Sl

Date

Time

1

October 17

1630

Started from home, at native place, Thathampatti, Virudhunagar to Madurai by bus.

2

1930

Reached Madurai.  Me and Gowri  went to get Gems stones for Gowri’s ear ring. Purchased and got them fixed by 2045 pm.  Then we all had Dinner.  Ravi Anna and Anni came to see us off.

3

2210

Started from Madurai to Chennai in Ananthapuri Express. Aadhi showed signs of cold.

4

October 18

0830

Reached Tambaram.  Raman uncle was there, went to his residence at Yeswant Nagar, near Bharath Engineering College by Auto. It was very very far from railway station and everywhere. Met Aunty, Anand and Remya.

5

1000

I went to Central Railway Station, booked a room at Shalimar Guest House, for stay after return from Andamans.

Visited the Airport for the heck of it.

6

1900

Reached back home, drenched in rain.  Heard the news of earth quake in Andaman Islands. Uncle discouraged me from proceeding to the Islands.  But I was sort of too excited to think about canceling this trip.

Arranged for a taxi for drop to airport in the morning.

7

October 19

0345

Aadhi woke me up and we got ready

8

0400

Taxi reached and we started from home at 0415 hrs

9

0445

Reached Domestic Airport, Mrs. Thenmozhi Rajendran was at the entrance waiting for us. Our ticket was with her only.  We immediately went in and it was already check in time.  Got our boarding passes and booked the luggage in the cargo.  An Indian Airlines bus took us from the terminus to the aircraft, a small one.  Gowri and me were in the second row and Rajendran and Thenmozhi were in the third row.

0600

Aircraft took off.  Aadhi cried a lot during take off.  Gowri had a tough time pacifying him.  The air hostess came to her rescue.  Later after breakfast, I took some video of the inside of the air craft.  The view of the clouds from above them was very nice.  The trip was very pleasant.

0800

Landed at Port Blair Domestic Airport.  Again while landing, Aadhi made a big hue and cry.  We walked from the aircraft to terminus.  The luggage followed soon.  As we walked outside many car drivers were there.  I mentioned that I am looking for Nutan Travels agent.  Immediately, a dozen drivers came forward, took our luggage and were taken to the parking area, where many Maruthi Omni’s were parked with Nutan Travels board displayed on them.  We all had caps given by Nutan earlier, a Red one, with Nutan badge, for easy identification.  After all the seven families from our batch came, the batch cars started.

0845

We reached Hotel Aparupa. Checked into Room No. 201(AC), though we had not asked for AC Rooms.  We freshened up.  But the tour programme arranged by them was to start late after luch only. At 1300 hrs, we had lunch.

1500

We went to Science and Technology Museum first.  The Museum was very nice.  Many working models were there, which explained complex principles in physics, chemistry, Astronomy and more, in a very lucid way.  Children found it really educative.  And me too.  The like the simple model that they had kept, which explained the formation of waves and then Tsunami.  There was a Magic show.  Overall a really nice Science Museum.

1600

We went next to the Corbyn’s Cove Beach.  A beach covered on both sides with mountains.  So there was no turbulence in the sea.  But it was a little deep and the waves were strong.  The water did not seem very attractive. I enquired with the locals.  It seems the water had changed colour after the latest Tsunami on December 26, 2005.  Still, I went in and had dip in the sea.  Later, we had tea and changed into dry clothes.

1715

Started to Cellular Jail for the Light and Sound Show.  It was already dark.  We waited at the Veer Savarkar Park opposite to the Cellular Jail.  There were statues of six great martyrs.  As we entered the Cellular jail and sat in our seats in the open yard , it started to rain. As the rain became stronger, the show was stopped.  After 10 minutes when the rain subsided, the show resumed.  They talked about the atrocities carried out by the British on Indian freedom fighter and also the strong will power of the freedom fighters, who did not bow down to these atrocities. But the show was in Hindi.  So, Gowri and Thenmozhi were not much interested.

2030

Reached Hotel Back and had a nice north Indian style dinner.

October 20

0830

Had breakfast and then to Aberdeen Boat Jetty. Went by a boat to North Bay Island.  It was appox 30 minutes.  The boat stopped a few meters away from the Island.  Then we were taken in batches of 8 in another small glass bottom boats, so that we could view the corals.  We were the last to come out of  the boat to the Island.

I changed into shorts and went to swim in the calm sea. It was very nice, swimming lazily in the sun drenched sea, with no noise to disturb you.  I would say it was very nice and also peaceful.

 Later me and Rajendran wandered along the seashore searching for nice corals.  It was then that we introduced to Smt. Sarala, Teacher at SHAR Space School.  She had come with her husband Sri. Mohan Reddy and two kids Pravalika and Prajavala ( I hope I got their names right). I, Gowri and Sarala teacher’s family went to the Light house there.  Climbed on top of it and had a nice view of the sea.  It was a beautiful view from the top.  Island mountains on both sides, sea stretched far and wide.  The sea changed colours, as it went farther away from land.

We spent about two hours in the Island and then were ferried back to the big boat in batches of 8 again. After all people boarded, the big boat started for Aberdeen boat Jetty.

1300

We reached Hotel for Lunch.

1600

In the evening, we went Gandhi Park.  All went in, but we stopped to feed Aadhi.  Then we rushed in, took a photo of Aadhi on a statue of a Lion and came back.  It was already dark.

1730

We visited the Sagarika Emporium next.  It had many artifacts, a government managed sales counter.  I felt everything was overated.  Purchased Chappal for Gowri.

It was too early to go back to Hotel.  So we requested our driver to drop us a little away from the Hotel, in a Market place.  Port Blair had a very bustling market place, with almost everything in the mainland available there.  Even the latest cars could be seen there. 

October 21

0800

We started early to the boat jetty.  In Speed Boat Rangat, started of to Havelock Island.  Breakfast on top of boat. We went to the captain’s control room and had a view of the controls in the boat.  The latest GPS system was used for navigation.  The sea was calm and we could sea few flying fishes.  Earlier, people saw some dolphins, but Gowri and me were down inside the boat feeding Aadhi.

The Speed Boat traveled at 24 km/hr speed. 

1030

Reached Havelock Island jetty in two and a half hours.  Then by jeep to Radhanagar Beach (No.7).  Our Jeep’s axle broke after a few minutes drive.  We pushed the vehicle to the side of the road.  We waited for half an hour for next pickup.

1130 to 1245

The Island has seven villages and a population of 6000.  The seventh village is Radhanagar and hence the name beach no. 7.  The beach was very clean, tall trees were there very near to the sea.  We drank the sweet from a tender King Coconut each.  It was big and lot of water in it, yet priced at Rs. 7, it was very cheap.  We walked to the beach.

It was a very beautiful sight.  The sea was blue in colour and the waves were very low.  The sea bed was very visible.  The crystal clear sea water and the sight of the island’s virgin beauty was too stunning. 

I swam in the beautiful beach of Radhanagar and them I took Aadhi inside too. He liked the sea and the waves.  He refused to come out of the water.  Finally all three of us enjoyed almost an hour in the sea.

Then our guide informed us that it was time to start back.  Reluctantly, we all packed from the beach.

1330

By Ship back.  Lunch had been packed in the Hotel and given to us in the morning itself.  We had lunch in the ship. We slept for some time.  The ship was very slow.  After two hours, we fed Aadhi and then by the time, we could have a cup of coffee, we arrived at Port Blair.

1730

Reached Main Island and back to Hotel.

October 22

0900

We visited the National Memorial Cellular Jail, the jail in which thousands of Indian Freedom Fighters were imprisoned.  It is had a profound impact.  If you just sit for some time and think of those days, you can imagine the untold miseries bore by them, yet their thirst of freedom had not be diminished.

The place where they were hanged to death, had an eerie silence and our heart becomes heavy as we enter the cellar, were the dead bodies were collected.

The rooms were small and we visited the room were Veer Savarkar was imprisoned for 10 years.

We climbed on top and viewed the full prison wings.

Chattam Saw Mill: Then we went to the Chattam Saw mill.  It was established by the British, to export the woods from the Islands.  When the Japanese took over the Islands, the British planted spies and bombed the mill among other places.  Its still functional.

Mini Zoo: a nice and little zoo, with a few exotic species, only seen in the Islands…like a type of python, monkey etc.

Samudrika Marine Museum: A nice museum maintained by the Indian navy.  Really informative.

Lunch: back to Hotel and had lunch.

Mount Harriet: Went to the boat jetty near Chattam Saw mill, took a boat and crossed over to another jetty.  It was near here that an Andmaneese freedom fighter killed the Governor with a knife.  He was killed subsequently.  There we took a jeep and started our journey to the Mount Harriet.  The ride was bumby and all the more enjoyable.  On the way to the top, there is a place, marked separately, which resembles the scene on the Indian Rupee Twenty note.  Then resumed the ride.  The top of the Mount Harriet was very nice, cool and with the slight drizzle it was really nice.  Whenever the fog cleared, we took a snap.  As it was getting late, started the return journey within a n hour.

October 23

0900

Anthropological museum: A nice and informative museum.  We purchased some mementoes, photos, T shirts etc.

Ross Island: Straight to the Aberdeen boat Jetty.  The sea was rough.  We took a boat to the Ross Islands just across the Port Blair. Just as we got down, there was a rain and we took shelter for some time.  Then after feeding Aadhi, we started the trip around the Island.  The Britishers had enjoyed their time here.  They had created a small London or so.  It was complete with great houses, party houses, bakery, swimming pool by the sea with water purifiers, Hospital Church, a cemetery etc.

In fact the Indian Govt has taken very little effort to maintain the place and so it has been destroyed.  In a way, its nice.  Its tough to see that British people had a nice time here.

Lunch: Rough see and the boat had to be stopped in the middle of the sea, when the wobbling was too much.  All screamed or prayed.

Harbour Cruise: This was just a time pass boat ride, with nothing to see, just around the islands.  We saw the freedom fighters jail for women on the route.

October 24,

0830

From Hotel to Airport.

Flight at 0930 hrs

Reached Chennai at 1130 Hrs.

Reached Raman Uncle’s House at 1pm.

Arranged for next two days programme

October 25

To Mahabalipuram(Mammallapuram)  at 1130 hrs, with all luggage

Reached Mammallapuram at noon.  It was raining heavily while on the way.  But as we reached the place, the rain subsided.  We saw the famous rocks…elephants, gods, etc.  Then we went to the five chariots.  And we went to the seaside temple, which was excavated.  And the excavation is still in progress.  They had hit upon a basement.  Upon enquiry, I learned that they have just started to the see the beginning of a sea port here. 

While coming back, we went to a few Temples.  A temple, were Gowri’s parents had prayed for her marriage.  So we offered our thanks to the GOD, Nithya Kalyana Sundarar.  It was a very nice temple. Then we went to a modern kali temple.  In fact, Gowri was awed by its sheer size and she had read about it and its powers in the magazines.  But I disliked it. It was Goddess, with the head of a lion and many arms.  It’s a fusion of all existing Gods and somebody had hit upon this novel idea of enticing vulnerable pilgrims.

Return:

After trip, straight to Shalimar Hotel at Walltax Road ( VOC Salai) next to Central Station. It was raining heavily.