26.02.20 : Havelock Island

26/02/20 : Havelock Island : 
Had a late wake up, afterwards we were taken to Cellular Jail.  Here we were taken around by a local guide, who showed and explained to us about the jail.  It happened to be death anniversary of Veer Sawarkar and hence there were lots of people and  speeches around about him.  It was horrible to see and go through the torture and inhuman living conditions our patriots suffered at the hands of first the Britishers and then the Japs, who was supported by Netaji Bose.

Cellular Jail, Andaman & Nicobar Islands Overview

The Cellular Jail, also known as 'Kala Pani' is an old colonial prison situated in Port Blair, the capital of Andaman and Nicobar islands. Constructed by the Britishers during their colonial rule in India, Cellular Jail was used particularly to exile political prisoners where they were subjected to many atrocities at the hands of the British. The construction of the jail began in the year 1896 and was completed in 1906, after which it was used to house many notable freedom fighters such as Batukeshwar Dutt, Yogendra Shukla and Vinayak Damodar Savarkar. The aura of history and struggle around the Cellular Jail is palpable and you just cannot help but be overcome with a strong patriotic fervour. The jail complex is now owned by the Government of India and it is recognised as the national memorial monument that showcases the life of prisoners during the British era.

The jail narrates of the horrifying and darkest period in the history of India. Soon after the Sepoy Mutiny in the year 1857, Britishers began to use the islands of Andaman and Nicobar as the jails to put fighters behind the bars. The secluded islands were chosen due to their distant location from the main parts of the country where the prisoners would be kept in the dark depriving them of the situation in the country and excluding them from the society. During the independence movement of India, thousands of Indians were imprisoned in the cellular jail, many of them died due to inhumane conditions, many were hanged till death and many simply perished. Today, the Cellular Jail is a solemn reminder of all the struggles that our freedom fighters fought through to win the independence of the country, and is an imperative part of our history that ought to be upheld.

We had early lunch at a restaurant outside and, we were taken by big Cruise Ship Mahkruz for 70 minutes drive to Havelock  Island (Swaraj Dweep).  Right enough they scanned your luggage for liquour, they found out but our bottle was sealed and hence let go.  From the harbor we were taken in bus to our next resort,   Symphony Palms. A beautiful hotel with small huts in a row.  We checked in and freshened up.  We realized it was Ash Wednesday, we rushed out in rickshaw to find a church, rickshaw fellow took us to small tin shed church just in time to have ashes crossed on our forehead.  The mass was conducted in Hindi and all were sitting on the floor.  We were offered chairs to sit. We felt blessed to attend the service with the locals who were mostly Tamilians.

                                                      Our night cool out

We returned back and there was get together of all our fellow travelers.  Games were played and both the games Mr. Sen won the prize with his wife Bharati and one with his sister Anjana.  It was fun.  We had a nice buffet dinner with lots of varieties of food, including fried fishes and chicken for non-veg.