My Andaman and Nicobar islands experience.
It is not a happy place you know. I kept telling myself, I kept facing this truth. My first 24 hours in Port Blair were not exactly what you call a happy tourist experience.
This archipelago of 572 islands situated in the midst of the Bay of Bengal, makes you believe that you are in in a totally new country. Even though it is just a two hour flight from Chennai or Calcutta, it feels like a whole new planet.
Port Blair, looks and feels like any other average city in India. Except the golden statue of Mahatma Gandhi and the Clock tower in the Aberdeen market, nothing that you see leaves an impression on your mind. When you speak to the locals, the most obvious emotion you come across, is that of fear and loss. An infinite sense of something being lost in the dark waters of the tsunami. It is a popular belief that every dark cloud has a silver lining, the fishermen folk here in andaman's are still struggling, are still searching, in despair, for that silver lining.
But it is in the midst of this sea of loss and despair, the most exotic, the most virgin, the most unexplored, and I would say the country's best kept secret - Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Out of the 572 islands, only 38 have human settlements. About 350 islands belong to the andaman group of islands. The 10° channel separates the rest which constitute the Nicobar group of islands. The Nicobar group of islands are not open to tourism, even the islanders need a special permit to visit these islands. And it is not because of inaccessibility, but for the fact that these islands are inhabited, by seven traditional tribes. The Jarawa, Onge and Sentinelese are among some of the world's oldest civilisations and of great importance to present day anthropologists.
Port Blair is in many ways, ‘Mini India’. You will find a representative of each Indian state on these islands, which makes this a true melting pot of cultures.
Andaman has the most beautiful beaches that you can see in India.
Most of the beaches are a 20-30 minute boat ride away from port blair.
