Andaman Diary - Day 1 - Cellular Jail views

10th February 2024

Scrambling to finish work the previous day and a start to the airport at an unholy hour.  Thanks to Srinivas, we travelled in comfort and without the stress of will the cab show up or not.

8 naturalist friends, coordinated by Umesh, on a "birding and photography" sortie to the Andamans.  Six bazookas at check-in, and I had my new 10x binoculars to try out.

5am Air India flight.  We board smartly.  Desigan is in our row, and so we chat, snooze, the breakfast is fine, the coffee is well quite appalling.

The sunrise is spectacular - reminds me of Pink Floyd's album cover - Dark Side of the Moon.

 

I see the first little island - lovely beach, even the coral reef is visible, so clear is the water.  I think this is Boat Island, off the western coast of the main island.

Lower down now, skimming over the main Port Blair island.  I suppose this is Manjeri RV and the bay in the background.  I recalled now all the Tamil and Kerala names for the places - there is a Calicut and a Kamaraj Nagar - besides the Bengali names as well.

Port Blair came into view.  Colourful buildings and water everywhere.

Large signs in the airport accompanied the Air India announcements - "No Photography" of the airport which is also a defence airport I believe.  In this day and age of satellites, seems a pretty pointless restriction, but I complied.

The airport terminal is new - from the time we were here last, in 2017.  And was pretty standard.  Pick up and bags sorted and in 10 minutes we were at our hotel.

Sheesh! thats how I read it first and I wondered why the exclamation - Sheesh, you shouldn't be here, or Sheesh, so good!  Sekar gently said, "It is Shreesh, my dear."  

Shreesh was where we stayed for the first couple of nights. A clean, nondescript place, where the rooms were neat and the food was average.  For some reason, the request for preparing our meals would only start after we came to the dining room despite Umesh having informed them when we would be there.  So we would send an advanced party to go occupy tables and hurry the chef along.  All in due course, what's the hurry.

This was the view at the rear of the hotel past the corridor of rooms.  Next to our room were Desigan  and Srinivas, and I think there's had a tiny window which showed a bit of Junglighat jetty in the rear.  

In the course of the two days, there were many lost in translation moments with a newbie waiter and fresh lime order - we tried English, Hindi and Tamil on him.  The crucial Bengali competency was missing in our group - where is Sagarika when you need her?). Hindi also was a problem for most I hasten to add.  

Srinivas was ready to bird at 9 am - but alas had to wait until post lunch.  So off we went to the Cellular Jail instead. (We birded there too, let it be known.)

We drove around in two Xylos for the trip, comfortable cars that have a real rolling suspension which would be tested to the hilt in our later adventures.  We drove through "Aberdeen bazaar" - do check out Faizabad stores - an interesting set of activities and products!

This is how a proper pavement with a rainwater drain looks like, dear Chennai Corporation.  I was very impressed.

I loved the Andaman Police uniforms

Even the goats were well behaved and walked on the pavements!

Looking down to Marina/Phoenix Bay

Cellular Jail

it was hard for me to imagine this calm and now serene facade as the scene of cruelty and struggle.

Here is a couple of boards:

NATIONAL MEMORIAL

THE CELLULAR JAIL, THE INDIAN BASTILLE, STANDS AS A MUTE WITNESS TO THE UNTOLD SUFFERINGS, VALIANT DEFIANCE AND UNDAUNTED SPIRIT OF THE FIREBRAND REVOLUTIONARIES AGAINST THE BRUTALITIES OF THE BRITISH BARBARISM.

THE NAME CELLULAR IS DERIVED FROM ITS UNIQUE FEATURE OF HAVING 698 CELLS, EACH ONE MEASURING 13.6".

THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE JAIL WAS TAKEN UP IN OCT 1896 AND COMPLETED IN 1906 AT AN ESTIMATED COST OF Rs.5,17,352/

AS A MARK OF RESPECT TO THE FREEDOM FIGHTERS, THE CELLULAR JAIL WAS DEDICATED TO THE NATION BY THE THEN PRIME MINISTER, SHRI. MORARJI DESAI ON 11TH  FEB. 1979 AND NOW IT STANDS AS A NATIONAL MEMORIAL OF GREAT HISTORICAL IMPORTANCE.

CELLULAR JAIL

The Cellular Jail was constructed to deal effectively with the freedom fighters who revolted against the British Rule during India's First War of Independence. This site, being located just opposite to Ross Island, was found more suitable for construction of the Jail. It was also better suited in terms of security of the jail, as more than half of the outer wall was bounded by sea.

The construction of the Cellular Jail began in 1893 and completed in 1905-06. The Islands were formally occupied on 22nd January, 1858.

Spread as seven spokes of a bicycle wheel, this unique three-storied structure was the first of its kind in India, it was based on Jeremy Bentham's idea of the Panopticon. 693 cells in the jail were specially built for solitary confinement of the Freedom Fighters. The freedom fighters brought to the Cellular Jail rebelled against the jail authorities. Finally, the Government decided to close down the penal settlement and all the political prisoners of the Cellular Jail were repatriated to their respective states in mainland India by January 1938.

Only two spokes are retained as a memorial.  There is a hospital where the rest of the jail probably was.

I wondered if this peepul stood from those days.

Japanese occupation of the islands, Bose's alignment with them has somehow been portrayed as him freeing India from the British...

Andaman Shimbun....2602

The Aberdeen bazaar clock tower now.

One wing had not been touched up and had the old look.  There were sparrows chirping among the undergrowth, several mango trees, banana and coconut too.

11am and the sun was sharp - it felt warmer than Chennai actually.  We decided to walk up the watch tower.  Spiders had made elaborate webs in the archways. Bulbuls flitted in and out as did Mynas and one Oriole flew across from the mango tree.  Swallows dived and swooped.

The names of political prisoners are listed on the walls - a huge contingent from Bengal.

The jail I'm sure has a lot of significance to many Bengali families  - we saw busloads of them.  More about them in a bit, after I share the gorgeous views from above.

I involuntarily gasped when I emerged onto the watchtower platform, from the stairs below.  Out of breath after the steep stairway, this further took my breath away.   (The blue-roofed buildings are a hospital, in parts of the old Jail.)

The wing retained as the Jail - in the distance is Ross Island.

Ross Island.  How could the prison guards have been cruel in the face of this extraordinary beauty, I wondered, as I soaked in the cool breeze, the beautiful waters in different shades of blue, the soaring and gliding White Bellied Sea Eagle up above, and the philosophical discussions among some young people relaxing on the platform. 

As I gazed, they discussed Nietzsche and Bose, Gandhi and Jinnah, Communism and freedom struggle; religion and God as manmade constructs and so much more.  The beauty around made me contented and their words kind of crashed around me, not really registering what they were saying.

It was time to head down.  Umesh and Desigan had also come up, and they clicked away and we took some selfies too. 

We proceeded down one flight when suddenly, there was an upsurge of tourists - they kept streaming up, and the stairway was too narrow to allow for two way traffic.  The platform above seemed to creak and groan, and I hastily moved away from the watchtower stairwell into the safety of the brick and mortar cell corridor!  After what seemed like an interminable amount of time, we saw a break and Sekar and I scampered down, but Umesh was still stuck up there!

We rejoined the doctors and Suresh and Desigan in the chairs put for the sound and light show and waited for Umesh, and this led to the Incident of the Shrike.

Ravi mentioned he saw a shrike with a orangish vent and wondered what it was.  Sekar piped up quite casually oh that must be the red vented bulbul we saw.  Oh the horror, the horror!  The complete dismay in Ravi's voice - his birding competencies being dismissed like this - a bulbul and a shrike...any self respecting birder would know the difference!  It was pretty funny to all onlookers except Sheepish Sekar and Riled Ravi.  

Umesh finally escaped the Bengali busload and joined us and we set out to return to lunch at Shreesh.

We crossed this on the way out - in hindsight, I should've stepped in.  At least picked up a few souvenirs.  We never did enter a shop after this.

The afternoon sortie continued here.

January wanderings on ECR

 Jan 10th 2024

Indian Maritime University Recce visit - eBird Trip Report

50 species not counting the warblers and other scrub birds that we did not have time to focus upon.  So here's a rhyme to celebrate.

There was once a trio of MNSers

Nothing in common, but all birders

To IMU we drove

And found a treasure trove

A marsh full of Warblers and Plovers.

There were Egrets and Pelicans galore

Garganeys, Pintails, Ibis and more

so much joy and delight 

Spoonbills in flight

Oh wait!  Godwits in 100s, furthermore!

Then the dogs, who felt ignored

Into the marsh, they  crashed, quite bored

The Godwits flew off

And the Lapwings did scoff

“Did you do it”, they called, and soared.

And how can I forget those Grey Francolins, endearing

Across the road they went. to the edge of the clearing

I counted seven

Quite a procession

And all through our walk we heard them calling.

Openbills flew across along with Painted Stork

Drongo, Coucal, Treepies did disembark

A Roller flashed blue

And the Kingfisher flew

Oh that sweet call - a Jerdon’s Bush Lark!

Powder Puffs played host to many Purple Sunbirds aglow

A Solitary, stock-still Thickknee in the scrub below

We rounded the corner

And there found a charmer

An Oriole above, a flash of sunshiny yellow.

And then as a finale, on a faraway stone

A raptor for sure, that did our goodbyes postpone

A Falcon, a Peregrine

Its claws it did preen

Enjoying the sun and solitude, but no not alone.

We will be back at IMU, that is for sure

The AWC will be a joy and a sinecure

When we go birding

The uncertainty is rewarding

And the company brings laughter in good measure.

And here are the photos:

From Sunbird

From Ramesh

Bauhinia

Rosy Milkweed Vine

Powder Puff - Calliandra

The Sunbird

 

Blue Skies
greens and browns
my window frames.

Quiet sunbird!
Yellow breast reflecting in
my window frames.

Watching sunbird
Catching her reflections, in
my window panes.

Working moms
exchanging glances, through
my window frames.

A moment's experience
a connection in a blink, through
those window frames.

Female, Purple-rumped Sunbird Leptocoma zeylonica

The Achaleswar temple at Mt Abu and the fascinating story of the attacking bees

 6th December 2023

Mt Abu

As usual, I was confused, I had understood that we were going walking to Guru Shikhar, which is the highest point on the Aravallis near Mt Abu, but instead we were here.  

The colourful elephants at the entrance did not raise my enthusiasm to go in.

I peered through the covered tunnel passage to see this.  Still not enthused enough to remove shoes and go in, I hung around outside initially until Arjun hurried back out and said that we were being given a history talk of the place by Mr Daivat Singh of Sirohi!  

And so in I went and was so glad I did, as we were enthralled with some great storytelling  of legend and history of the Achaleswar temple, told with humour, personality and objectivity.

The previous night at dinner, Nino,  had shared some legends of Mount Abu - Arbuda the serpent who saved Nandi over here, and another one about how Devi Parvati's lips (arbuda) fell here, and hence Arbuda, became Abu....

And now, we heard of the legends related to this temple.  The region was prone to tremors and instability and the local chieftains prayed to Kashi Vishwanath, who stabilised the hills by placing one toe...and so it moved from chal  to achal or stability.  (The deity within is not a typical lingam but a toe like protrusion in a hollow. The hollow is the hole caused by the toe if I got it right, and goes all the way to naraka)

The legendary bees of Mount Abu

Another Alauddin Khilji story.  As he was making his way from Ahmedadabd, his henchmen mentioned about the riches of  the temples of Mount Abu, and so up he came with his 1200 plus horsemen, looted Delawara temples and set his sight on Achaleswar.  The local warriors were only 100 strong, and decided that rather than dying and causing bloodshed at the temple, to go and meet the incoming troops head on, and so off they went, fighting ferociously - and miraculously the angry bees of Abu came buzzing along and attacked and stung the Khilji forces, and only them...making them turn tail, surrender arms and basically leave the place.

I mulled and pondered and decided those must have been those rock bees - Apis dorsata - the "rajput" bees - aggressive defenders of their territory!

The surrendered arms and other weapons were melted into a Trishul and offered at the temple, the account goes.  

The bees of the rocks of Mount Abu also caused another hair raising adventure, which I read here.

Re-discovering the beautiful marble carvings

These marble carvings seen below were hidden behind chunaam and plaster and revealed only in 1979 by accident!  Mr Daivat and even Priya remember the chunaam pillars and facades.  Some "damage" accidentally displaying what was under.  Since then, they have been slowly and carefully cleaned and the beauty revealed.

Whether this was done to protect the pillars from harm or it was an act of careless beautification was unclear.  It's quite astonishing how there is so little documentation at institutional level...everything is word of mouth.  Quite contrary to the British obsession with classifying and documenting?

I admired the delicate filigree-like rosettes, monkeys, Devis, apsaras and assorted figures around the doorway.  Marble slabs, whittled away with perfect artistry.

There are two new restored figurines - find them.

And these delicate drawings, with bricks underneath

I was fascinated with this lovely couple - welcoming smiles - a Very Greek beard (according to me).  Is this Agni, and is that a lightning bolt in his hand, I wondered... hmm but no potbelly of Agni, the ears look like that of a Learned man...so anyways I do not know who he or the beautiful lady are.

I loved the aesthetics of this.  The arms of the dancers bring a movement, and made my eye travel upwards.

OK, now this waist is unreal.

There was a crooked house...In today's context...Koteswar would be appropriate.

Achalgarh fort..way up there.

And so we emerged out from the 13th century again, back to 21st century India, greeted by a different kind of Nandi, 

and Lucky's Wax Museum! 

Anyways, the moral of this story for me was never judge a temple by the well meaning beautifications outside.

We wound our way up some beautiful Aravali landscapes - scrubby, with small lakes in the valleys.

We shared a ride with Arjun and Gapi in their little chariot that Arjun hustled around the hill curves with skill and casual ease (while I kind of hung on) - we were now up on our way to Guru Shikar - the highest point in the vicinity, where we encountered further 21st century Indian architecture and garbage (lack of) management.

It was advisable to keep one's eyes on the distant vistas and admire the spectacular views.

In averting my gaze from the foreground muck, I almost missed the Brown Rock Chat sitting on the rock and posing this way and that.  She cheered me up, but also made me feel so shameful...how we spoil things for every creature on this planet, uff!

The delightful Wordsworth Lodge was where we headed for lunch.  The website has the Wordsworth story in a nutshell.  Some lovely pictures too.

There is a romantic history behind this lovely Boutique Hotel, hidden on a forested foothill of Gurushikar, the tallest mountain in the Aravali Range. In 1965, an English woman named Diana Wordsworth, a collateral descendant of the poet William Wordsworth, travelled to India to work on a film about the Ganga and fell in love with the country and with a colonel in the Indian Army, Buddha Sen. The couple resolved to retire together and began a search for a likely spot in one hill station or another. At a chance meeting with Fateh Singh Rathore, who would one day become India’s best-known defender of the tiger but was then a young game ranger stationed at Mount Abu, he suggested they consider Rajasthan’s best-known hill station, instead.

​

​He helped them find the perfect spot on which to build their home. It was designed to complement the unique landscape by a rising young Mumbai architect named Rumy Shroff, but Fateh helped with every aspect of its construction. Sadly, the colonel passed away before the house was finished and when Diana Wordsworth died in 1984 she left it to Fateh whom she had come to see as her surrogate son.​

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Now, Fateh’s son, Dr. Goverdhan Singh Rathore, has lovingly restored and renovated Wordsworth Lodge so that visitors can experience for themselves the spectacular views and serene natural surroundings just as they were more than half a century ago.

I sunk into a chair on the verandah surrounded by trees, breathed the foresty air and watched.

I was also being watched.  A grey langur mother and baby stared, alert to danger.

A Treepie watched, hoping for some morsels.

And it was on to lunch - and then much confusion about walking or driving to Trevor Tal, or back to the hotel etc etc.

 

The history of Mount Abu as told by Mr Daivat Singh Deora

I wondered how Mount Abu had all those princely houses clustered together, and I discovered this video with an explanation.

We met Mr Daivat Singh and his lovely wife Kirti, and enjoyed their gracious hospitality and tremendous food on our visit to Kesar Bhawan as well.  What an enchanting evening that was - a gracious setting that is Kesar Bhawan.

Pictures of the Bhawan here.

"Kesar Bhawan Palace was built in the year 1868 A.D. by His Highness Maharajadhiraj Maharao Umed Singhji of Sirohi. It has been converted into an eco-friendly heritage hotel by Maharaj Daivat Singh of Sirohi whose ancestor Maharao Lumbha conquered the hill of Abu in the year 1311 A.D. and brought the area in the domain of the princely State of Sirohi, which was founded in the year 1206 A.D. by Rao Manning Rai."

I was so busy savouring the delicious fare that I did not photograph the evidence of those lovely fresh green puris whose name I don't remember, the unique smoky khadi, hot missi rotis....and the large array of desserts not eaten.

 

Rainforests finally gain a friend

Paying to keep forests intact - that idea I like.  An economic value to protecting natural reserves is probably the way forward?

Rainforests provide a public good. The world should pay to conserve them

At last, good news from the Brazilian Amazon. In the first eight months of 2023, the pace of deforestation has fallen by nearly 50% compared with last year. This reflects a change of government. Jair Bolsonaro, Brazil’s president from 2019 to 2022, was an outspoken chum of the loggers and ranchers who are slicing down and burning the rainforest. Not only did he make no effort to stop them; he went out of his way to hobble the agencies charged with policing environmental crimes.

 

His ejection by voters last year gave the Amazon a much-needed respite. His successor, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, actually cares about conservation. As we report this week, gun-toting federal agents are once again making a serious effort to shut down illegal mining operations and blow up their equipment.

But muscle, on its own, is not enough. To establish something resembling the rule of law in the Amazon, Lula is trying to clarify who owns it. This is long overdue. Currently, at least 22 separate Brazilian agencies register land claims there. They barely talk to each other, so vast swathes of the forest are subject to overlapping claims. And a whopping 29% of the Brazilian Amazon is “undesignated”, meaning it is public land but no one has decided whether it should be a nature reserve, an indigenous reserve, or something else.

Deforestation tends to be worst in areas where property rights are hazy. A lack of clarity about who owns a plot of forest makes it harder to assign blame for torching it. And a tradition of local officials tolerating land-grabbing encourages more of it. Ranchers seek to establish facts on the ground by chopping down trees, burning the undergrowth and putting cows on the newly created pasture. Many hope that even if their actions are illegal, they will eventually be recognised as the owners of the land, because this has often happened in the past.

Lula is trying to change these incentives. He is pushing to designate undesignated land as protected, and to integrate all the property registers into one coherent system. It is a huge task, involving clever use of satellite data and digital technology. It is also politically fraught, since many state and local politicians are cosy with the farming and wildcat mining lobbies and will jealously guard their influence over how land is apportioned. But it is an essential step towards imposing order on one of Earth’s most important biomes. The Amazon is a huge carbon store, a treasure vault of biodiversity and an essential regulator of the rainfall that feeds South America. Losing it would be a global catastrophe–and scientists fear it may be near a “tipping point”, when so much forest has disappeared that the water cycle that sustains it breaks down.

Which is why the rest of the world should help pay to preserve it. At the cop on December 1st, Lula asked for money to give local people in developing countries economic alternatives to cutting down rainforests. His environment minister outlined an ambitious plan: a $250bn fund that would pay a fixed sum per hectare of forest to countries that prevent their forests from shrinking more than a very small amount each year. The funding for this, Brazil hopes, would come from sovereign wealth funds. Several African leaders are making similar appeals, some involving debt relief in return for nature conservation.

Lula is unlikely to raise $250bn—it is far more than has been offered before. And not all the governments asking for cash are likely to spend it wisely. But there is a decent chance that Brazil could make good use of external financing, which it sorely needs. No amount of enforcement will stop people from chopping down trees if they see no other way of making a living—illegal miners whose equipment is blown up by the environmental police may simply go to work on beef farms carved out of the rainforest. Also, if Lula’s efforts to save the trees are all stick and no carrot, he is more likely to lose the next election to a more Bolsonaro-like rival. So rich countries should chip in. And Brazil, for its part, should be more open to foreign advice, expertise and help on the ground than it has been in the past. It is not too late to save the Amazon, but the clock hands are whirring like the teeth of a chainsaw. ■

Birding at Mt Abu

 

5th December - grounds of the Lake Palace Hotel

This was midday after we checked in - we had the place to ourselves and wandered down to the little pons at the entrance.

Blue skies and clean air...we hung on to that - so precious.  Michaung had finally blown away from Chennai, after dumping some 430mm of water in 35 hours, we read.  

The city was more or less submerged. The water and lakes had reclaimed what was rightfully theirs.  Where could we pump the water - it would go from this street to the next... 

It was hard to comprehend that nightmare while we were here.

The little lake where we saw wagtail and lapwings on the rocks and moorhens in the water.  Not much else though.

Nakki lake "baba" carriages.

Nakki lake in the evening setting sun.  Nice and peaceful, not too much bird life.  

Gandhi's ashes immersed here - I read online - dont know if it is accurate - but there is this Gandhi "ghat".

Toad Rock - behind the palms reminded me of the RV rocks and their names.

The palace all lit up the we returned.  A beautiful sight

Wed 6 Dec 2023 8:14 AM checklist - Indian yellow Tits and Oriental Turtle Doves were the highlight of my morning stroll.

7th December - The red-breasted flycatcher flitted among the trees, in the morning, and a brown-headed barbet called in the evening.  

We did not see the Green munia - despite searching for it at two locations.

Trevor's Tank list.  

All it takes is a few trees - Mumbai birds

eBird India Checklist - 3 Dec 2023 - Dosti flamingo complex - 14 species

I didn't see the flamingos since the Sewri spot is now inaccessible.  

Dosti flamingo complex
03-Dec-2023
6:46 PM
Traveling
2.01 km
66 Minutes
All birds reported? Yes
Comments: Empty plots around have fig trees


30 Rock Pigeon (Feral Pigeon)
1 Asian Koel
6 Black Kite
1 Coppersmith Barbet
1 Alexandrine Parakeet
7 Rose-ringed Parakeet
1 Spot-breasted Fantail (White-spotted Fantail)
9 House Crow
2 Common Tailorbird
1 Blyth's Reed Warbler
2 Red-vented Bulbul
5 Purple-rumped Sunbird
6 Indian Silverbill (White-throated Munia)
25 House Sparrow

Number of Taxa: 14

In the heart of Sewri, it just takes a couple of fig trees and a Jackfruit to create a little haven for birds, it seems. 

The Alexandrine, the Silverbills and the fantail were such a delight. 

A Mocis frugalis - Sugarcane Looper -Identified via iNaturalist - spent the night on our room curtain.

A Blue pea vine had these beautiful blooms.

The Banyan did not have much bird activity and I wondered why.

It was the Jackfruit corner that was buzzing with sparrows, babblers, sunbirds and the fantail,