Travelling to the Andamans

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19th February, 2010

Friday
4:05 pm
Sitting at the khidirpur dock. Can see the ship. It was supposed to sail at 4, taking us along through the hooghly river, then to the sea - kala pani - and then to Andamans. But i think we have to wait. A whole big crowd waiting with us. Feeling sleepy already at the beginning of the journey. Took a few pictures...want to get up on the ship...to the deck.

11:50 pm
Now we on board MV Akbar! She is still in the hooghly waters, tied to the dock. Navigating the river is difficult, we have to wait for the tide. The ship set sail for a very short distance before getting tied to another dock mid-river. Now we can see the second hooghly bridge in front of us when we get up on the deck. Walked around the deck with parents, and alone, for most part of the evening. Was feeling a bit tired a while back and lied down on a seat atop the deck and when i sat up the hooghly bridge with all its lights loomed in front of me...the lights reflecting on the water...it looked just like Van Gogh's painting (starry night, on the rhine) and i sat mesmerised for a while.

Even more fascinating was when the ship left the previous dock, suddenly looking back i saw the khidirpur bridge opening up to let a launch pass. It looked so spectacular...two deserted roads going up and making gateway for the river traffic! When the bridge halved and got up there was some elegance there...the yellow lights on the road made it even more poignant. It’s a scene that stays along a lifetime...

Ma keeps on asking if the ship has started again. From the cabin we can't make out whether it is still or has it slowly crawled out...there is a gentle sway, we feel it from time to time and i jump out to draw the curtains and when i see the same tree top from there i tell in a disappointed voice to Ma that we still are standing...the journey hasn't begun yet... we don't want to miss the ship's start...don't wanna miss the journey through the hooghly, even if it is dark outside...want to see the lights of calcutta floating by... i don't want to wake up and find myself mid-sea...don't want to miss the most important part of the journey but sleep is taking over...

20th February

Saturday
6:20 in the evening
The ship remained anchored there the whole night. Morning waking up i saw the same mango tree top from the window. Went up on the deck. Baba already started his morning walk there. A few other enthusiasts were also happily walking away. I was disappointed initially but the mist from the river and the smell of the morning made up for being in the same place. And then realized that i didn't miss the journey through the river in sleep!

We had breakfast in the dining lounge which caters to the first class passengers. Talking of first class, there are 4 types of accommodation on board: the deluxe rooms (only 4 rooms there with double occupancy in each); the first class cabins; the Ac dormitories; and the bunks (no air conditioning there). The bunk passengers are lower in the social order of the ship...they come up to the deck (up of the Ac section and supposedly for the Ac passengers) and get shouted at/ asked (depending on their luck) to go to their below deck which seems smaller (given the larger crowd of the bunk passengers...1200 of them!) and has only side view, no back-open view like the one up. Good thing is they trickle back after sometime and can sit here for sometime before they are again asked/shouted out. When they come it does get a bit crowded and they smoke and it doesn't at all feel good to be stared at by the men in the crowd...still when the ship started and all our necks stretched and strained to find what was happening there was a 'we' feeling in the joy of the starting of our journey together and i cherished it...

The ship started the journey at afternoon, went a few paces and then anchored again mid-river! We saw the botanics passing by and now we are, i guess, near garden reach. Saw small fish boats, fishermen bringing up their fishes on nets as the sun was getting ready to set...the sun-set was nice...and a lot of silence mid-river...only to be broken by the mosquito near my ear! Hordes of them today esp as night falls. Saw a few cargo ships sailing by...they are from many foreign lands and look so impressive... stacked one above the other in order looks impressive...

The food is just eatable. They make up for quality in quantity 😊 But very early timings. Dinner gets over by 7:15! Good in a way, healthy habits. We have stuff to munch on if such healthy habits bring on mid-night hunger-pangs 😊

The dining lounge is nice though in ambience; the cabins are ok, a stale wood smell pervades but it’s exciting to be in it; however, the bathrooms are horror stories - straight from some Hollywood scary movie: a murder can happen anytime!

21st February

Sunday
Night

Today we set sail for good. From around 11 am we are on the move. After more than 24 hours of being almost in the same place it feels great that the ship is moving! It is moving at 12 nautical miles per hour which is great given this ship is 49 years old, as one officer told dad. MV Akbar was made in Denmark and initially it was intended to be a cargo ship.

Anyway as the ship progressed parents tried to locate the locales on the banks: Falta, Raichowk, Diamond Harbour, Haldia... kids from the banks cheered the ship (sometimes jeered), they sometimes shouted from afar asking us to take them along; the ship people shouted back: next time! Some gave good wishes for the journey. We moved towards Ganga Sagar - the meeting point of the river with the sea - ‘the crossing over’ will happen there - remembering the poem from school texts. We reached Sagar at dusk. The pilot (guiding boat to ship, helping it navigate the river) left us from there. Now we are on our own...

22nd February

Monday
Morning

We are at mid sea. All that can be seen is horizon all around, where the sea meets the sky...a 360 degree turn to look at it makes us look like to be at top of the world, the top being a huge circular lake. The water, when we look down is jet black, but looking at the distance it’s blue. Maybe the black colour, as one looks down, gave it the infamous name kala pani. During the British period many political prisoners were transported through these waters to Port Blair, to cellular jail. Saza-e kala pani...also there used to be some Indian superstition of crossing these black waters...it was believed anyone who crosses them lose their religion/caste....forget which, not that it matters...not anymore...we have all come a long way...

The bathrooms continue to be horror stories...there’s some smell...it’s cabbage...no cauliflower...again seems like cabbage...strong terrible smell!

Evening

At lunch the potato curry smelled just like the smell in the bathrooms...how horrific! Couldn’t eat 😞 Can’t really put my finger (or nose to be more precise) on to what the smell exactly is...whatever it is, it is pathetic!

The bunk passengers buy food from “the restaurant”...same food, same price (as I discovered, no lower rates for the bunk passengers) only that there is no place to sit and have it...people make long queue for getting food packets.

Today I also discovered the people who serve food to us (they also clean the rooms, I think in a ship crew have to multi-task) throw all the garbage off the ship into the sea in plastic bags! And throughout the day there are announcements telling the passengers not to throw plastic garbage in the ocean. So we throw it in dustbins and these people collect it and then happily throw it in the ocean. So much so for the environment...

23rd February

Tuesday
8:15 am

Yesterday also discovered MV stands for motor vessel! Also when a ship is near/at a port it has to put up the flag of its country, failing which it attracts high penalty. But on open sea no need to put the insignia on. Was talking to a navigator and he told me about it.

The Bay of Bengal is more wavy this morning...but no indications of me or parents having sea-sickness...cause this time of the year the sea is calm...these small waves do not bring on sea-sickness or so some of the pantry people assure me.

The colour of the sea is a beautiful blue...

They are giving Lucky Ali songs in the morning today on the speakers (one day it was the Gayatri mantra and another Sikh prayer chants, yesterday also it was Lucky Ali). Am sitting in the lounge charging camera batteries...we are not supposed to use plug points in cabins but use only the ones in this sitting lounge...passengers gather here for show times...fixed times for movie screenings...haven’t been present in any of the shows...can’t get away from the deck, from the blue of the sea...

Today we want to go to the Bridge, upstairs (or up-deck) where the navigators, along with the Captain, navigate the ship. The Captain btw is very handsome and so young! Saw him only once during the beginning of the journey.

The navigators and also pantry people are saying we will reach Port Blair tomorrow morning. I think I have fallen in love with the ship, with all its faults known. Will be sad to leave it though will be simultaneously happy to sight land. Lonely life of the sea sailor is not for me I guess, though I love the sea.

While in the river there were many things to see...here its blue waters around everywhere and sometimes one wish to see something more.

1:10 pm

Oh saw so much! Dolphins! Hordes of flying fish...read about these fishes long back in school...it was somehow great seeing them jumping out of water, travelling a distance in the air, making an arc and then diving back to the waters and again coming out! Dolphins have seen before, I think in Chilka. Also saw MV Nicobar (which, from outside looks similar to our ship, people with inside information inform that the insides are better than our ship) at a distance, on her way back to Calcutta.

The Bridge is a small room. Perhaps big, but with so many equipments and partitions it gives the feeling of being in a small room. A small room from where they are directing this big ship. Anyway the disappointment of it not having the grandeur I expected was more than dispelled by a glimpse of the Captain it houses 😊

The rest of the morning I spent socialising...talked to a lot of the co-passengers today...everyone more talkative today...maybe because it’s the last day of the journey together. There is a traveller from Britain who asked a lot about India. She is a journalist and has travelled in many parts of India for many years. She instilled in me the fear of water snakes, something she read about in a travel book on Andamans... wish I never knew of their existence 😞

9:15 pm

We sighted land (Coco islands of the Andamans) near the right horizon under the setting sun.
Feeble network coverage on mobiles came for a short while. Thinking of taking leave of the ship I feel sad. There are things I can crib for a while, but overall it was a memorable journey and one I will not think twice in doing again, if I can... we feel sad that return journey we planned by air.

24th February

Wednesday
Hotel,
(near Corbyn’s Cove)
Night

I got up early morning. Baba woke me up. It was around 5:15. I am so happy that I woke up and was witness to the beautiful morning unfurling before our eyes...the pictures are there to tell the tale but they will be half a tale...nothing can explain the experience of a beautiful sunrise, and the land (seen after days spent in the sea) getting lighted up in the ethereal morning light...the Andaman islands became from mere gray outlines floating in the dark sea to brownish land-masses and then the green of them became clearer...it’s like curtains up to a great scheme of things! We saw fishermen, we saw pleasure boats, we saw smaller ships, we saw the port, and we saw people awaiting our arrival...

Bidding adieu to the ship and to the crew was laden with more sadness than I anticipated yesterday. I have a promise to keep to myself: will go back. No, will come back. Someday...

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