India is a land bestowed with divine beauty and variation in every aspect of life. May it be its paramount landscape - ranging from picturesque Kashmir Valley to the night life of Mumbai,may it be landforms - ranging from arid Thar desert in Rajasthan to the fertile lands of the Gangetic Basin, or the prolific cultural heritage - bringing together the open hearted Punjabis and the fish-centred Bengalees. While the south burns in scorching heat during the sweaty summer days, the Tulips in northern Himalayan Shiwalik range relishes the cold breeze fluttering their heads in symphony. While the Keralites are busy racing their boats in Onam, the frivolous Marathis are celebrating Ganesh Chaturthi by painting each other with multihued gulals. While a sacred Brahmin is reciting his daily hymns on the banks of Ganges in Haridwar, the Imam of Jama Masjid in Delhi is reciting his holy verses from Quoran. Its like mother earth herself adorned our land with her own creative ventures. From its eventful history of multiple dynasty reign to the fruitful launch of Mangalyan, India has to offer so much to the world. Since the dawn of civilization, the prehistoric settlements and societies in the Indian subcontinent, blended the Indus Valley civilization and the Indo-Aryan culture into a new Vedic Civilization, thus creating the Hindu religion, the oldest of its kind in the world. From times immemorial, diverse races migrated into India via land and sea routes and got themselves settled here. In due course of time they are absolutely absorbed in India’s social life, thus enriching this soil with a heritage full of diversity. The ancient ethno-linguistic groups, such as, the Austrics, the Negritos the Dravidians, the Alpines and the Mongoloids, had combined to constitute the modern Indian race. In the due course of time, numerous unique ethnic groups - the Persians, the Kushans, the Greeks, the Shakas, the Huns, the Portuguese, the Arabs, the Turks, the Mughals, the Afghans, the English, the French and many others came to India, and enriched Indian ethnicity and culture by their contribution to the same. Our culture got evolved, our traditions got modified, social life got better with improved ways of living. But when we talk about our people, the native ones, the indigenous people of India, there comes the "Adivasis", a heterogeneous set of ethnic and tribal groups considered the aborginal population of India. "Adivasis" specifically mean the original and autochthonous inhabitants of a given region. And here we find the Jarawas.

The Natural Bridge of Neel Island

Album-Enchanting Andamans,

Copyright protected, only to be used by Swarnabha Saha

The Jarawas are one of the Adivasi indigenous people of the Andaman Islands in India. Their name means "people of the earth" or "hostile people" in Aka-Bea. Their number is estimated to be around 250-400 individuals and increasing, which is quite a good number when compared to the other tribes of India. The Jarwas inhabit the west portion of south and middle Andamans. It has three social territorial divisions as, Northern group, Southern group and Central group. The Northern group inhabit the Kadamtala adjacent areas, known as the 'Tanmads'. The Southern group reside at the Tirur area called the 'Boiab', and the central group populate the R.K. Nallah adjacent areas along the Andaman Trunk Road adjacent area, called 'Thidong'. Being nomads, they mainly live upon hunting, fishing and gathering activities. Their traditional food chart comprises of wild boar, turtles and their eggs, deer, crab and other shore animals, fruits like jackfruit and honey. Since they have largely shunned interactions with outsiders, many particulars of their society, culture and traditions are poorly understood.

Chiriyataku Album - Enchanting Andamans Copyright protected, only to be used by Swarnabha Saha

Enough of preface I guess. Now marching straight to the story. I first came to know about our trip to the Andamans the night before my Mid- Semester exams. When dad gave me the news that our flight tickets have been booked and we have a departure on 24th May, I was so thrilled that, I closed my Machine Tools book and Googled about Andamans. The pics that I came across were the panoramic sea beaches and two kids with a heavy tint of Melanin on their skins. Well, I knew about the Jarwas, but it made me more inquisitive when I started reading about them in the internet. People consider themselves lucky if they can get a glimpse of them. But it wasn't just a glimpse for me, it was a deadly encounter, I will never forget in my entire life!!!!!

Dhaninala Beach, Rangaut

Album - Enchanting Andamans Copyright protected, only to be used by Swarnabha Saha

Time seemed to take aeon to reach 24th of May. I completed my final exams of engineering and finally the day arrived. I was more excited because it was my first air-trip. We took-off from Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport, Kolkata at about 11:50 am and the weather was bright and sunny. By 2 pm we reached Vir Savarkar International Airport in Port Blair. The weather there was cloudy and the sky was completely filled with dark clouds and turbulent winds rumbled on the surface. The flight trembled a lot before touching the tarmac and I sat still, clinching firmly to the arm-rest of my seat. Thanks to the pilots, we were safe on the ground before even we had time to realize that we were 1302 kms away from Kolkata! Our tour manager was waiting in the arrivals lounge and we set out for our hotel after we fetched our baggage from the conveyor. We were a group of 17 people, consisting of ours and a few of my dad's colleagues' family. It was a nice hotel and we had a pleasant stay. We went for the light and sound show in the famous Cellular Jail of Port Blair, where many of our freedom fighters were kept captivated and tortured by the cruel British army. It was the dreadful Kalapani, they said! Next day we had a sightseeing in Port Blair and payed a visit to the famous Naval Museum, Chatham Saw Mill and Anthropology Museum. The very next day we took a speed boat and visited the Ross Island. But it started raining so cats and dogs that we had to call off our boat trip to the famed North Bay Island, which is well known for its numerous water activities like scuba-diving, snorkeling, water walking, glass boat trip and many others, and came back to Port Blair. I was so excited to explore the colourful world beneath the sea, that I was completely drenched in both grief and rain. But all vanished in a click when our tour manager said tomorrow we can get to see the Jarwas!!!!!

World Beneath the Sea

Album - Enchanting Andamans Copyright protected, only to be used by Swarnabha Saha

We pulled off quite early, at about 4:30 in the morning, before even there was feeble glare of light in the sky, as we had to reach the check post before 6 am, from where we will pass through the Jarawa forest, escorted by the police, in a convoy of cars. We reached the checkpost by 5:30 and had our morning tea and breakfast. There was a lightyear long queue of cars, about more than 150 in numbers, with us at the mid portion of the later half of the convoy. Our driver collected our requisite info in a form and submitted that to the authority and then we were briefed about some precautions to be taken before we enter the Jarawa inhabited hotspot. Photography along with offering water and food of any sort to the Jarawas was strictly prohobited. When everything was green, our wheels started rolling and gradually we entered the dense forest. The road was a hilly one, winding like a serpent in a tree, covered with tall trees, allowing little sunlight to peek inside. Our car kept moving but there was hardly any Jarawa being seen. We grew restless and kept on asking our driver that "Where are they? When can we see them? Do they even stay here?" The driver only said to be patient. Time and wheels both moved on but we were yet to get the first glimpse of one of the oldest and famous tribes in entire South Asia.

Laxmanpur Beach, Neel Island

Album - Enchanting Andamans Copyright protected, only to be used by Swarnabha Saha

All on a sudden, our driver shouted, "Please be alert, there are the Jarawas!!!!!" We all hovered on the window pane to get a peek, when to our amazement we found four men, like the ones I have seen in the internet, were sitting on their knees beside the road, guarded by the 3 policemen. Our car slowed down a bit to have ourselves a better look. The Policemen surrounding them gestured to keep moving fast without any delay. As we were to leave the area, to our astonishment we found a young Jarawa pointing at our car as we passed him by.

Bliss of Solitude

Album - Enchanting Andamans Copyright protected, only to be used by Swarnabha Saha

Though it wasn't that intense but we thought maybe they were surprised to see something different in our car, maybe we were special to them! We didn't pay heed to the fact and our car moved on, with us left startled by their black tar like skin colour and sparkling eyes. We kept on looking forward in agony for further troop of Jarawas to be seen. After 5 more minutes we suddenly heard a hooting siren from rear and to our shock we saw a police jeep overtaking us and screechingly taking a halt in front of our car, like we have seen in the bollywood movies of Mithunda. Well the worst part of our surprise was when we discovered that the jeep has only 3 policemen and the rest were Jarawas carrying sharp weapons like scythe, sickle and knives in their hands. They came to our car, which was a mini traveler van from Force Motors, and forcefully entered our van. One of them was the interpreter, a Jarawa guy with a scar in his face, accused one of us of taking a photo of them. He even threatened that if the person didn't hand him over the camera then he will be bound to take serious actions against all of us. The policemen were just acting like puppets and did whatever they asked them to do. They checked our cameras, mobile phones but couldn't find anything. They even took one of our smartphone and the interpreter was consistently accusing us that he has definitely seen one of us taking a snap. They kept on grudging until we had to fold our hands and ask for their mercy. Finally, they settled and cautioned us if this happens again the scythe would be put to good use. They even refused to return the smartphone. At that moment a smartphone was insignificant compared to our own lives. We started rolling on and reached the exit check point at Baratang without any further problem. In the rest part of our journey we came across more than 50 more Jarawas, even some of them were with their traditional bows and arrows, going for their morning hunt, but none caused such an issue, neither we were that much jostling to take a glimpse.

Darkness Engulfing Innocence

Album - Enchanting Andamans Copyright protected, only to be used by Swarnabha Saha

I still have goosebumps when I recall this horrifying incident. It could have been a serious issue if we hadn't acted that humble. Well, the rest of our stay was marvelous and the tour will be remembered. On that day I realized the Bengali proverb "Jor jar muluk tar" (Might is right).

N.B.- As photography is not allowed, I’m unable to post any pic of the Jarawas.