again, including me this time. :)
Then we went to a third spot near the Gilli Meno island. It was better than the second spot but nothing like how I enjoyed in the first one. I came up on the boat and started feeling a bit pukish. It was also because of the diesel smell that comes from these boats.
Last, we stopped at Gilli Air for lunch. I didn’t feel like eating just I just drank some coconut water and it did make me feel good. It was my second last day and an overall productive day. After all the snorkeling adventures I went back to my hostel. Rested for a while and then evening was reserved for exploring the rest of the island. I walked through a jungle reach the other side of the island from where you can see the sunset. Sat at a bakery, ate an almond croissant and stared at the waters, looked at people kaykaying and surfing as the sun was going down. I was a bit emotional with this roller coaster of a trip. White sands, blue water and sun going down made up for a melancholic goodbye for me as the chaos of island life around me was ever moving!
It’s time for some photos!
Finish! Thank you for reading this Shivali moment. I have had many in this lifetime and documenting this has somewhat motivated me to document others as well.
Also, I have written in detail about this trip on my substack. If anyone is intrested, go check my substack!
It starts from this post: https://shivalisharma.substack.com/p/day-1-pererenan