Travelogues

They opted for the efficient and economical service offered by a private airline. The flight from Kolkata Airport in the early hours of the morning turned out to be a blessing in disguise. As we approached the archipelago of the 572 Andaman and Nicobar islands from the south, our landing was delayed as the official carrier; Indian airlines had occupied both available bays. The flight circled over Port Blair and we enjoyed a fantastic aerial view of the turquoise, aquamarine, blue waters of the Bay, the pristine white of the beaches and the resplendent tropical foliage of the islands.

Our flight landed by 9 o'clock and as we spilled out to the bright, blinding sunshine, I realised that Port Blair was hot and humid. The cool breeze from the ocean however took the edge off the heat. We drove through quaint lanes, which went up and down hill and finally climbed to the Megapode Nest.
The Hotel is named after a Kiwi like bird, unique to the Andamans. Built on a hilltop, it offers a spectacular view of the Bay. It also provides camping facility and I was tempted to book one of the tents complete with portable bath, TV and electricity. But while the vantage to the stars was a lure, it was offset by lack of air conditioning, which is a must in the humid climate. The hotel also had Nicobari cottages on stilts but unfortunately they were all booked. From the hotel bookings it was apparent that the islands are becoming a popular tourist destination.

Port Blair, the capital of the Andamans is an undulating landscape with a number of hills and vales, gently shelving down to fantastic beaches. The islands are actually the tip of the submerged mountain range. In fact the Barren Island has India's only active volcano, 135 kilometers from Port Blair.

After checking in and a quick bath, I went for a walk to the Marine Park, about half of kilometre from the hotel. It was a pretty little stretch along the beach with gardens and an abandoned tank, a relic of the Second World War. Port Blair is full of colonial structures, reminder of a more graceful past. Most of the park had, however, been washed away by the Tsunami in 2004 and it bore a wild look.
I sat for sometime on the clean white sand and watched the changing pattern and movement of the seawater. My first lunch was replete with hot crab curry, malai prawns and fried salmon cooked in Chettinad style — Port Blair naturally is famous for its delectable variety of seafood.


Evening brought a haunting panorama of lights to the island with a beautiful view of the harbor and the habitation on the terraced hills. Passing ships were glowing specks on the dark silken waters and the island took on a mysterious quality.
I joined a group of tourists for a trip to the son-et-luminre so at the historic cellular jail, a grim edifice which stands as mute testimony to the suffering of political prisoners during the Indian national movement. Built in 1906 the jail was originally a seven pronged, puce-colored building with a central tower acting as its fulcrum and a massive structure comprising honeycomb like cells. It is now a national memorial and a place of pilgrimage for all freedom-loving people.

The chilling account of the blood-stained history of the jail in the gravelly voice of Om Puri with the ubiquitous Tom Alter as the jail's villainous superintendent; interspersed with frequent bursts of patriotic song was all fire and brimstone - disappointingly melodramatic. It did not convey the isolation and the tortures of the damned that the unfortunate prisoners underwent. The story of Vir Savarkar who entered the precincts as a young man and died an old man without stepping on his motherland and of Sher Ali, the Pathan who was hanged for assassinating Lord Mayo, the whippings, the starvation diets, the solitary confinement and slave labour, all featured in the sound and light show but had an unreal air about them.

A visit to the jail the next morning in the clear light of day was much more haunting as one peeked into the six by six windowless cells and saw the leg irons and chains which kept prisoners on their feet