Wall hanging in Matafonua Lodge, Foa Island, Ha'apai, Tonga
Point to Ponder: You have to dream before your dreams can come true. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam
Story Line: The Year was 1962. The motorcade caring Honorable Tunku Abdul Rahman, the first Prime Minister of Malaysia and the Prime Minister of India Jawaharlal Nehru, was proceeding from Ahmedabad airport to Gandhi Ashram. From their convertible car, they were tossing flowers at the people gathered on both sides of the road. My dad was carrying me in his arms so I could see over the crowd. As the car came near us, Prime Minister Rahman took a small flower garland and tossed it to me. I wanted to talk to him but the motorcade moved on. That was my first and only encounter with The Prime Minister of any country at that time.
A few years later I had my first ride in an airplane from Ahmedabad to Bombay. Another great memory of that flight, besides the nicely packed lunch box, was a short visit to the cockpit to say “hello” to the pilot. I was fascinated by the instruments and flashing lights in the cockpit and the beautiful views. I wanted to stay there for the entire flight but a few minutes was all they allowed.
Since then, I had often dreamt about being an airline pilot; soaring high up looking down under was such a sensational feeling. But my father convinced me otherwise. It took another 45 years before the only other cockpit visit I ever had (2008) when United Airlines pilot took me inside Boeing 747 after we had landed in Hong Kong. He introduced me to the three other pilots and the memories of childhood resurfaced with goose bumps all over my body.
During my childhood years, my maternal grandparents took me to Bordi, a coastal village in India for that summer. I would wake up early morning and go to the white sands beach across our cottage. One day I saw a young girl collecting shells leftover from the high tide of the previous night. She too was on vacation with her family. For the next few days we chatted while collecting shells. One day she disappeared but the memories of those wonderful days of collecting shells and telling tales stayed with me.
During my teenage years in Bombay, I would go to Juhu beach. Sitting on a lonely rock staring out at an unending ocean and an infinite sky, I used to imagine being on an isolated white sand beach with the girl of my dreams. We would be all by ourselves, no other beings in sight. Just us. Actually just me. Because, well, the only thing missing was a girl.
It took even more years, 55 to be exact for those three childhood memories to resurface, dreams came true in the period of three days in a small country called Kingdom of Tonga.
The only thing I knew about Tonga was its name and that it is a small island country in Oceania. In November 2015, we had just arrived at Auckland International Airport and immigration lines were long with many teenagers in their school uniform who had arrived in another flight. Even at 5:30 in the morning, they were cheerful; laughing, giggling and chatting with one another. Curious, my wife asked them where were they from. They cheerfully replied, “Tonga”. Tonga immediately got added to our list of countries to visit.
In May of this year, we visited Kingdom Of Tonga (it is a constitutional monarchy). On our third day, we flew to Ha’apai region and stayed on a small island named Foa. Because it was Pre-Peak Season, there were only 12 to 15 visitors there and on most occasions, we were the only two people roaming around on the white-sands beaches.
The couple who owned the cottages and the resort on the island had lived in Florida. When their first child was one year, they decided to have a different life style; a lot of family time, slower pace, abundance of nature and fresh clean environment. They settled in Ha’apai.
On the way back from Ha’apai to Tongatapu (the main island of Tonga), during an intermediate stop in Vava’u, we were chatting with the chief pilot. Before boarding the plane, he invited one of us to join them in the cockpit for the hour long ride. I got to go. Sitting in that tiny cockpit, I didn’t know if I was in a dream. Soaring over beautiful islands, blue and green ocean waters below, and the majestic views of green mountains climbing vertically into the infinity of the blue skies. Time stood still and at the same time was gone in a flash and soon we were landing. I could see the ground approach, the runway glistening in the heat. I remember the wheels touching down, gently, nearly gracefully as we glided to a stop on the end of the runway. Even now, it feels like it didn't really happen...
During the journey, the pilots showed me how to work some of the switches on the planes, spoke their stories about beautiful islands and volcano. They played Selena’s songs, talked about family, and the chief pilot also mentioned his pleasant encounter with the former, most loved and admired, President of India A.P.J. Abdul Kalam. It reminded me of my only encounter with a prime minister, when I was just a boy, cradled in my father's arms.
The next day we were having lunch in a street café with our tour guide and his young daughter. Suddenly some foreign nationals in the restaurant got up to shake hands with a gentleman and his associate who had just entered. The tour guide told us they were The Honorable Prime Minister and his Chief Political Advisor. He introduced us; telling the Prime Minister that I was in process of making a video about Tonga. The Honorable Prime Minister asked us to sit down with him. After seeing the video, he asked what we thought about his country. His advisor knew about silicon valley so we had a pleasant conversation about the life in the fast lane vs the serene slow paced life on the island. Finally childhood dream about chatting with a Prime Minister had come true.
Three of my childhood dreams had come true in those three days. I often think of those days and the line from the movie The Field of Dreams echoes in my thoughts, “Is this Heaven?”
Tonga is blessed with immense natural beauty but even more with friendly and warm people. Seeing kids playing in the yards and the streets, people mingling in verandas, most of the country in prayers in Churches on Sunday with everything closed (except tourist hotels) are Tongan way. Good family values and togetherness are of utmost importance to Tongans.
The most important of all I was there with the girl of my childhood dream (my best friend and pen-friend since teenage), watching her collect shells, imprinting footprints on the sand and reflecting on our journey while each day was winding down.
Views of the entire Kingdom of Tonga are in the following short video.
