My A&N Trip - The Whole Story - Dec 15 - 21 ('Twas Before the Tsunami)

Every time I set out on a tour, I watch the world with a renewed sense of wonder. Especially mother nature. It’s amazing what just a good number of trees and a huge reservoir of water can present to the eye. An overwhelming sense of being a part of something that enthralls even as it makes one feel like a non-entity in comparison. It was a long-awaited tour. A tour for which many a ‘battle’ had to be waged. A dream come true. A trip to the magical A&N islands.

I shall not recollect the events in chronological order. For it not only strains my weak memory but also makes the whole thing a tad boring. Random recollection is what I shall resort to. That is what gives me the thrills. A recollection arising out of impressions and connections. Imagine having a whole sea to yourself! Imagine having a conversation with the sea all by yourself! Lucky me. I don’t have to imagine.  For I had the opportunity. (Do you see green?) Let me tell you what happened. It was the Baludera beach. It was nearing 3.30 PM when we reached the Baludera beach at Baratang after having seen the mud-volcano. There was a vast stretch of land with narrow strips of water finding its way through here and there in front of the beach. There were 2 native ladies fishing in a narrow stretch of water and there was a very nice-looking wooden-logs bridge leading to the beach. We took the bridge and went up close to the beach. I then collected my book (PLUM – Summer Moonshine), camera and CD player and went over to where the water had made up its mind to come till. On the way, the ornithologist in me cocked an eyebrow on seeing a flock of small and cute birds in search of food a little distance away from the shore; in another narrow strip of water. I ran up bag and everything only to see the birds fly away.  . When will I learn to be a professional bird-watcher and not scare away birds? I ventured back to where I’d decided to deposit myself till I’d be allowed to. Sat down on the sand, plugged into the music, opened the book and (actually) stared into the sea. There was a group of trees to my right and to the left the sea seemed to have no end. There were a few people having a swim and splashing around in the water. Not a typical crowded beach you might see in a city, mind you. It was around 4.15 when I realized (to my joy) that most of the people had walked back to the bridge and a nearby shelter. I was almost left alone with the sea. In a few minutes, even the couple of people who were still there, left. I was alone with the sea. What a feeling that was! Absolutely no noise except the soft clap of the waves. (this sea unlike many others that I’ve seen seemed to be extremely modest and quiet). I was listening to some of Illayaraja’s old (70s) songs and felt like there could have never been a better experience than what I was going through. The waves on close observation I felt were certainly dancing to the music. I wanted the moment to last forever. I did not want to move from the spot. I wanted to turn into stone at that very spot. But it was not to be. I was almost rudely awakened from the dreamy moment by my folks calling out to me that it was time to go. It was 5 PM. And it gets dark by 5 in Andaman. I wouldn’t find my way back to the car if it got dark, I was told. I had to leave. Did I hear the sea say something as I was on my way back? While this was an occasion when I had a long chat with the sea all by myself, there was another contradictory occasion when I met the sea in a different disguise at a different place for just a few fleeting moments.

This time the sea had a simply cool look. It was awe-inspiring. It was breath-taking. I was mesmerized and dumb-struck when I laid my eyes on the beach just behind the Dolphin Resort at Havelock Island. It was an occasion when words don’t suffice to express one’s feelings. What was so special and different here? It was just the colour. And the water-based flora. But it made all the difference to me. The sea was green in colour. A bright yet light green. And there were a couple of trees that had grown in the water just a few meters away from the shore. There were also some barren branches jutting out here and there. What a view that was! The problem here was that we were given only 10 minutes to get back to our car. Because, we still had to visit another beach and return to the ship that was to leave Havelock for Port Blair. What a pity. But the scene continues to remain in my mind’s eye. Needless to say, I clicked away to glory on the camera and the photographs that have come out are there to remind me of the view. But the photographs are only a weak reminder of the real scene that touched most of my senses. Let me rewind a little to go back to the experience I had on the ship journey from Port Blair to Havelock. It was a cool experience. It came at the right time. Just when I was beginning to think that it was a waste for me to have lugged along my books with me on the trip. Whenever would I get the time to read books? Well, this was it. 4 hours on the ship – M.V Ramanujam – and nothing else much to do. I paced the decks on the ship for the first few minutes and then settled down on the metal stairs leading from the upper deck to the lower with a cup of coffee (bought at the ship’s cafeteria) with my book. I read my book for about 2 hours with breaks in between. The breaks were utilized to stare at the sea of water all around me and a little bit of ship-exploring. Nice experience altogether. The other beach that we went to in Havelock was the Radhanagar beach. It was, we were told, the most popular beaches of all. The water was, I later learned, turquoise blue in colour. But personally, I did not see anything extraordinary in the colour of the water here. It was extremely crowded unlike all the other beaches we had visited through the trip and maybe that was what made it less fascinating for me. I love solitude. Or maybe I hate crowds. ;) Anyways, I ventured into the water here and got myself a lot wetter than at any other beach. After which, we only had time to have a very quick lunch at a place called Dreamland Restaurant. The food was pathetic and I just had the Dal and the Rice and left the rest of the food untouched. On the way back to the ship, we saw a lot of ducks quaking and waddling around. They were so cute. I wanted to get off and play with them, but then, the ship wouldn’t wait for us. The ride down to the harbor from the beach was something I enjoyed. The greenery, the birds and the quietness of the roads reminded me of the English countryside that Enid Blyton describes in some of her books. It would have been a great experience to walk on those roads rather than whiz past them in a car.

What do I talk about next? Let me go through the rest of the Baratang experience. Rewind. The trip from Port Blair to Baratang, BTW, was the high drama part of the whole trip. This calls for some talk about history and culture. Andamans has its share of tribal population. There are supposed to be 6-7 different tribes that inhabit certain parts of the island. Their population though has apparently dwindled over the last 7-8 decades. These tribals still lead an unbelievably laid-back and ancient life. Some of them are hostile while some others have just got convinced that we aren’t dangerous or have learned to ignore us (we - people who pass through their territory). So, where were we? Yes, the trip from Port Blair to Baratang involved passing through a dense forest inhabited by a tribals called the Jarawas. These weren’t said to be very hostile but the Andaman government still took the necessary precautions, had a set of rules – the Dos and Don’ts, that is. At the beginning of the forest the rule was that we were to wait for a particular number of cars to come together. Then, the fleet of cars were escorted into the forest by policemen occupying places in the car/van that went in first and the one that went in last. Obviously, they were armed. The van that went in first sported a red flag while the last one in had a green flag. There were 12 cars I guess and we were probably 8th in the line. We were instructed not to honk, not to scream, not to call out to the tribals (were we to come across them), not to offer them any food/clothes etc, not to open the windows etc. I did gulp a little before we began the trip into the forest, not knowing what was in store. What if the tribals were looking out for some bespectacled human to sacrifice at the altar of their God?  what if they’d just invented a new poisoned arrow that they wanted to beta test?  I was reminded of the Phantom, and Tintin comics and felt a tingling sensation in my spine. Hey, but I exaggerate…slightly. ;). We went into the dense forest and kept our eyes and ears wide open for tribals. We’d covered almost the entire distance when we heard noises. There were 4-5 kids from the tribal community standing by the side of the road and screaming. One of the kids had a stick and a clot tied to it with which he hit all the cars passing by. We saw two adults (women) as well. Both of them were wearing dresses made out of leaves, twigs and some kind of beads. That was all there was about the tribals as far as our trip was concerned. (we did not sight them on our way back to Port Blair the next day). Now, we’d left Port Blair at around 6 AM and once we reached the end of the forest, it was around 9.30 AM and time for breakfast. There was a small motel near the sea backwaters that we were facing and we had a few minutes to go for crossing the sea backwaters by boat to the other side – Baratang. The motel was as dirty as you could imagine. But people (all the 12 vans/cars that crossed the forest together) didn’t seem to care. Everyone expect me had breakfast there. I made do with a packet of groundnuts and chips. The boat that transported us across the sea backwaters was a strong and sturdy one that actually carried the cars; 4 at a time. We got out of the car and stood by the side of the boat and reached the other side (Baratang) in about 10 minutes. It was a cool ride as the water was covered with Mangroves on either side. We landed at Baratang and realized that it was a small village with just a handful of houses and shops. We were to stay in a hotel for the rest of the day and only return the next morning. So, we walked up to the hotel which was just 2 minutes away from the place where we got off. Two rooms had already been booked by the tour operators that were handling the tour for us. We were to stay in a deluxe room. You’d be amused to see what the ‘deluxe’ room was like though!  The room next to ours was a ‘super deluxe’ room and the difference was in the flooring. Oh God! I had a nice laugh seeing the rooms and thinking of how they were referred to. Anyways, after relaxing for about 30 minutes, we left to see the caves that were famous for Stalactites and Stalagmites. This was almost an hour’s ride from the place we were staying into the sea backwaters. We went by a small boat that was ‘navigated’ by 2 young men. When we’d been in the boat for about half an hour, we saw one of the men get a bucket and collect water that had got into the boat through cracks and pour it out!!!!!!!!!  we were traveling in a boat with holes - that let water in!  I don’t know how to swim but this was somehow very amusing and hilarious. I looked around at my folks and, not surprisingly, saw some bewildered expressions! ;). Anyways, the most exciting part of this journey was when we reached the mouth of the caves. The water was completely covered with mangroves and there was a small and narrow path that had been made out to reach the land that had the caves. It was so exciting to get in between the mangroves and navigate the twists and turns. Once we got to the land, we had to walk up for about 10 minutes to see the caves and the stalactites and stalagmites. It was just cool. Some of the stalactites and stalagmites were white and glowing, some brown with age and some still dripping wet.

Later that night, in Baratang, we ventured out for a walk just before dinner, encountered some local people chasing a centipede, went to a small Ganesha temple atop a hill, and asked a small motel chef to make Dosas for us for dinner!  (That was a favour because only Rotis sell there and Dosas aren’t made at all)

The next day morning, the trip back through the forest and out of Baratang went off without any tribal encounters. Once we reached the end of the forest toward Port Blair, we had breakfast in a roadside hut-hotel! after breakfast, we were just wandering around waiting for the driver of the car, when I spotted a really cute bird to my utter joy!  It was a bird with feathers of 3 colours. Blue, Orange and Black. I ran up to the car, got my camera and crept up to the small water tank where the bird was perched with hope in my heart and a grin on my face. I caught him on the camera twice and crossed my fingers and hoped the photographs would come out well. you ought to see the snaps. Err….they’ve come out well, but you’d have to be a keen observer to spot the bird in the photograph. (I couldn’t have gone very close to the birdie as he would have certainly flown away; remember those birds in Baludera)

Rewind to day one. We went to a beach called Corbyn’s cove. It was absolutely deserted except for some tired and hungry street or shall I say, beach dogs. The beach was great. The shores were lined with coconut trees and there were a couple of steps leading to the water. Hard to describe with my limited vocabulary. Thanks to all those trees, it was a nice and shady beach. The dogs came looking for food and refused to budge. Gave the dogs some jellies but they smelt the jellies gave me a ‘are you crazy?’ look and refrained from eating them. Even before reaching Corbyn’s cove, we stopped on the way at a temple overlooking the sea. The view was superb as there were small rocks in the water that the water was crashing against. There were some cows and a calf which had deposited themselves beside the sea on the road. All of them were lazily chewing cud. My dad’s colleague’s wife and I went and patted the calf and then came off as he threatened to return the favour.

The other place we went to (in the evening on day 2) was Chidiya Thapu. Now, here is the context - we did not know that we were at Chidiya Thapu! All the driver had mumbled was that this was another picnic spot. This place was quite different. A spot at the southernmost tip of Port Blair, it had still and just knee-deep water for more than probably half-a-kilometer into the water. We picked up a lot of shells here and waded into the water and stood staring at the water, the sky and the trees beyond. After gaping at nature for sometime, we decided to go back to the car only to find that the driver had disappeared. It was around 4.30 PM. That was when a truckloads of tourists turned up. We were wondering where our driver had disappeared to, for almost 20 minutes. He finally turned up after a while and then we left. Just outside the tourist area, there were a few shacks where Bajjis and tea was being sold. We drank tea and dug into some tasty Bajjis. It was a little after 5 PM and people were watching the sunset. I did not get out of the car though and managed to see the sun through the window from across the road. Well, guess what, the next day, we got to hear from people at our local guest house that the place we were taken to on the previous day was Chidiya Thapu and it was most famous for birds chirping around and the sunset! I was almost seething with anger. We did not know, else we would have, of course, endeavored to step into the nearby forest to spot birds and would have waited long enough to see the sunset from the ‘beach’ and left after 5 PM. The driver had disappeared even without telling us what this place was all about! I was pretty upset for a long time after that and will never probably forget to feel bad about this. Some things as I’ve mentioned elsewhere too are just not meant to be.

Another wonderful and small island that we went to was Ross island. It is very close to Port Blair. We went by the regular jetty. Stepping into Ross island, we discovered that it was a very small island where the Indian Navy had a base. It was once the Britishers’ base too. Most of the buildings built by Britishers there were all destroyed and razed to the ground, apparently during a Japanese attack. There was one spot on the island where the sea waves were hitting a broken wall quite wildly! We then walked up a steep road to also see the somewhat attractive remains of a church. After that, was a cool flight of open-air stairs that led to a lovely beach below in the rear of the island. There were plenty of coconut trees and tender coconuts that had fallen off. In the same jetty that we went by was a big gang of people from Rajasthan. They seemed to be having a whale of a time at the island (And why not? What a refreshing change for those folks from a hot and dry desert!). They also went on a coconut-breaking spree and went on guzzling down coconuts! I was surprised that they seemed to be enjoying the coconuts more than the sea. (But then, neither do they have access to tender coconuts in Rajasthan). We came back to the Jetty-boarding area through a graveyard (created during the Britishers’ time) and saw some deers! We had 30 more minutes to go for boarding the jetty back to Port Blair and spent time just sitting and lazing around and playing with one brave deer that came looking or rather demanding for food. After we left the place (and the place became deserted) and just began to make our way back to Port Blair on the jetty, we saw a peacock making its way through to the place where all of us had been sitting, apparently hunting for food!

The last island that I have to talk about is North Bay. It was about 45 minutes away by jetty from Port Blair. We went up there already aware that it was a place meant for snorkeling and had no other attractions. The jetty was stopped a little away from the shore. Once we got off the jetty, we were taken in batches to the shore by a smaller boat. I had to wait for about half-an-hour before it was my turn to go snorkeling. I had a little bit of a problem wearing or rather learning to breathe through the tube that was to provide the path for oxygen into my lungs. Also, I had to remove my glasses to wear the water goggles and started wondering if I’d be able to see anything at all. Anyways, I managed to get used to it and went snorkeling though only for a few minutes. As I was just beginning to enjoy experiencing the underwater world – the corals and the fishes – the guide guided us back to the shore.  It was a great and thrilling experience. I felt like I’d hit the corals with my feet but, of course, the goggles were what made it seem like the corals were very close to the surface of the water. After snorkeling, we just sat down and relaxed till it was time to head back to town.

I have only written about my experiences with water. Let me quickly run through the rest of the places that we went to. It is not fair to sideline them altogether - water does seem to be so charming and make land and its attractions seem less appealing. We went to a science museum that was amazing. But I did not have the time to go through every counter there. There was one section called Fun Science that was simply cool! It would undoubtedly be a great place for school students to learn and understand Physics. I swear. In another sea-life museum that we went to, I saw a board that attempted to explain the basics of sea life and read something that amused me  . The board trying to explain the concept of the underwater food-chain read ‘the greatest of activities under the sea is eating’. 

Another great place we went to was Mount Harriet. This was on our way to Port Blair from Bratang. Mount Harriet is the highest peak (or is it the second highest?) in Andamans and needless to say, the view was breath-taking. We could see the sea, some beaches, lighthouses and a few small islands. In Mount Harriet, we also came across some cute, cuddly and friendly cats! 

The two other places we visited were the Gandhi Park and the Marine Park. Gandhi’s statue in the former was very artistic and inspiring! In the latter, there was a nice statue of Subhas Chandra Bose. This park was facing the sea and had a nice little wall along the sea where one could seat oneself and watch the water. I stole a few moments here and listened to some instrumental music. I still remember the lovely sea breeze and the music that I was treated to.



Kaala Paani. How can I forget the cellular jail??? Would I be forgiven or for that matter would I forgive myself if I did not mention this? On day one, we saw the sound and light show at the Cellular Jail. It was a recorded show as narrated by Naseeruddin Shah. The programme was conducted using sophisticated audio equipment and moving lights. It was in the open air and slightly cold. . Before the programme began, we were seated and had to wait for a few minutes during which I had a great time. It was wonderful. It was around 7 PM and not knowing what to do, I just looked up at the sky and almost gasped for the sky was beautiful with a multitude of twinkling stars! As everyone was waiting for the show to start, it was very quiet and I enjoyed those moments immensely. We couldn’t look up the cells in the jail, on the same day and went back to see them only on the 4th day of our vacation. The cells were as one would expect any jail to be like. We also saw the eerie gallows. What was great were the various galleries. One of the best things that I liked and felt nostalgic about was the Aug 15th, 1947 paper – the statesman. There were advertisements by the Tata Industries, Bajaj, Hindustan Motors, and a few other companies whose names I am not able to recall. There was an advertisement for nail polish and an advertisement for shaving cream. The advertisement for the latter was something to the effect that one should look smart to be able to do good business!  (Big deal; now its about wooing the girls)

Finally, coming to the last few reminiscences of the trip, the guest house that we stayed in was a very quiet and secluded spot. We stayed in the first floor of a building atop a hill and the view was quiet nice though the sea wasn’t to be seen from there. The view presented many small houses, a small and peaceful-looking temple and huge groups of arecanut trees. It was, overall, a serene place. We did not really get to spend a lot of time in the guest house except on 2 days when we returned early from our local trips. On the day that we left for Bangalore, I went up to the temple and said a quick prayer.

The car driver who took us around claimed to be a Tamilian whose ancestors had settled down in Andaman. He said his name was Subramanian but he was known as Chotu. The name Chotu is explained by the fact that the Andaman people spoke Hindi even though the population was very cosmopolitan comprising Bengalis, Tamils, Malayalis etc. Finally, we had access to some good meals at the restaurant called Annapurna. 3 Lunches and 1 dinner was had at Annapurna, 3 Dinners at the guest house and on the remaining occasions, we had to make do with food available in roadside shacks and motels.

BTW, I think I’ve said it all, omitting no significant detail whatsoever. Just hope you aren’t saying that somebody should have stopped me. Well…anyways, the trip will remain etched in my memory for years to come. For both the good and the bad reasons. I am just hoping that I don’t continue to feel repelled and imagine a tsunami coming when I see beaches, for ever, after having loved and admired them so much.