Andaman : Searching for its soul

 First introduction to Andamans happens in our school days, the place where British used to send criminals / freedom fighters for the harshest punishment possible called “ Kalapani”, the geography textbooks speak about the indigenous tribes of Andaman and how they still remain cut-off from the civilization, what these textbooks don’t mention is how beautiful it is, no textbook can.

The modern version of “kalapani”

Port Blair, the capital of Andaman and Nicobar Islands still has an old port town feel to it, it’s also the only place connects Andaman via air to rest of the world.

The first place I wanted to visit in Port Blair is the infamous cellular jail. The number of cars at the parking lot broke a myth that Andaman is not that frequently traveled place for Indians, there were at least few hundred people if not thousand coming in and out of the cellular jail, I was about to find out what some of the jail inmates would have felt being in a cramped place with so many people around.

My attempt to read the contents of informative boards in a small museum at the entrance failed miserably, there were just too many people busy clicking photographs, with no regards to the content. Next was the main building with 698 cells where the criminals / revolutionaries were kept , what the men must have went through during grueling Punishment is just unimaginable, by spending some quiet time at the place we can only try and experience some of that pain and be more empathetic , what I experienced instead is the pain of having to evade selfie warriors, vloggers blabbering WhatsApp university knowledge for their informed viewers and then there were few “ See Bengal had the most prisoners amongst all states here “ someone was looking at the prisoners list engraved in the central tower.

Cellular Jail at night

The Jarawa’s

Having seen the frenzy crowd in Port Blair , my decision to choose North Andaman over famous tourist destinations like havelock island seemed like a wise one. Thanks to the bad road conditions after Bartang , less than 10% of tourists visit Digilipur ,the biggest town in North Andaman.

To reach Bartang , you have to cross Jarawa reserve forest, Its the forest land protected and traditionally owned by the Jarawa tribe, known for their hostility towards the outsiders. Hence the vehicles have to move in convoy, only during certain time period, no one is to stop and at no point try and interact with the Jarawa if you come across one. In most forest reserves, people look forward to seeing animals, here “Will we get to see the Jarawa?”, an enthusiast was looking forward to selfie with the tribe.

The Jarawa Forest is possibly the truest forest you will see, in its most natural form. No tree has been unnecessarily cut in this forest for thousands of years, the creepers shadowing even the tallest of trees, dense thicket with no sign of human or animal movement. It's a treat to watch.

A decade back, Jarawa's would attack the vehicles and wouldn't let the convoy pass. But the agencies, the Jarawa protection group and tribal welfare department has done well to build trust with them. This has led to construction of roads and smooth operation of convoy.

The cellular towers are getting built as well. “Now they are also building school and hospital inside, Jarawa's allowed it provided no tree is cut “my driver was feeding the information “if you cut even a single tree in their area, they go nuts”, Mr. Driver again who had so far violated the rules multiple times, over-speeding, spitting of tobacco, throwing plastic to name the few.

I was witnessing the contrast, one set of people who love their land, protect it and proud of their culture, and the other set proud of the money they are making. Any guesses whom we call more developed?

The locals, tour operators, drivers and anyone else operating in tourism field but not respecting the very own place which earns them bread and butter is probably the biggest reason we cannot have sustainable tourism. Our tourism development model is more focused on earning more revenue than creating experiences.

In last few years there is a race to let go off the colonial mindset, we have let go off the names. But our definitions of “Developed person” and our almost fanatic approach of making sure that everyone should be of same “Mould”, how is this different from the repressive thinking?

We have so many tribes with such distinct culture, yet instead of learning their ways of life, we are busy teaching them ours.

Andaman: in search of its soul

The natives of Andaman were always these tribes, some of them have Mongolian origin and some negroid- African. Not much is known about them. There have been many attempts made to communicate with them, some of the tribes like tribes in Nicobar have accepted the modern ways, some are on their way like the Jarawa’s, some still remain cut off and hostile like the Sentinel tribes.

Brits came here in 1850’s, built the jail in 1912 and then came the settlers. Andaman was the first state in modern India to get independence in 1943, almost 4 yrs before rest of India.

When Brits had to leave the island and close the jail due to world war, they allowed convicts to get their own land and settle on the island, thus came the settlers. After that many refugees from Bangladesh came here in large numbers during 1971 war and called Andaman their home. None of them were islanders before so the distinct way of life you see in the coastal areas, be it the food or farming or dressing or the festivals is missing here.

Andaman is a weird amalgamation of people from South of india , West of india, Bangladesh and everywhere else, with everyone trying to replicate their life from mainland here. Andaman’s very own culture it seems is still getting formed, or will it ever get formed with such tourism frenzy? I am not sure.