The bright Sun
blinds me as I step out on the tarmac at the Veer Sawarkar Airport. But for a
few vagabond clouds the sky is so alarmingly blue that one can almost mistake
it as a reflection of the sea. As I am driven to my hotel, I peer out of the
window and witness the hustle and bustle of Port Blair – buses honking away, camera
toting excited tourists, small eateries cheek by jowl with plush hotels, road
side kiosks selling mineral water and soft drinks, a steady traffic of office
goers and impish school kids rushing to their schools. As the car drops me at
the hotel, I eye a vendor selling coconuts close by. A coconut and two burps later I check in at
my hotel – my base camp for a week.
Muthu - the coconut vendor and the friendly deer at Ross Island
Port Blair,
the capital and the largest town of Andaman and Nicobar islands gets its name
from Lieutenant Archibald Blair of the East India Company. It is connected to
the mainland India by regular flights from Kolkata, Chennai and Bhubaneshwar. Intrepid
sea farers may also sail to Port Blair. For centuries, their relative remoteness
had given these islands an aura of mystique and kept them unexplored by the
tourists. However, of late their pristine beauty and pleasant climes have enthralled
all those who have come to its shores.
This beautiful
town has a magical charm that slowly grows on you so much so that it
easily wipes away the scowls of the most
disdainful and indifferent tourists without their knowledge. It helps when raw natural beauty of the
islands and friendly locals are on your side. Well, booze helps too! The town runs at an easy pace and offers its unique
sights and smells to tourists, whose footfalls, I am told, are on the rise
every passing year.
A coral at Samudrika Naval Maritime Museum
Impressive museums
like the Anthropological Museum, Samudrika Naval Maritime Museum, Marine Museum
and the Forest Museum dot this lovely town. However, the piece de resistance of Port Blair remains the Cellular Jail. The imposing
structure made up of puce colured bricks that came from erstwhile Burma stands
a mute testimony to the travails of the Indian prisoners who endured torture and braved abject inhuman conditions
during the colonial rule with remarkable stoicism. The light
and sound show at the Cellular Jail staged in the evenings conjures up a riveting
and vivid imagery of the saga of pain, loneliness, sacrifice and the triumph of
the human spirit. This poignant story narrated in the anguish laden voice of veteran actor Om Puri touches a chord
somewhere deep in the heart and haunts one for days altogether.
To the
traveller who has had his fill of Port Blair, the Andaman and Nicobar islands
have plenty of other charms to offer. One can either take a short ferry trip to
the historic Ross Island – a prominent British base of the yesteryears now in
ruins – partly due to the vagaries of time and largely due to the Tsunami or
head for the North Bay for some fun filled frolicking in the waters.
Vagaries of time and nature
Nature lovers may also take the day long trip
through the Jarawa passage to Baratang to witness the surreal stalactites and
stalagmites in the limestone caves. It is an excellent drive on the winding
roads through the mysterious woods. Luck
is on my side. A Jarawa family – a bow
wielding male, a female and two little kids cross the road benefitting me with
a casual glance and the hint of a smile and then melt away in the dark woods.
I have a feeling this image will stay with me for all my life.
On way to the Jarwa Passage
A drive up to
the Mount Harriet is again an amazing experience. At an altitude of 365 metres,
Mount Harriet is around 55 km from Port Blair and frequented by nature lovers who
are keen on bird watching. I am glad that I made the journey to Mount Harriet
on the expert recommendations of my driver. The drive is steep, the traffic
sparse and the scenic beauty of the rainforest deeply enticing. Dew kissed
coconut trees jostle for space with thick sinuous vegetation and flank the road
as it snakes up. Shards of sunlight penetrate the green canopy of the trees
here and there. But for the purr of the engine and the occasional birdsong there
is a pleasing silence that takes me in its fold. I reach the top and sit
mesmerised in a gazebo gazing at a ship that bobs in the sea in the misty horizon.
Soon a cooing Andaman Wood pigeon heralds its arrival and perches nearby. It is
bliss and some more.
Any trip to
the Andamans is not complete without a trip to the Havelock island. Named after the British General Henry Havelock,
the island is famous for its Radhanagar Beach – once rated as the best beach in
Asia by the very definitive Time magazine. Just fifty seven kilometres away
from Port Blair, the island can be reached by government and private run
ferries and also by sea planes.
Radhanagar beach
would definitely be the cleanest beach in India. I find the crowd at the beach to
be just right – neither too large to be irritating nor too small to be unnerving.
The amazingly clear sea beckons one with its myriad shades of blue - cobalt,
aquamarine, turquoise, teal, steel, electric, tiffany, sky, deep sky, baby, carolina,
cyan ……have your pick.
A Happy Rahul
Fun Time at North Bay
If your idea
of a beach holiday is lazing for endless hours in the Sun, taking long walks on
the beach leaving behind footprints and then secretly admiring them, allowing
yourself to get bedazzled by the play of the Sun on the crests of the waves - Havelock
is just the place for you. For all those given to activities more strenuous
than plonking oneself in a hammock with a good book, Havelock is also the place
for scuba diving. Ditto for all ye in pursuit of sea food.
The Magic of Radhanagar Beach
Sunset at Radhanagar Beach
Young Sailors at Havelock
After two days
in paradise aka Havelock, I am back in Port Blair with a day to spare. I am
told a fitting finale to this trip should be a visit to Jolly Buoy island. A
thirty kilometre drive from Port Blair takes me to Mahatma Gandhi Marine
National Park at Wandoor and from there on a further forty minutes sail by the ferry
takes me to the Jolly Buoy island.
It is a truly
jaw dropping experience - an uninhabited island, pristine surroundings, no
garbage, no polythene bags, just a whisper of the coconut trees that sway in
rhythm with the gentle ebb and flow of the waves. I opt for snorkelling instead of the glass
boat ride and get transported to a world that I never knew existed. A wide
array of marine life – sea lilies, sea cucumbers, sea anemones, star fishes of
different hues lie bejewelled on the sea bed even as small shoals of colourful
fishes flit through the equally majestic corals. I attain Nirvana. I exclaim in
wonderment at the beauty of the moment and the salty sea water stings my mouth
with a vengeance. It makes me realize the bizarre similarity in
snorkelling and life - a good time to keep your mouth shut is when you are in
deep waters!
The Blue Sea
Next day, I board the flight
back home sporting a tan and a T – shirt that has Andaman and Nicobar Islands
emblazoned across it in an arc above the picture of a coconut tree.
I intend to wear the two to work tomorrow. Wink …Wink!
Published Work http://www.ehitavada.com/site.home/paper_type/10/date/2012-08-19/page_no/8
Published Work http://www.ehitavada.com/site.home/paper_type/10/date/2012-08-19/page_no/8
