My brethren and sistren are in every single place. I stepped out of the Vatican ravenous, and walked as much as the primary beef burger truck I noticed – and lo and behold, it was run by a Bengali. One of lots of I encountered by means of Italy. I nonetheless marvel at how they’d received there.
And now I’ve discovered them within the far reaches of the subcontinent – within the Andaman and Nicobar islands. I assumed I might escape Kolkata and West Bengal, and the good-looking Haryanvis I stay alongside in Gurugram by taking a number of flights, a ferry after which a automotive journey – solely to achieve Havelock Island within the Andamans and realise that each second individual there was from Bengal.
Well, that is comprehensible. One, the Andamans are near Bengal. It’s simply in need of a two-and-a-half hour flight from Kolkata to Port Blair. Many folks have moved right here additionally for jobs. Two, there are those that can thank GoI for transport them out to Andaman and Nicobar beneath the ‘Colonisation Schemes’ (sic) first in 1949 after Partition and hen once more after the 1971 India-Pakistan warfare with the creation of Bangladesh. In each instances, 1000’s of East Pakistan/Bangladesh refugees have been resettled on the islands. In 1951, there have been 2,362 Bengali-speaking folks, which by 1991 had turn out to be 64,706, in accordance with the census. Today, they make about 28% of the inhabitants with about 1 lakh folks.
Settling within the Andamans isn’t a nasty deal right now. But in 1971, it was pretty much as good because the British sending off political prisoners from the Indian mainland to Port Blair to be housed in Kala Paani, a.okay.a. the Cellular Jail throughout colonialism.
On visiting the Andamans final month, it warmed the cockles of my coronary heart to see the union territory celebrating one among Cellular Jail’s extra unwilling prisoners, Vinayak ‘Veer’ Savarkar. Today, he appears virtually like a co-traveller from the second one has touched down on the Veer Savarkar Airport the place I received down not from a bulbul, however from a airplane.
But again to the Cellular Jail. It is a chilling reminder of a grim time in our not-so-distant previous. What is much more chilling is the sight of a number of newlywed {couples} and uncles and aunties from the mainland hanging romantic poses and pouting whereas taking footage and selfies with the Cellular Jail as their backdrop.
But the loud Indian who spits and shoves and litters quickly turns into a distant reminiscence as you progress farther away from land. I’ve not seen such azure waters, pristine sands and miles of empty seashore ever, not even, actually, abroad.
A protracted and intensely swanky ferry journey at a really low value from Port Blair will deposit you on the shores of Havelock. A cellphone sign is rarer than steak tartare right here, and WiFi is a distant dream. But telemarketers nonetheless managed to name me on Independence Day within the two seconds my cellphone caught a whiff of a cell sign — to remind me {that a} free bank card awaits my return, and independence from spam won’t ever be doable.
What Havelock proved to me is that the one manner to make sure a no-crime, no-pollution, no-litter world is by making your vacation spot as inaccessible and as low curiosity to the selfie-loving, mall’n’bar-hopping vacationer as doable. This is like miles of a Maldives seashore minus the eating places, resorts and nightlife. In different phrases, paradise.
That these little islands within the solar exist in India – visited solely by the really dedicated – is a miracle. Even households whose kids remind you of The Exorcist, appear to behave mindfully. No one screamed or shouted or drove SUVs on the seashore whereas swigging beer. People merely swam, went scuba-diving, snorkelled, learn a guide, spoke softly. Even being a voluble Sen, I grew to become as zen as doable.
So, go to the Andamans for its seashores. Stay for the solitude and the corporate of essentially the most softspoken Bengalis you will ever met. Just, like me, do not inform anybody about it.
