A legacy lives on

The first time I met Yoayella, whom I affectionately call Yoyo, was during Elrika's month-long seagrass survey around the main Andaman island. A small humble, ever-smiling, strong, and hard-working Karen. He has been working with Elrika for over a decade. After several tiring snorkeling sessions, he would still have the energy to go back into the water and spearfish. 

To see him spearfish is other-worldly! He would wear a mask, snorkel, and fins and dive down with a spear, descend and often wait behind a rock for a shoal of fish. Snap a grouper, hook it to a line, and continue—business-as-usual. There were five of us on the boat, so two big fish or three smaller fish would be what he would target. By the time I've taken several long breaths at the surface, Yoayella is still waiting behind a rock; I was just probably breathing more looking at him holding his breath that long! Coral with several colours, hundreds of fish, the sunlight diffusing from above to the ground, an occasional big fish or a big shoal of small fish, and Yoayella spearfishing, all make a fascinating sight. It is a vivid memory I just need to close my eyes to recreate, no photograph needed. Lunch on the boat was standard; Dal, potatoes, and rice with some fish. This continued for so many days that while passing some villages, we would exchange a few fish for a local chicken. And sometimes we would have 'Nappi' a tasty fermented-shrimp-paste. Our boatman Alonthey had got Nappi and he was keen on buying brinjal/eggplant. We were confused, what connection does a brinjal have with Nappi! So, when we bought brinjals, he roasted them on the stove and mixed Nappi with onions and chillis, and it did taste divine! But I drift; back to Yoayella.

Last week, I snorkeled with him over a reef and there was another person with him—his kid Kane. We went to his home at Karmatang from Mayabunder and he had a set plan for us. We were all going to 'picnic' by the beach, that is, eat a big brunch after snorkeling for a few hours beyond the Karmatang beach on the east. As we reached his home, we were offered a welcome drink; fresh coconut water, and the reception committee was Yoayella, his wife Phoolmani, his son Kane, and Kane's cousin Chintu. Yoayella has diversified his livelihood now after years of trying to get into a Government Department. He has pigs, chickens, ducks, and paddy and is planning on opening a small local groceries shop too, besides working with the Nature Conservation Foundation. After having the coconut water, he offered us bananas, which were delicious too. He announced to us his plan and brought out all the picnic food; a big bucket of rice, chicken curry, Nappi, dal, salad, and beans sabzi. All to be carried six km away to the beach. He also has a basic Maruti Van now; I say basic because the engine works and the wheels are fine; sitting behind we even got a look at one of the shock absorbers from inside the vehicle! It seems a bit tricky, but whatever works, works here in the islands.

Photo by Evan Nazareth

We got to the beach and that's where I saw something which made me write this post.

As we donned our equipment, Yoayella casually took Kane to the sea wearing a mask himself and with another one for Kane. While I walked so delicately on the slippery rocks to reach the sea, Yoayella was already there in 5 feet of water with his kid hopping from one rock to another and now Kane is piggybacking over him and Yoayella is talking to him and taking short dips into the sea and getting Kane acquainted with the sea. Sometime later, he was teaching Kane how to swim as well, basically telling him everything Kane needed to know to get comfortable in the sea. Kane is about five years old and already getting familiar with this habitat that comprises a big part of their lives. I imagine he will get better at it with time, maybe he will spearfish in a few years too. Someday, I'd like to watch him from above, admiring what he's doing, much like his dad. 

Photo by Evan Nazareth

A Noble island

Imagine, for one, a ten-hectare woody parcel of land, next imagine it's an island with hardly any people living on it and very few inhabitations around the island, so in the night the sky lights up with stars brighter than the horizon. Add to that mango, jackfruit, betelnut, pepper, and coconut plantations, to name a few, and a beautiful home to stay in. Lastly, add a house at the end of a pier, only accessible by a boat, following the 2014 tsunami. That's precisely what the Noble island is—that and a lot more.

We had a day to spend at Port Blair and we asked Tanaz and Shiraz Noble if we could visit the island they own and kayak around it and they were happy to take us. What followed was a drive across half of Port Blair town to an approach point where the boat awaits to take us there. Right at the approach, things change drastically; plastic waste and rubble piled up close to the approach but as you walk the last few metres close to the waiting boat, things get serene quite immediately. There are only the sounds of the mellow waves and the view of Rhizophora and their majestic aerial roots at the edge of the Noble island; they look a bit like J R Tolkien's ents with long roots as tall feet.

Once we got to the island, Tanaz and Shiraz briefed us about the safety issues related to kayaking and how to make the paddle strokes hydrodynamic and efficient. Crossing the 10-degree channel, from Barren island to Havelock, and Rangat to Havelock are just some of Tanaz's amazing kayaking feats. Off we went for a short tour of the island.

Paddling correctly took a little while. Mahesh Sankaran was on my kayak and quite often our paddles would bump since we were not synchronised, but soon it all came together. Often, we paused to hear the enthusiastic information about how to identify and understand the different mangrove species; there were two species of Rhizophora, which are often at the mangrove front since with aerial roots they can tolerate higher tide variations than other species, a species of Avicennia found closer to the shore and Sonneratia species with snorkel roots, Ceriops with interesting 'knee roots', and Bruguiera, also with short knee roots. Often, while identifying terrestrial species, we look at the bark and leaves but with mangroves the roots themselves are a great starting point. This information will certainly change the way I view and understand a mangrove forest in the future.

After an hour or more of kayaking occasionally seeing the kingfishers, the whimbrels, the teals, and mudskippers we took a look at the house on the farm. It had solar lights, rainwater harvesting, wifi, a kitchen complete with all necessities, a large 'working' room, and a bedroom, overall, a dream home!

We spent about three hours in all in the island, and on the way out got a look at the 'water house' that is only accessible through a ferry, another basic house with a fantastic view and vibe. Someday, would love to stay there and appreciate the view, the waters, the forest, the plantations, and the island more. Until then, it is nice to know that such a 'noble' island exists! 

Do take a trip to the island to see the ents and the other plants and the birds, and experience the calm of water and the conversations with the lovely people.

Island in the Sun

My last visit to the Andamans was more than three years back. Elrika and I had gone north for a while to Mayabunder and villages around such as Webi and Karmatang. But I vividly remember the first trip ever to the Andamans in late 2016. The plane flew from Bangalore for about two hours with no captivating scenery other than a quadrillion clouds, and then the pilot announced the descent, and minutes later I saw the sea, the sand, the lagoon, and then thick-as-a-brick forests. I thought we reached the main North Andaman island, but we were right above the North Sentinel island, where the Sentinalese live; one of the rare uncontacted places in the world. The community lives there on their own with no contact with the rest of the world; no roads, no distinct cultivation patches, no visible homes, no signs of clearing, and even no visible boats! The feeling I got was unexplainable; I wondered what they grow, what they eat, how their language sounds, and in general, how their lifestyle is. A closer look through google earth does show up some walking paths, few clearings, but no signs of houses and boats.

The view that one gets from the plane as one approaches the North Sentinel island.

Last evening on a conversation with Evan in Port Blair, I got to know that the Sentinalese started using metal tips on their arrows, shifting to metal from stone following a ship-wreck in the North-west part of the island. Evan said that he had heard someone mention that the ship-wreck transformed the community from the stone age to metal age! I wonder if they do light fires for cooking or clearing land; would be fascinating to look at high resolution imagery from the island.

Back in the larger North Andaman islands, the plane descended further and got closer to the main island; few houses, many clearings, and visible signs of concrete, plastic, and metal, but the forests around still seemed thick and enveloped in fluffy-cotton clouds. When the plane landed and in the next few days, I realised what being in an island implies. Things arrive here but never go back. So, all the plastic and glass waste stays in the island, so it is even more important to be conscious of the everyday miscellaneous items we use. On that note, I wonder; the whole planet is an island too, things that we use are manufactured, but there is no other place to discard than in the planet itself. Except, then there is space debris, which we are also responsible for!

The people you meet here in the Andamans are from all over the country; its a motley blend of cultures, people, cuisines, and languages. Different people arrived here at different times brought by the British, the Indian Government, the Forest Department, as well as the army and the navy. So, it is not uncommon to catch an auto run by a Tamilian, eat food at a Chinese restaurant, buy bakery items from a Keralite-run shop, snorkel with a Karen spear-fisher, and then have dinner at a Bengali restaurant, to name just a few of the options. Hindi is a binding gel for everyone, and the Hindi language has evolved as a mix of a number of other languages; a mainlander would not have a clue about some of the words (take 'Gusul' for example!), that could have been borrowed from any part of the country and blended into a local mash of language. Its all very interesting to me.

Things got even more interesting as we went north to villages around Mayabunder. The dominant community there is the Karen. The Karen were brought over during the British time since they were experts at training elephants to harvest timber from the forests. The elephants are still here too; several herds of 'retired' elephants inhabit the islands and have turned feral. Besides elephants, there are spotted deer, barking deer, domestic cats and dogs, pigs, bull frogs, that are found in large numbers in both human-inhabited and uninhabited islands.

Tomorrow, we travel north again to Mayabunder, Webi and Karmatang. Will log in more from there.

I sit here and write this post; its difficult to sit peacefully here and not write something!