i woke up in the morning having a very sore throat. change in the water, food and climate always does this to me. couldn't even swallow my saliva.first thing that i heard on waking up was my mom ordering coffee for us. after a few minutes she put down the phone with a startled look. she told me that the guy on the other end, said that the kitchens do not open till 6:30, and politely told us to call after that.and when she asked him what time it was now, he said it was 5:30! we both looked out of the window, it was pretty bright. considering the weather and the rains, it could have well been past 7. but then we also realised, that we were far more eastern than the Indian subcontinent. naturally it would dawn here sooner than it did back home. also since it was a part of the Indian Union territories, it kept the IST without changing it, although geographically it usually dawned earlier.
I got up at 5:30 in the morning, all by myself, without a cup of coffee!!! things like this dont happen often...
went out to the balcony to see the bay..
it was so beautiful.. the wind was gentle and cold. i could smell the freshness in the breeze. the sight before me was so calm, graceful and pristine.. it was like love..
the tiny boats were leaving for their daily fishing trips..
but the gloom kept getting stronger.. i'm so getting used to this by now... unlike back home, where passing clouds gave nothing more than a 5 minute drizzle, here these clouds brought pretty heavy rain.. i come from a metro, where huge buildings block your view everywhere... but here, it wasnt lke that... here i could exactly see what happens before the rain starts pouring..
i'll try my best to put down what i saw.. difficult, but i'll still try..
I see a bay flanked b islands... a few boats stand scattered...a huge black cloud comes towards the shore with great speed and anger..As the Great Black( as i named the cloud!) comes towards the shore, i can see this fog, trailing with it...the fog slowly joins from the clods to the water, like little tornado streaks. these streaks, join together to form a veil, like that of a bride.. you can just vaguely see whats behind it.. this veil along with Great Black, moves towards the shore.
As it gains more speed and moisture, Great Black cannot hold it anymore...It looses control and breaks as rain.. and now instead of this fog, a sheet of rain moves with the Great Black. and trust me when i say, that this was amazing..!
The morning began well, but these frequent spells of Great Black, made the day gloomier. dad called our travel agent, and he changed the plan from Island tour to City tour. We all got dressed. Went down to the lobby. our driver waiting there for us, tells us that the plans been changed back to Island tours again. I dint have any change of clothes exactly... was a little upset about their way of informing us at the last minute.. but then what the hell! lets go!!!!!!
we saw 3 islands today..
Ross Island
Ross Island, erstwhile capital of the British penal settlement is names after the British surveyor Reginald Ross. This desolate island was transformed into a thriving township wen the British established a penal colony on the Andaman & Nicobar islands in the year 1858. Ross island became the natural choice for settlers, due to its commanding geographical location at the mouth of Port Blair harbor, it's plentiful supply of fresh water and the security is provided through the water separating it from Port Blair.
During those times the settlers went about their business of recreating a home away from home with vigour, so much so that the island earned the epithet of 'Paris of the East'. In rapid succession rose the Anglican Churches, homes for the British and Indianofficers, store houses, shops, printing press, hospital, post office, tennis courts, mineral water plant, swimming pool, a bakery, library and general stores.there was even a cemetery. an entire bazaar and three separate clubs were also constructed. in all, about 500 personnel including officers, troops,Indian merchants and families lived at Ross Island.
after almost a century of ruling the islands of Andaman & Nicobar from this tiny 'island citadel' the settlers were shaken by a massive earthquake on 26th june 1941. the majestic buildings damaged by the earthquake were a sign of events to follow. with the advance of the Japanese forces during WW2, there was also imminent danger to the british settled in the Andaman & Nicobar islands. thus the British started withdrawing to the mainland, and by 1942, Ross island was virtually deserted.
In May of that year, the Japanese forces occupied the islands of Andaman & Nicobar. under the Japanese control, the island was given a more military look. bunkers and small military installations were constructed by the Japanese, mainly out of the material extracted out of the existing structures. the Japanese control lasted for almost 3 years, till the British regained control at the end of the second world war. by this time, however, the seat of power had firmly established itself at Port Blair, and Ross Island could not achieve its old glory.
and enough with the history, the place was simply amazing.. to think that there were so many places in such a small island! plus, the rain made the entire place a combination of greens and browns.. so fresh, so beautiful and so old! you should see the trees in Ross island! they were not just growing on the ground, they were also growing on the buildings. it sort of made you wonder, whether the trees upheld the buildings or the other way around. and about the bakery. it is said that the bakery itself was constructed using the 19th century British architecture, and was fully equipped with the modern facilities of the time including a self contained cook house. it offered some of the best confectioneries, breads, buns and croissants!!! yummmm! and there was this lovely pond with a lot of ducks in it.. and the place itself had a lot of deer and peacocks running around. it was so nice to see these out of a cage!
come to think of it, i'm a really weird person. i like ruins a lot more than i like normal, and complete buildings. because when you see wreckage, and ruins, it makes you wonder how they might have originally been in their days of glory... they are so mysteriously beautiful!
North Bay Island
this was the next island that we went to... about a half hours ferry ride from the Ross Island during which we were provided with lunch ( you need to buy a lunch ticket for that), it dint exactly have a port for us to get off from the ferry directly to.. so to get to North Bay Island, you have to go by the ferry, and take a 3 minute fibre glass boat ride to the shore.. before being taken ashore, the boats take you around for some coral sighting. these fibre glass boats are normal boats, but the base is made up of fibre glass which allows you to see the corals without having to step in to the water..but since the weather was too cloudy, we couldn't see the corals. and you have to put your legs in the water, coz the boat doesn't get you till the shore.for people like my dad, who are panicky when it comes to travelling by air or water, brace yourselves. you don't have much choice! it stops a few feet from the sands coz the motor in the motor boats needs to be atleast in a4 foot deep water.. it was nice to step into the icy cold waters and walk on dead corals.. it was like having a very cozy foot massage..
and when i say beach, it wasn't exactly a sandy beach. rather it was a corally beach. the dead coral bits gets washed ashore, and the beach was strewn with corals.. it was nothing like i've ever seen before.. and the water wasn't rough at all.. the waves were mild, and hardly had any force.. snorkeling can be done, but in this weather, the guide himself doubted if the corals could be seen.. the weather was so romantic, and it was such a dreamy place... i just dint have any special 'somebody' to experience it with ;)
Viper Island
OK! this was a big disappointment. there wasn't much to see at all. just that it took us about an hour's ride on the ferry from the North Bay Island to get here, and on the way, we passed through the Port Blair harbor and saw some really cool ships. it seems that the Viper Island acted as a standby island to hold prisoners while the main Cellular jail was under construction. it had a few cells, and a court, to put the prisoners under trial before being put under custody.
and when i say 'island' it is to be understood that these were not flat masses of land floating in the water. these were mounds of land, irregular, and mostly climby. so we had to climb about 2 flights of stairs to get to the court. the views from the top were nice. but overall, not a great place to be. and if you must exclude it from your itinerary, don't feel too guilty about it. you did not miss much...
totally, it kept drizzling every half hour. it was pretty annoying, but wasn't delaying. at the end of the day, my jeans was soaking wet, heavy, mushy, and irritating. it was a low waist jean, and it was all i could do to keep it on me!
TRAVELLER'S TIP # 2: IF YOU KNOW IT'S GONNA RAIN, DON'T WEAR JEANS, ATLEAST NOT LOW-WAISTS!
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