An escape from Thanes Hurricane - Andaman Nicobar Travel Guide

Yes. Andaman Nicobar is indeed a honeymoon destination where serenity of a beach blends with a laid back attitude of a Hill Station. 

Actually whenever you go to Andaman Nicobar Islands, you actually never visit Nicobar group of Islands. All the tourist attractions are part of Andaman Group of Islands.

We witnessed a disastrous hurricane named Thanes while on our way back in a cruise from Havelock Island to Port Blair in the middle of the sea. Somehow we managed to reach Port Blair but as it was pouring like cats and dogs for next 4 days due to Thanes, we couldn't leave our hotel room even for a minute (100% honeymoon) and thus we couldn't follow our itinerary of the last 4 days and had to miss those travel attractions. As such bay of Bengal is a violent sea compared to an Arabian sea.

Best Season: Oct – Feb (winters are best, monsoons are crazy)

Peak Season: 15th Nov – 15th Feb (Heaviest rush is observed between 15th Dec – 15th Jan and thus high fares)

I visited: 21st Dec – 29th Dec 2011 (8 nights, 9 days)

Approx cost - for 2 adults: 1 Lakh (Mid Range Hotels, air fare and Non AC Indiaca)

:Travel Itinerary and quick tips:

Day

Origin - Destination

Travel Time

Stay

Hotel / Airline

Room / Seat Type

Itinerary

Cost for 2 (as on 2011 Dec)

1

Pune – Chennai

2.5 hrs (early morning flight)

-

Indigo

Economy

-

5000

Chennai – Port Blair

2.5 hrs (continuing flight)

-

Jet

Economy

-

12500

Port Blair

You reach by 2 pm. Have food and get ready

Port Blair

Megapod Nest

AC Sea Facing Cottage – basic one

Marine Museum, Visit Cellular Jail (during day time), Cobny’s Cove Beach, Sound and Light Show at Cellular Jail

5500 + Tickets

Tips:                      First Glimpse of the Andaman Nicobar Islands from the Air   Marine Museum – Carry your camera. There is a fee to it. (Unfortunately I didn’t). It’s worth visiting cellular jail during the day time. Just by being there, you will definitely get the feel of the sufferings - our captivated freedom fighters must have gone through in this prison complex. There is a small museum in the complex too. Cobny’s Cove Beach is the name of the beach at Port Blair. Way to Cobny's Cove Beach Cobny's Cove Beach At any cost, do not miss sound and light show if you are in Port Blair. You might want to watch it again especially if you are a Maharashtrian. Voice-overs by famous actors like Om Puri make it an experience in itself. Cell in a cellular jail Swtyantra Vir  Vinayak Damodar Savarkar Cell  Replica of Cellular Jail Cellular Jail Night View

Day

Origin - Destination

Travel Time

Stay

Hotel / Airline

Room / Seat Type

Itinerary

Cost for 2 (as on 2011 Dec)

2

Port Blair – Bartang – Port Blair

6 hrs – 1 way (Leave at 3 am Travel by Bus)

Port Blair

Megapod Nest

AC Sea Facing Cottage – basic one

Lime Stone Caves and Active Mud Volcano

5500 + Tickets

Tips: Ask your tour operator to take the necessary permissions. Because bus passes through the restricted area of Jarava (adivasi) tribes. Do not click any photograph or video of the tribesmen. It’s illegal. (Already there has been a huge international issue because of this). Do not offer any food / money to the tribesmen. Bus drops you till a nearby village (I do not remember its name) then a jetty takes you through mangroves to Bartang and then you need to walk half a kilometer to reach limestone caves. (All fares / tickets are included in the Bartang package including Lunch) Jetty Ride through Mangroves Walk begins… There are magnificent deposits of Lime Stone (stalactites and stalagmites in English, lavan-stabha in Marathi) as well as of silicate (which gives it an adorable golden hue) Limestone Deposits Silicate deposites Next, walk down to mud volcano. Do not expect anything extraordinary. Mud volcano is nothing but an air bubble escaping from the mud. So there is no picture which I could capture except the uploaded video… Way to Mud Volcano Return to Port Blair at around 8 pm, all exhausted.

Day

Origin - Destination

Travel Time

Stay

Hotel / Airline

Room / Seat Type

Itinerary

Cost for 2 (as on 2011 Dec)

3

Port Blair – Havelock

2.5 hrs (Leave at around 9 am by sea route)

Havelock

The Kingdom

AC sea facing cottages

Radhanagar Beach, relax

5000 + Taxes + Boat Tickets

Tips: Instead of The Kingdom, I would suggest The Wild Orchid, Symphony Palms or Sea Shell resorts just for good restaurants they have and their closeness to the beach. But these are costlier hotels. Candle-lit dinner was a memorable experience worth its cost (for a cost of around 3.5K) though on a higher side. Radha Nagar Beach has been voted as Asia’s best beach few years back. But I feel it has been overhyped. Radha Nagar Beach Kala Pathar Beach is far more pristine than Radha Nagar Beach. It is serene with little to no crowd. Don’t miss this beach for different hues of the water one could observe. But it has got no hotels to stay.   Shades of Water  Kala Pathar Beach  Coral Stone  Shell with a live shrimp  We travelled by Macruz company’s boats. They were quite good, AC and on the way back saved our lives through Hurricane ‘Thanes’.

Day

Origin - Destination

Travel Time

Stay

Hotel / Airline

Room / Seat Type

Itinerary

Cost for 2 (as on 2011 Dec)

4

Havelock – Port Blair

2.5 hrs (Boats generally leave in the afternoon)

Port Blair

Megapod Nest

AC Sea Facing Cottage – basic one

At leisure

5500 + Taxes

5

Port Blair

Full day Cruze

Port Blair

Megapod Nest

AC Sea Facing Cottage – basic one

North Bay Island, Ross Island, Viper Island etc

5500 + Tickets

Tips: We had to skip this because of Thanes. Ross Island has the ruins of the British administrative buildings. You can easily skip this Island and rest others in the package except North bay North bay Island is famous for exotic marine life, underwater corals. Thus one can opt for a) snorkeling (swimming under the water with a breathing instrument – I have herd one need not know swimming to try this out but not quite sure) or b) scuba diving (deep sea diving) or c) glass bottom boat rides so that you can see the beautiful coral reefs without getting wet (but it has got its limitations as all the tourists have to crowd up near the small glass opening at the bottom of the boat).

Day

Origin - Destination

Travel Time

Stay

Hotel / Airline

Room / Seat Type

Itinerary

Cost for 2 (as on 2011 Dec)

6

Port Blair – Neil Island

Not sure about the time required

Neil Island

IPTC resort

No Idea about the cost as we had kept this day free (Honeymoon you know!!) but you could visit Sitapur, laxmanpur and bhartpur beaches.

Tips: Localites feel this could be a better alternative to Havelock island as it has got lonely beaches to enjoy some me time! You also have an option of snorkeling / scuba diving / fishing on Neil Islands

7

Neil Island – Port Blair

Not sure about the time required

Port Blair

Megapod Nest

AC Sea Facing Cottage – basic one

Cathom Saw Mill, Wandoor Beach, Gandhi Park, Jogging Park, Spice Garden, Rubber Plantations

5500 + Tickets

Tips: We skipped Catham Saw Mill – which is one of the oldest and biggest operational saw mill in the area and as such we couldn’t go out because of Thanes and visited following destinations on the last day. Wandor Beach could be another option to Neil / Havelock islands because of its lonely beach but it has just one basic hotel on the beach. Avoid this if you are with your spouse only. Great option for Bachelors. But worth a visit. Wandor Beach  An Island seen from Wandor  Wandor Beach  Spice Gardens / Rubber plantations – you could by 100% pure and original spices like clove, pepper, cardamom, cinnamon etc at a government authorized shop at Rubber plantation. They also send a boy with you to explain the entire process of rubber making right from the rubber tree. Coffee Tree Drying Beetle Nuts Rubber Tree Drying Rubber Sheets Gandhi Park, Jogging Park – nothing special. But look at the jogging track photographs below and don’t forget to check time. Andaman islands being on the extreme east of India, it gets really dark at around 5.15 pm. Veer Savarkar Airport Runway view from Jogging Park at 5.13 pm  Port Blair city from Jogging Park at 5.31 pm

Day

Origin - Destination

Travel Time

Stay

Hotel / Airline

Room / Seat Type

Itinerary

Cost for 2 (as on 2011 Dec)

8

Port Blair

Port Blair

Megapod Nest

AC Sea Facing Cottage – basic one

At leisure / shopping

5500 + Tickets

Tips: Buy some souvenir from Sagarika Shop – which is a government authorized shop for promoting its cottage industry. I bought few shell artifacts and 2 foldable chairs of Paduck wood (also referred as gold of Andaman) which are sure relief for sore back. Rates are fixed as it is a government operated shop.

9

Port Blair – Chennai

2.5 hrs (early morning flight)

-

Indian Airlines

Economy

-

12500

Chennai – Pune

2.5 hrs (continuing flight)

-

Indigo

Economy

-

5000

8 nights 9 days

78500

General Tips:

1. Anandaman Nikobar trip might work out to be as expensive as any out of India destination.
2. There are hardly one or two good restaurants and even the service is not up to the mark. You could get good food in the restaurant of Hotel TSG Emerald View. But over all food is costly.
3. Travel agents say that only BSNL and Vodafone mobiles get good net work coverage, but my Idea no. was working perfectly fine at all the places.
4. Bay of Bengal as such is a violent sea (specifically if you compare it with Arabian sea).
5. While in Chennai (at airport), do not forget to buy ‘Mysore Pak’(मैसूर पाक)  a confectionery (mithai) which just melts in your mouth and tastes far better than what we get up in North India.
6. We saw the havoc caused by 2004 Tsunami. Even 7 years after Tsunami, sea water hadn’t resided from the land which was once inhabited. Here are some photographs:

You can checkout rest of the snaps at: Andaman Photos

Travel Guide Ref: www.wikitravel.com (Please visit the site for latest updates)

Next : Rajasthan Travel Guide : Royalllly yours!!! Rajasthan Travel Guide
Gujarat Travel Guide: Gleaming Gujarat! Gujarat Travel Guide.html

If  you  would like to get your trip planned /booked by me, kindly get in touch with me at sagargogate@gmail.com. I charge 10% of the entire trip / travel cost as my fee. You can also get in touch with me @ 9011021602.  

Gulab Gang – a cookery show which doesn’t tell you how to cook!

एका वाक्यात या पिक्चरचं वर्णन करायचं झालं तर Gulaab Gang is a movie with the weakest characterization of protagonist .

बिचार्‍या माधुरीला सबंध पिक्चरभर, भेदक डोळ्यांनी बघण्याशिवाय काही कामच नाहीये. तिच्या characterला काही आकार, उकार नाहीतच graph नाहीच. २ – ३ action sequences सोडले तर उरलेली दबंगगिरीही तिच्या assistants (टोळीतील इतर बायका) करतात. जीव घेणे, मन मोडणारे, कस लागणारे असे सर्वच्या सर्व प्रसंग तीच्या assistants वर येतात. हमे मिलती हैं एक बनी बनायी डिश!! म्हणजे रज्जो (माधुरी) चित्रपटाच्या सुरवाती पासून ‘अशी’ असते. Period. पुर्णतः established!! ती अशी का असते, का होते, तीचा संघर्ष, तीचं दुःख असं काहीच चित्रपटात नसल्यामुळे, आपण रज्जोशी emotionally connectच होऊ शकत नाही. म्हणजे, एखाद्या cookery show मधे ingredients दाखवायचे (अनिल कपूरच्या सुरवातीच्या दोन एक मिनटांच्या रज्जोच्या बालपणा विषयीच्या निवेदनातून) आणि मग direct बनवलेली dish दाखवायची आणि उरलेला सगळा वेळ, garnishing करत बसायचं… अरे hello!!! पण dish कशी बनवली ते दाखवाना…

Where as जुही is awesome in the movie! With her cunning smile, her cold blooded glances, devil may care behavior, revengeful attitude and proudy self portrayal, she establishes herself as an epitome of villainism. Her character establishes in front of us - audience. Her references to her past (her husband, his portrait, her portrait with him), her relations (बहीण, व्याही etc) give an instant connect to her character. आणि bubbly जुहीला, याआधी कधीही न पाहीलेल्या रूपात पहाणं is an experience in itself. पण माधुरी बद्दल असं ही काही होत नाही. कारण तिला अश्या strong characters मधे आपण याही आधी मृत्युदंड म्हणा किंवा लज्जातून म्हणा पाहीलय.

एकुणात पिक्चर विषयीही बोलायचं झालं तरी तिथेही निराशा होते. गुलाब गॅंगच्या पोरी लाठ्या काठ्यांची practice करताना कमी आणि नाच गाणि करतानाच जास्त दिसतात. तसच स्त्रीया domestic violence करणार्‍यांचा violently प्रतीकार करू शाकतात हे समजण्याजोगं आहे. पण राजकारण्यांनी पाळलेल्या हट्ट्या कट्ट्या, धिप्पाड गुंडांनाही लिलया हरवताना बघून त्यावर कसा विश्वास ठेवायचा? बर, गुलाब गॅंगच्या सगळ्या बायका कायम गुलाबी साडीच हातमागावर विणतात आणि gift करतात. का? जागात इतर रंगांच्या साड्या नेसणं बायकांनी बंद केलय का? त्यातून ही सगळी गोष्ट घडते north Indiaतल्या एका खेड्यात आणि चित्रपटात पूर्णवेळ दिसतं ते महाराष्ट्रातलं खेडं (shooting वाईचं आहे)! डोंगरदर्‍या, कौलारू घरं / शाळा हे खूप महाराष्ट्र specific आहे. Art Director नी ही चूक का करावी? रज्जोच्या बालपणाच्या दाखवलेल्या गावात तर लोक, त्यांचे costumes हे छाप मराठी. गाणी म्हणावीत तर तीही लक्षात राहाण्याजोगी नाहीत.

बाकी background score उत्तम जमलाय. पटत नसले तरी action sequences छान. माधुरीनी त्यात कमाल केली आहे. ती दोन चार ठिकाणी मार डाला तर एखाद ठिकाणी म्हातारी दिसलीय. पण दुर्दैवानी, देवदास नंतर माधुरीचे आलेले तिन्ही pictures माधुरीमय असूनही माधूरी fans उपाशीच राहीलेत!  

Actually संपत पाल (on whose life this movie is supposedly based) यांनी हा पिक्चर आधी पाहीला असता तर त्यांनी नक्कीच stay आणण्याचा विचार केला नसता कारण यात filmच्या heroinला, रज्जोला काही अर्थच नाहीये.

असो एकुणात, काय तर माधुरी साठी या, आणि जुहीला बघून जा…!!! 

Nirbhyaya's Case and Theory of Rebirth in Hinduism

I was deeply shattered and equally furious when juvenile accused in Nirbhaya's Rape Case in Delhi was sentenced just 5 years in remand home. Five years and that's it!!!??? Thankfully rest of the four accused were sentenced  death penalty (point to be noted here is death penalty was because Nirbhaya is no more and not because of their shameless act) but the most brutal amongst five of them -  the juvenile - would be set free in just five years even after committing such a heinous act. If he is adult enough to rape someone how could you categorize him as juvenile? HOW!!!??? and WHY???!!!

Before we proceed, let me share the story of of Dr. Norman. 

April 1952, Denver, USA

It was the pleasant summer of 1952 in Denver. Dr. Norman was at peak of his career. There was no Gastroenterologist (a doctor that specializes in the treatment of anything to do with gastro-intestinal tract of human body) in the world who could stand taller than Dr. Norman. Though in late 50's he looked not more than 30. His confident demeanor, his heartfelt smile and his baritone voice was the half cure for his patients.

His practice was in full swing and he was about to achieve what none could till that time. He wanted to carryout 1st human intestinal transplant in the world. Theoretically and technologically he was all prepared. He had successfully carried out the intestinal transplants in Guinea-pigs but quite understandably his only problem was nonavailability of the donor for the 1st ever intestinal transplant. Long wait for the donor was actually killing him. Slowly he started getting impatient and his animal instincts were suggesting something very inhumane to him.

And one day his morals  gave up. Poor Jeff was laying on the operation table before him at the state owned hospital in the heart of Denver. That hospital was famous for the treatment of  downtrodden and Dr. Norman was its regular practitioner specialist. Jeff was in his early 20's with no family and no specific income. He was admitted there by one of his distant maternal uncle due to severe appendicitis attack.

Operation of appendicitis was over with intact appendix, removed intestine and lost life. 

It was all easy for a famous Doctor like Dr. Norman to cover up the case and as such no one was there to fight for Jeff.

Later Dr. Norman did the intestinal transplant on one of the needy but it was a big failure and then soon after that Dr. Norman died of depression as he could not digest the failure.

Autumn, 1991, Delhi, India

 Everyone at Mr. Kumar's residence was happy as he was blessed with a girl child. They named her 'Surupa' (name changed). Surupa was a blessed child. She was a rare combination of beauty with the brains. She was brave and bold yet simple and loving.

16th December, 2012, Saket, South Delhi, India

 Surupa - a physiotherapy intern now boarded a private bus with Suraj (name changed) - her best buddy. Bus was practically empty except 5 others and the driver. All 6 of them - under influence of alcohol started calling names to her. They closed the bus door, windows were already tinted in dark color and driver missed their regular turn. Judging the trouble Suraj tried to retaliate but he was beaten up with an iron  rod so much so that he lost his consciousness. 

Then 5 of the 'co-passengers' dragged Surupa on the back seat. Turn by turn they violently raped Surupa while the bus was still moving on the busy streets of Indian Capital.

And then the most inhumane thing happened to her. A - 17th year juvenile amongst them rapped her twice and then inserted an iron rod in her privates, severely damaging her private parts and abdomen and finally he ripped out her intestines with his bare hands. 

Was Jeff (as juvenile of 17th years) smiling at Dr. Norman (as Surupa)? Has destiny given a chance to Jeff to take a revenge on Dr. Norman by giving them birth in a country which treats worst of the worst juvenile criminals as just misguided ones. 

The irony is even if we amend our laws now, juvenile can not be punished as per the new rules because a guilty is punished as per the laws applicable at the time crime had happened and as such you cannot punish twice for a crime committed once. 

Dr. Norman's story might not be true or it could be or something of that sort must have happened otherwise how could one justify just 5 years of remand to the most brutal of the attackers?

Theory of rebirth says, "Aatman (soul) never dies. It just changes its body as we change our cloths. It carries all its un-tallied PAAP (sins) and PUNYA (virtues) from previous birth to its next birth"

Even Lord Krishna had to pay for his sins as Rama when Rama unethically killed Vanara king Bali by hiding behind Bali's brother Sugreeva and lord Krishna got killed by an arrow of a mere hunter (rebirth of Bali).

Now the main question is, does this mean that juvenile's punishment is justified? NO. A BIG NO. Because Dr. Norman's act is not 'present' world's responsibility but Nirbhaya is and we should do all that is possible to avoid re-occurrence of such incidence.

I feel the best way to curb such hideous acts is to have severe punishment. May be to clinically castrate (along with the penis of) the guilty. His punishment is to have a life in which he is not a man enough to perform such act, even with his lawful wife (if he has one).

I mean if morals can't at least the fear of punishment should stop such crimes.

Finally to conclude, is the theory of rebirth irrelevant?   The answer is no. It is for the wise amongst us. It teaches us a lesson that 'do not commit any such act/s you can not afford to pay for'.    

Life of Pi – a beautiful movie of brilliant analogies…

The time we were leaving the theater, my wifey asked me if I liked the movie and I was like Not actually… I won’t be able to watch it for the 2^nd time… or maybe I can… The reason being everyone including initial reels of the film talk about the experience of God but I couldn’t agree to that. It was only after a good nights’ sleep I found out following analogies and then there was no reason to not to praise the film.

1. Pi Patel represents any human being

2. Life boat represents the life of that human being.

3. Richard Parker (the royal Bengal Tiger) till the end of the film represents the mind of that human being. Till the time Richard (mind) controls Pi (human being), Pi has no control over his life boat (life) and the time Pi starts controlling Richard (mind) he gets the control of his life boat (life). Richard (mind) has the power to destroy the Pi or to make him survive. The important thing was how Pi (human) uses the Power of the Richard (his mind).

4. Pacific Ocean and all natural calamities represent the Destiny of that human. Some days he faces storm, flying fishes, whale etc (ill fate) and some day he gets to see bright sunny morning, food etc (lucky days). There is no other way that Pi (human) escapes the ocean (destiny) but to keep on trying with all his energy, brilliance and the faith on the God to get out of the ocean.

5. The unheard floating island represents the ‘Moh / Maya’ or worldly pleasures (Bhautik Sukh). Though initially it fooled Pi with abundance of food and water, very soon he realized that it is the death trap (vicious circle of birth and rebirth) and not the final destination. (Why undiscovered / unheard Island - coz moh takes different shape for each one of us)

6. Tooth of a man on that island represents the Guru or the wisdom he gained.  In absence of that he wouldn’t have left that island (Moh).

7. Shore of the Mexico represents the final destination or the Moksha. It required all possible efforts on Pi’s Part (Human) to reach the shore and then ocean (his destiny) helped him to reach the Shore (Moksha).

8. Richard Parker (the royal Bengal Tiger) at the end represents your closed pals (your parents/ friends / life partner / relatives etc). When they die or the time your account is tallied with them they leave you unceremoniously, never to look back.

My take on the film:

1. 3D - I feel there was no need for making the film in 3D. Avatar completely justifies the technique but this isn’t. I feel the analogies are so subtle that the technique overpowers the real jist.

2. Music – it dissolves in the film so well and thus helps in improving the impact of the film in our minds. (Thank god the music director has avoided any loud unnecessary music like Govinda Govinda Govinda in Sarkar) and what a brilliant understanding of Indian Music this foreigner has!

3. Intial reels / original story – there was no need of showing his faith in all religions / his juvenile love towards Anandi / story of his name for the progress of the film. Whatever small impact it had (to show his belief in God and ceremonious departure from Anandi) could have been covered from the thoughts of Irfan Khan.

4. End / original story – I would have loved to know about how Pi reached to the present day after he reached Mexico.

5. Technical fault in the plot - One doesn't matter how strong, would not be able to survive in the Pacific ocean for 200+ days considering the freezing cold temperatures in the nights. We can still understand if its an Indian Ocean.

6. Suraj Sharma – Sheer Briliance. What an actor we have got.

7. Irfan Khan – His accent disturbes because Suraj’s accent is perfect  where as he had tried to force some accent.

8. Tabbu – there was no need to rope in an actor like Tabbu for such a small role.

9. Last scene that Tiger leaves him unceremoniously. I am still shaken by it. Director’s brilliance I suppose (Novel mustn't have this end I feel)

10. Ang Lee / author of the Novel – Thank you for such a brilliant creation.