Andamans and Me

Me and water, there is something enigmatic, a bond that is as scary as alluring. Alluring for the amazing sound of the waves hitting the shores, the wind buzzing with gay abandon and pristine beaches with aqua blue-green water, a reflection of the skies above. Scary for the power it has to devastate. So when Divya casually messaged if I wanted to join them for a trip to the Andamans she had no clue that I have been dreaming Bali for over a year and this was the closest I came to achieving it. I said yes, am coming, just let me check about my leaves. Within 2 days, my leave was in place and the tickets were in a folder neatly tilted Andamans.

25th May 2018: 

Day 1
There were 6 of us – Divya and Rajiv, Jayston and Devina, myself and 10 year old Advait. We decided to take independent cabs to the airport. I reached first and waited for others near the boarding gate. The others reached after me but unlike me they spent an hour window shopping and enjoying scrumptious cuisines at T2.Glad they did because they bought Cluedo – a board game that thrilled us as much as the outdoor thrills but more on that later. 

We boarded an 8.40am flight to Chennai with a layover of nearly 4 hours and a 12.15 pm from Chennai to Port Blair. Yes, though Port Blair is only approximately 5 hours from Mumbai airport, there aren’t any direct flight to Port Blair. So it is either a layover at Kolkatta or Chennai. With baggage’s checked in we had ample time to laze on the lounge chairs and just chit chat. In retrospect, I think we were quiet naïve and had no clue to the wonders we were about to be exposed to in the next few days.

On way, we were individually engrossed in our own time pass activities – I was watching a movie, Advait was excited about a cockatoo he would soon be buying, Rajiv and Divya seemed to say Yes to it with conditions that actually meant a No, Devina and Jayston were engrossed with each other and as I did not spy on them, don’t know what they were talking of!!! Suddenly, the plane shuddered and swayed for a good 30 to 40 seconds like never before in my lifetime and I would like to say that it was the first surreal experience of the trip. There was no warning from the pilot which came soon after the shudder and scores of people yelling out a “whooooaaaa” mid-air. Some started praying too. This made me believe that it was a ‘never before’ cumulative experience for all. The pilot warned of bad weather and asked all to remain seated and belted. Jayston later told us that Devina had dug all her nails into his arm though there were no scars to prove that though. Post that, we only wanted to get off the plane and we did that soon after. The breath-taking view of the thickly populated green mountains and islands all around us and the still calm waters soothed our minds and we let the fear be bygones. We landed at 2.35pm at Port Blair and walked out of the small airport and breathed the first whiff of pure air…damp but sweet, light drizzle and a strong breeze that was more than welcome. Divya, being the organiser of this tour had called up the tour manager and connected with our guide. From then on we were in safe hands. 

Consider the next para as the ‘mantra’ to enjoy your trip. Stay away from your handset. 

I looked at my phone – it said no network – I wasted a few minutes trying to get connected then gave up – I had been forewarned – Andamans has NO NETWORK except for BSNL, a little bit of Vodafone and Airtel. Rest all be damned J. Let me put the expectations right – no network means just that NO NETWORK and HAVING NETWORK means – YOU CAN SEE YOUR EMAIL, READ THE FIRST LINE BUT CANT OPEN IT (enticing you to an extent where you can go crazy). Videos cannot be downloaded or sent – the definition of being connected is a lot different. I believe the iconic Vodafone Pug is a mixed breed while at Andamans. This happened to all the ‘Apple-ites’ in the group. My SAMSUNG worked fine with WiFi though IDEA had no IDEA how to start itself on the island. So I was completely dependent on the hotel WiFi and most hotels allowed WiFi only in the lobby so I would be more seen in the lobby than in my room.
A typical scenario at any reception counter was as under:
Guest: Hello, we have a room booked under the name….(the usual stuff)
Host: Welcome sir/madam. Can you kindly take a seat while we complete the check in process? Please hand me your IDs.
Guest: Here are our IDs. Can you please give me the Wi-Fi password?
While the above conversation is going on, you can see the entire brood including spouse, kids, and grandparents fiddling with their cell phones trying to infuse life into it.
The outcome of all the drama is the same. Its either NO NETWORK or HAVING NETWORK as described above. And sometimes, its restricted to the lobby area as mentioned earlier but then that’s just fine because the entire island is beautiful, every property is beautiful and aesthetically done up in décor – indoors as well as outdoors. The gardens are neat, clean and well-manicured, the pools are open and lovely and not a single leaf floating given the foliage and breeze around.
So we checked in with speed and rushed out precisely in that manner as we planned to visit the cellular jail where countless freedom fighters were imprisoned and tortured. Veer Savarkar being one of them. I won’t write much about him nor the cellular jail because all of you can google the same, if interested.
Must read: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cellular_Jail
I will write about what happened to me there. It was drizzling intermittently and all of us were enjoying the first drizzle of the season. We walked all over the property fooling by locking ourselves in the open cells, taking pictures of the never ending corridors, visiting the hangman’s chambers, etc. I was mesmerised by the idea of a jail being constructed just for torturing freedom fighters. Ten years to build a torture cell with bricks brought from Burma on an island that took days to reach from the nearest port!!! One must applaud the government for having done a good job at maintaining the heritage structure and even organising a light and sound show where an audio plays out several acts that happened within the jail in those times. It’s a beautiful sight and the story-telling is amazing. As the story was being told, I felt goose bumps. I must add that I was depressed at that moment and though I am proud of our freedom fighters I wanted to leave the show mid-way but my friends insisted we stay put. Am glad we stayed till the end. It was the most patriotic moment of my life, I wanted to be a part of them or hide somewhere and bomb the Britishers and save our people and this was something that not even singing the National Anthem or reading out the pledge ever evoked in me.
What goes round comes around – the island was invaded by the Japanese in 1942 and became home for the British prisoners until 1945 when the British reclaimed what was theirs. And then we reclaimed what was ours in 1947 and the rest is history.
I must add a handful of people in the crowd did say they got bored. I attribute this to the fact that they were comparing it to the Sci-Fi shows that they were so used to watching in the multiplexes around them. So I will let them be there and say that but that’s not what it is.
Thankfully, it was the only visit scheduled for the day and we were back in our rooms, to freshen up, have a sumptuous dinner and sleep early. Day 2 was going to be at Havelock – paradise on Earth.
My observations on Day 1: Local-ites are down to earth, honest to the core, extremely safe for single women travellers. Food is multi-cuisine and they do not have any local dishes to boast of. I will mention places to eat at the end of the blog and trust me you will have a wonderful stay. I think these are the basics that makes travel to any part of the world delightful.
I would list down our entire itinerary, along with hotel details at the end of this blog so that you can schedule a trip for yourself and enjoy the virgin beauty of the island before they get commercialised and become another tourist hotspot.

Day 2 - Andamans
Once again we shoved inside whatever we had taken out the previous day, repacked our bags and checked out. Today our destination was Havelock, nearly 70kms from Port Blair. The only way to get there is through jetty. We were booked to travel via Makruzz. I fell in love with the majestic white catamaran ferry. We all lined up for selfies – I managed to get a few good ones. A trillion thanks to Jayston D'souza who is any girl’s bestie (sorryDevina Dsouza) when it comes to taking pics. This man never tires of clicking pics of himself, others, nature, anything and everything. He is a walking talking photo studio. Thank you Jayston – next trip I promise to share some of the camera bag load…sacchi mucchi wala promise. 
Our seats were amazing, the water outside was calm and the waves looked tiny to even ruffle the majestic beast. I felt so powerful. As mentioned earlier, I love the sea as much as I fear it. But Makruzz made me feel potent. It was a 90 minute ride and we settled comfortably in our seats. I wished the catamaran was not air conditioned but considering the speed of around 20 odd nautical miles at which it was travelling, it would be impossible to allow passengers on deck. Am sure small kids and zero size individuals would find it difficult to hold onto the catamaran. This was also the downside as I would have loved to be on deck, perhaps in a slower cruise liner, soaking in the breeze and sunlight…but alas for now it remains a desire unfulfilled.
I did say that the local people are honest and simple folks, didn’t I? But I had zero trust on my fellow passengers and was worried about my baggage. I have never understood how the authorities handle the baggage transport. Unlike airports where your baggage gets tagged with your name, here you just shove it to a Makruzz employee’s hand who further dumps it into their luggage compartment. On docking, they shove out everything and assemble it within a certain circumference on the platform. Every passenger goes and picks up their individual bags. What if someone took my bag?? I and Jayston rushed out as only we two seemed to be concerned with this issue!!! We managed to salvage some of our baggage and the others sauntered out leisurely to salvage the rest. Again, Divya Jagannath coordinated (she had to – she was a privileged Vodafone client whose cell worked!!!) and got us in touch with our tour manager at Havelock and again we all ambled into another beautiful property. The same routine followed – check into rooms – procure WiFi passwords!!! We were famished so after a shower we all had lunch. A visit to Radhanagar beach was planned around 4pm. Andamans has an early sunrise (around 4.30am) and an early sunset (around 4.30pm) so we planned to catch the sunset. You can google Radhanagar beach to know more about this place. 
As far as you can see it’s only the sea…frothy waves inviting you to touch them as they start and swim with them till they collapse. I wish I was a fish
Wow, that rhymed! 
I think I have enough bank balance to build a hut and stay here forever. Since that may not be allowed I decided to enjoy the moment. If you have fellow travellers the way I had, there is nothing else you could ask for. Not only did I have a great time playing and teasing the waves but Jayston has captured all of it for posterity. And I am going to relive the moments again and again. 
Unfortunately, we could not see the sunset as it was cloudy and by 6pm it was pitch dark. We were wet as much with salty water as from the rain. Our driver had warned us that he would not allow us to sit in the car if we were wet so we had to change. We would have preferred changing at the hotel as the changing and shower rooms here was pathetic. The men went behind the tress to change and we managed to find pathetic cubicles (read stinking shower rooms/toilets with no water) with a door to slide out of our swim wear and change into dry clothes. There was sand all over me and I left the hotel shower with small mound of it which eventually went back to Earth. 
This was followed by dinner. We decided to skip the hotel dinner and went to a local restaurant (names of all hotels I recommend would be the last on this blog – for easy reference). The ambience floored us, the courteous owner, the staff and finally the food made us happy souls. This was our second a la carte ordering event and we realized something which stayed with us till we left the island. The menu may have a list of 20 odd things under various categories. It’s a waste of time to go through all of it, build an appetite around it and then get to know that the dish is not available as some of the ingredients have not reached the island due to ferries being cancelled due to unpleasant weather. Just ask whats available and order...easy peasy. So the weather rules everything here. Most of things are ferried from Port Blair which in turn gets things from major cities all around India. I saw a Havells fan in one of the restaurant and made a note to tell this to one of my friends in Mumbai. Havells should be having a great sales person to sell fans to breezy restaurants!!!
Post dinner we returned to our rooms (me was in lobby area) and then we all slept. We were all excited about day 3…it was Scuba diving early morning at 6 and evening it would be Elephant beach – the epicentre of water sports. (google it for more info please). Advait (Aadi) Rajiv Pillaiwas super excited but there was also the fear of salt water crocodiles haunting him. He tried to mask it but I could see through him…

Day 3

Dot 5am, everyone was awake (or we thought so). Apparently, the fishes are very active early morning so the guide had suggested we reach as early as possible. The scuba diving centre was a couple of kms away from where we were staying and we quickly huddled our sleepy selves into the waiting cars. We reached there before we were fully awake and trundled towards a cabin near the water.

We were 6 of us and only 3 could get into the early morning slot. Another family beat us and were already in the water. Since the scuba diving would be shot underwater, we decided Rajiv, Divya and Adi go in first as they would then have a family video. I, Jayston and Devina waited for the next slot….which we later realised was 90 minutes away.

These 3 looked smart in their diving costumes and I could not wait to get into mine. The wait was exceedingly torturous for we were hungry and the tea stall was not yet operational. Finally our turn arrived, we slipped into our costumes and I loved it so much I could steal it. We trudged towards the water. Adi was the first one walking towards the shore.

How was it Adi?

The young boy was smiling and replied ‘Nice’ but he seemed to be in a hurry to get out of water. I guess the fear of the salt water crocodiles which he so often must have seen on television was haunting him. Till date, he denies this fear.

We were greeted by Vishal, our diving instructor. Each one of us would be chaperoned underwater. Breathing techniques were taught and we were made to practise for a few minutes. There were just three simple rules to be followed and 2 sign language to be learnt:

1.       Stop breathing through the nose, use mouth

2.       If water collects inside the mask near the nose, press the centre point of the mask, just above the nose to release the water

3.       Blow out of the ear time and against release pressure

4.       Sign language – one for OK and one for not OK…take me UP.

Cake walk, isn’t it?

Then began one of the most amazing next 30 minutes of my life. Vishal chaperoned me, took me deeper into the waters and released air from the cylinder on my back. I sunk! So did he!

The world under is so beautiful, especially since mankind has been unable to mess it up. Spell bound I was observing every coral, little colourful fishes playing hide and seek in the corals. And when you are watching something so beautiful you forget to breathe. You are awestruck! Now that is where I messed up! I got low of oxygen, felt suffocated and wanted to breathe and I did – through my nose!!! Not my fault – that’s what I have done since I was born. I signalled the UP sign and Vishal neatly took me to the surface. He spoke encouragingly and asked me to be more disciplined and breathe through the mouth as instructed earlier. I practised that a few more times and down we went once again…there are not enough words to express how beautiful and surreal it s down there. Admiring the beauty was one task and breathing like a fish was another …photo graphs and videos were being taken which we could relish for the rest of our lifetime. If any of you take this trip – I have only one word of caution – please do not pose the way those guys ask you to pose. Every pic of mine looks as if I am doing a bharatnatyam gesture with my hand. Just be casual and ignore their advice at least on this front!

We returned to the hotel and as we were ravenously hungry we had a hearty meal. After a 2-hour rest all were once again back to the lobby (the wifi area). We had eyed some ducks quacking outside the hotel where we stayed and wondered if we could relish some duck meat. The restaurant manager assured us he will try it for the next day as he will have to send someone to the market the next morning. We readily agreed and decided to build an appetite for lunch the next day.

We were scheduled to go snorkelling and engage in other water sports in the evening, however cyclonic winds had forced the authorities to close all water activities. That meant a free evening. It was raining lightly with a windy breeze and I wanted to enjoy every bit of the wet weather. I and Adi decided to enjoy ourselves in the pool and the others satisfied the adventure streak in them by renting scooters and zipping away to another beach called the kala pathhar, a few miles away.

By 6pm, it was dark which denoted the end of the day. We returned for more food, had dinner and went back to our rooms.

Day 4:

We did not have anything on the agenda. It was a relax day. During breakfast we had enquired about the duck and the restaurant manager assured us his guy is doing his best to procure one of it. With foodies for company, an impending feast is something that consumes a lot of energy either talking about it or of some past experiences. This was the time, we decided to open the board game we bought at the airport – Cleudo. Jayston painstakingly opened the package, read instructions and everyone else listened. Within minutes, it became complicated to listen and listen and listen. Rajiv slipped away at the start on some pretence and never returned. Everyone wanted to start playing and follow rule one by one. Jayston refused this modus operandi. He read to the last T, absorbed the information and then we started playing. His meticulousness rewarded him as he started making the right guesses. That hooked us. One game of Cluedo can take hours to finish and keep you glued to it. Various permutations and combinations can help a sharp mind decipher the truth within 20 to 30 guesses. Our genius friend, Mr. Jayston proved to be the brainiest guy in the game. The game was addictive and filled up all our free hours during the rest of the trip. I, Devina, Jayston and Divya had a whale of a time.

Sadly, the duck was not on our plate for lunch. The restaurant manager once again promised us he would try and ‘procure’ it for dinner. We once again had something to dream about till dinner. The group decided that as this was our last day at Havelock we might once again go to Kala Pathar, a place where Adi and I had not been the other day. It is a continuation of Beach no 5 and is long stretch of white silky sand with big black rocks beside the blue sea. Endless stretches of white sand with mangroves adorn as far as you can see. Apart from such a beautiful view of nature, the few manmade things you can find here are a couple of souvenir shops, a tea shop, one coconut water stall, few large plastic dustbins and a bus stop. The skyline was turning dark and we decided to head back home as soon as possible. The sight of a bus rattling down attracted me and Divya to board the bus and the others followed on their scooters. The bus had no stops to make and rattled downhill at top speed. Few low hanging branches played drums on the rooftop at first jostling us but then we became used to it. Very soon all of us were back in the hotel and the duck was still on our minds as we kept seeing flocks of ducks quacking outside the hotel. We kept wondering why one of them could not be snatched away.

The duck eluded us once again. The restaurant manager apologised his inability in procuring one. I asked him if I could go to the house outside the hotel and ask them to sell us one of their ducks.

No one will sell maam, this is the breeding season.

Aha, that’s the catch. That’s why procuring a duck was so hard. But he could have told this to us the previous day. To hear such a reason after building up an appetite for more than 36 hours was a real torture.

After dinner, we once again rushed to our rooms – not to sleep but Cleudo calling!!

Day 5: As per itinerary, after breakfast we would leave Havelock and leave for the beautiful island of Neil. However, the weather Gods did not allow that and all ferries to Neil were cancelled. Only those who had flights to catch from Port Blair were transferred from Havelock and Neil. As a precautionary measure, other ferries were cancelled. We were disappointed we could not go to Neil but we loved the extended stay at Havelock. Our guide had asked us to be ready to leave the moment he calls and informs us about procuring a seat for in any ferry that left the island. The idea was to leave for Port Blair and be safe in a hotel 15 minutes from the airport as getting marooned in the island was a high probability with the weather acting the way it was. We packed and waited in the lobby and we enjoyed the wait as we had Cleudo for company. Around 1, we got a call from the guide and 2 cars were at the gate in no time. We were rushed to the port. It was full of people trying to get a place in any of the ferries that were leaving. We would have panicked about our own state but our guide assured us that everything was in order. Perhaps for them it was a routine task but for us to see the dock crowded like Dadar station during peak hours was a bit of a shock. True to his word, our guide set us up at a nearby restaurant from where we had an amazing view of the sea and the ferries coming in and going, took all our luggage into their custody and asked us to relax. We had lunch and by 4.30 we stepped into our ferry. Our luggage was neatly stored under the hull in a similar fashion as it was brought to the island. I and Jayston made a mental note to rush and collect it the moment we docked in Port Blair.

We were glad we were on a ferry back to mainland. We got the best seats in the ferry…the first and the second row with three seats in each row, right at the front…we thought we were lucky…which was a misconception. However, we did not realise it at that point of time. I did mention in my Day 2 excerpt what a majestic liner the Makruzz was. One of the Makruzz staffers requested us to take a seat at the back as the water was quite choppy and sitting at the back would be a better idea. We did not think much about it  but headed back as if we were being punished for something we did not do.

The ride began and so did our woes. Passengers who felt lucky to have boarded a ferry back to mainland were celebrating eating samosas, scones, puffs, wafers and the likes. Some men were seen carrying tea cups for their families. All of these along with the men who were standing (I really could not fathom why they did not sit) started swaying precariously. Within 10 minutes of the ride, the ferry was thrown high up in the air and down the next second. It seemed like a roller coaster ride in one of the rides at Esselworld. This kept happening and happening. People started screaming, praying and huddling with each other. I could see a wife holding her little child in her lap and screaming at her husband for choosing this godforsaken journey. The crew spread out assuring everyone that this was normal if the sea was choppy and asked everyone to relax. The first casualty triggered the next sequence of events. The passengers started retching into bags provided by the crew. Family members tried to soothe the nerves of the affected ones sometimes succumbing to the surroundings and started retching themselves. Towards the end almost 95% of the passengers were affected. The air turned putrid and was thick with the smell of vomit. We later learnt that our ride was the worst since the start of the cyclone that had hit the island two days back.

As we sighted land, everyone heaved a sigh of relief. Once out, I tool huge gulps of fresh air to clear my system. Back in our hotel, I had light dinner while the others almost skipped dinner.

Day 6

We awoke to bright sunshine and soon forgot about the horrendous trip. We had an entire day off so we decided to explore Port Blair. The group decided to go once again to the Cellular Jail, this time with a guide. I skipped this tour. I could not put myself through the pain and misery once again. The group did come back and say that touring the place with a guide was a great experience. I would suggest that if you are planning to visit the cellular jail, you visit it twice. Pay a visit during the day with a guide as there is less crowd at this time. Towards evening as they have the light show, the crowd is multiplied four to five times as most tourists decide to visit the jail around 4 and then catch up with the light show. I rested the entire day and enjoyed the weather, met fellow tourists and chatted with the hotel staff.  Resting was very important for me as Divya had scared me with a very long trek planned the next day in the jungles to see lime stone caves. The pickup was scheduled for 3AM…

Tell me, does anyone get up at 3am when you are on a holiday? I was told there was a lot of travel time involved if one had to see the lime stone caves, mangroves and the mud volcanoes. (https://www.thrillophilia.com/destinations/baratang-island/places-to-vis).

From our hotel, it would take us approx. 2 hours to reach the convoy trail at Jurtang. The convoys would start at 6am and reach the jetty by 8am. Then it is a 30-minute jetty ride to reach the mangroves and a small motor boat ride for another 30 minutes would then take us deeper inside the mangroves. The motor boat would leave us at a spot from where would have to trek for 2km to reach the lime stone caves. Phew!

Day 7

The half sleepy group bundled themselves into the car. We were on a two-hour ride by road to Jurkatang. We reached there by 5am and the gates that took us through the forests would open only by 6am.  We were 5^th in the row. By 6am, the convoy grew up to over 50 vehicles behind us. Once the gates opened, we drove through densely populated forests with long winding roads. The convoy of vehicles rode as if in a procession, with equal spaces between each other. We were told that this was because the jungle was inhabited by the ‘Jarwah’ tribe – an uncivilzed tribe and perhaps the few of such tribes left in the world. We were told we would be lucky if we could see some of them. We eagerly wished to spot them in the 90 minutes it was supposed to complete this stretch. Suddenly, our driver realised that we had lost a tyre. He stopped. As a rule all vehicles behind us stopped and each one of us were asked to get into the cars behind us. There was no chaos or confusion. In 5 minutes flat, me, Adi, Devina and Jayston were bundled into a car right behind us, Rajiv into the next one and Divya into another one. The convoy continued without our driver. We continue our journey with strangers. We kept looking out for Jarwahs. The driver was the first to spot them and we managed to catch a glimpse of them basking in the sunlight. A man, a woman, children. They looked exotic. The woman was wearing clothes, a long yellow kurta, probably handed over by a passer-by. The man gestured something which our driver told was his request for a paan. The tribal was probably wanting to taste something he had eaten earlier. I would in no way term them uncivilzed. They were not hiding themselves. Seemed as curious as we were to know them. We also saw a few other jarwahs along the way and to me it seemed as if they had come out into he open to see us!!! We finished this amazing journey (minus our flat tyre) and reached the jetty gate. Our driver joined us soon enough. He must be a fearless man for he managed to change the tyre in the middle of the jungle all by himself!

A leech managed to such some blood out of Adi and the poor kid spent the rest of the day with a piece of paper tissue stuck on his leg. We soon boarded a jetty that took us on a 30-minute ride to a small bay from where another motor boat picked us up. The motor boat drove 30 minutes and took us deeper into the mangroves. The water was clean but muddy and not azure blue as it was at the beach.  We alighted on a ledge made of bamboo…. the ledge extended to a very long narrow bridge that took us deeper into he mangroves. A 2 km long trek involved us crossing marshy pathways and rocky areas which led us to the limestone caves. A marvel of art, the figures inside the caves shone and glittered. (please read on google in detail or better - visit the place). I was flushed from all that walk but I must say it was worth it. Going back, the guide took us through a different route, through fields and a whole lot of greenery and we were back in the motor boat. My lungs were full of pure fresh oxygen. We came back the same way minus any mishaps and were too tired by the time we reached the hotel. We rested a while and planned to visit the market place in the evening to buy souvenirs. Today was our last day here and we would soon board the flight to Mumbai.

That’s how I landed back in Mumbai on the 9^th of June and as I stepped out of the airport felt a disgusting stench hit my nostrils. I just could not take this shit, I thought. As I sat in the cab, a part of me slid onto  the next seat and whispered in my ear – this is where you were born, this is where you were a week back. This is your home. Learn to live with it.