Up and out of the door by 6.00 for the flight. The hotel driver took me to the airport which is actually not far from the hotel, albeit on the other side of a hill. We actually went around the end of the runway but were a couple of hundred feet above it. That confirmed my belief that it was a one way in and one way out airport for jets at least. Because of the big hill the planes land to the east and depart from the west where normally landings and take offs are in the same direction. Probably only of interest to aviators!!
Met a pleasant couple in the airport waiting to board. They are from Hyderabad and were there on vacation. He works for the Central Bank and she works for a Financial newspaper. Good conversation about the financial crisis and other things. She has a sister who lives in Smryna GA about 15 miles from my kids!!
I was asked by them to visit Northern India on my next trip and to be their guest in Hyderabad if I came there! The amazing thing is that they absolutely meant it. That is one of the fascinations with this country. If I emailed them and said I was coming to Hyderabad I know they would have me to stay with them, all based on a 20 minute conversation in the airport!
Flights went well and Adrian and Alex met me at the Mumbai airport. I have not seen Adrian for about 10 years, and had not met Alex at all but we spent the afternoon and evening getting caught up. They have a very nice apartment and will be here for Adrian’s work for probably another 12 months or so. Adrian’s Mum and I have been friends since we were about 10, although we did not get along very well to begin with! Adrian’s Dad and I went to college together but I have seen less of him over the years than Jackie and Adrian’s sister Cleone.
Having finally got a SIM card and a working phone in Chennai and Andamar, it does not work in Mumbai. Back to Vodaphone I suspect on Monday morning.
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Cellular Prison visit
As mentioned, this had a profound effect on me.
Because the islands are so far from the rest of India it became a natural place to house dissidents or political prisoners.
The other terms use includes, freedom fighters (if you are on that side) Terrorists (if you are not!) or political prisoners in today’s PC world.
Think Alcatraz, Guantanamo, Devils Island, Robbins Island, or anywhere that is relevant to your knowledge.
There is no doubt that I will screw up the detail, but suffice it to say that the original prison design was circular and it only afforded the prisoner a view (and there were over 600) of the back of the next cell block, thus reducing any chance for communication by hand signal shouting or any other means. There was one prisoner per cell and a total of over 600 cells in the original design. Remember these were all political prisoners who were fighting for India’s independence from what my guide referred to as “The Britishers”.
Cells were approx 7 ½ feet wide by 131/2 feet long and 10 feet tall. There was a small barred window and a barred front gate.
Other than the isolation, (no talking allowed) the conditions were not incredibly bad, but the brutal treatment of many of the prisoners and the overall harsh conditions drove several of the inmates insane. There were statues outside the prison of six inmates who had died during hunger strikes or more frequently as a result of force-feeding.
There is a place where prisoners were forced to mill and extract palm oil. 50 liters a day, and everyone knew it was impossible and an excuse to repremand and indeed torture prisoners. If they could not keep up they were dragged around. I attempted to photo the description. I hope it is readable. It is difficult to imagine that people do this to each other, but they did and the
Japanese did it on thye Burma railroad (Bridge over the river Kwai) not far east of here.
We saw the gallows and there were three stations so three people could be hanged at the same time. The ropes shown were new, but the beam and the trap door were original. It is now enclosed but was open so other prisoners could see the hangings. I am not sure if they were forced to watch or not, but would not be surprised if they were.
The stark contrast is when you look out over the peaceful tropical landscape just outside the prison and realize the brutality and horror of what was happening inside. My thoughts kept coming back to Pappilon, the movie with Dustin Hoffman and Steve McQueen on Devils Island in French Guiana.
Certainly part of my frustration and why it had such an impact on me was the futility of it all and the belief that this sort of brutality and repression would yield the results that the authorities sought. The net result, as it is in so many other places, is that if you repress the masses and subjugate them they will eventually get mad enough about it and have an uprising. There has to be a better way but I bet Mugabe and the Generals in Burma are not reading my blog> Oh well enough ranting for now
Havelock Island trip
I decided to take a trip to Havelock Island on Saturday as I had heard a lot about the place.
There are two different ferries (I love riding on ferries anyway so this was a motivator in itself) The fast ferry is privately operated and cruises at 24 knots and the journey takes about 90 minutes. It costs 650 Rupees or about $14 for the one-way trip. For reference I returned on the Government run ferry that is slower, but is only 250 Rupees or about $5.50
The fast ferry was very smooth and comfortable, with video entertainment which was a little overwhelming for me as it was noisy and there did not seem to be any escape. I met and talked to a couple from Edinburgh (maybe late 30s early 40s) who had quit their jobs to travel and said that they though by the time they were done that the economy may have picked up again and they could go back to work. A ballsy approach but they said they had talked about it for years and just decided to go for it.
Havelock is a good size island and well known for it’s diving and seems to be a haven for the backpacker / budget traveler and there are lots of small resort type hotels on several beaches. Not quite my scene as I am not a huge beach person but uncrowded and mostly unspoiled, except for the inevitable trash laying around. I will post some photos with comments to give you a feel for the place.
The outbound ferry arrived around 10 and the return was about 4.30 so I was able to take a Tuk-Tuk (auto rickshaw) down to the exotically named “Beach 7” conveniently located just by… you got it “Village 7”
It was about 10km from where I had walked (Village 3) and had been told that the ride from the ferry terminal was about 200 Rupees one way. I figured that as it was closer from Village 3 the rate would be lower and surprise surprise it was!!. The driver wanted me to commit to hiring him for the return and that was OK excep he was talking 250. Now we are not talking mega dollars here but we agreed to 350 for the whole trip. On arrival we agreed that I would pay heim when we got back to the ferry. He had a good fare and I knew he would be back on time, as he wanted the money for the first fare. A good deal for all.
I came back around 3 and looked around the community by the ferry terminal and found a nice little bar with some cold beer, and a couple of young guys from Guilford (UK) who were just bumming around for a couple of months in the sun
The return ferry (the cheaper Government one) was adequate but passengers were mostly on the open deck although there was seating, not no entertainment.
The return took about 30 minutes longer. I talked to one of the crewmen who was an assistant engineer or similar.
He has two kids 8 and 11 and very much understands the competitive nature of them being able to go to college. I suspect he was one of the first in his family to work outside the village, and he was very keen that his kids take that next step. He was a very pleasant man to talk with and I learned a lot. We got back around 6.30 and I had an early night as my flight departs at 7.20
There are two different ferries (I love riding on ferries anyway so this was a motivator in itself) The fast ferry is privately operated and cruises at 24 knots and the journey takes about 90 minutes. It costs 650 Rupees or about $14 for the one-way trip. For reference I returned on the Government run ferry that is slower, but is only 250 Rupees or about $5.50
The fast ferry was very smooth and comfortable, with video entertainment which was a little overwhelming for me as it was noisy and there did not seem to be any escape. I met and talked to a couple from Edinburgh (maybe late 30s early 40s) who had quit their jobs to travel and said that they though by the time they were done that the economy may have picked up again and they could go back to work. A ballsy approach but they said they had talked about it for years and just decided to go for it.
Havelock is a good size island and well known for it’s diving and seems to be a haven for the backpacker / budget traveler and there are lots of small resort type hotels on several beaches. Not quite my scene as I am not a huge beach person but uncrowded and mostly unspoiled, except for the inevitable trash laying around. I will post some photos with comments to give you a feel for the place.
The outbound ferry arrived around 10 and the return was about 4.30 so I was able to take a Tuk-Tuk (auto rickshaw) down to the exotically named “Beach 7” conveniently located just by… you got it “Village 7”
It was about 10km from where I had walked (Village 3) and had been told that the ride from the ferry terminal was about 200 Rupees one way. I figured that as it was closer from Village 3 the rate would be lower and surprise surprise it was!!. The driver wanted me to commit to hiring him for the return and that was OK excep he was talking 250. Now we are not talking mega dollars here but we agreed to 350 for the whole trip. On arrival we agreed that I would pay heim when we got back to the ferry. He had a good fare and I knew he would be back on time, as he wanted the money for the first fare. A good deal for all.
I came back around 3 and looked around the community by the ferry terminal and found a nice little bar with some cold beer, and a couple of young guys from Guilford (UK) who were just bumming around for a couple of months in the sun
The return ferry (the cheaper Government one) was adequate but passengers were mostly on the open deck although there was seating, not no entertainment.
The return took about 30 minutes longer. I talked to one of the crewmen who was an assistant engineer or similar.
He has two kids 8 and 11 and very much understands the competitive nature of them being able to go to college. I suspect he was one of the first in his family to work outside the village, and he was very keen that his kids take that next step. He was a very pleasant man to talk with and I learned a lot. We got back around 6.30 and I had an early night as my flight departs at 7.20
Andaman and Nicobar Islands . Tropical paradise
After several discussions with Vivek I decided to come and see these islands for a few days rather than follow the more normal routes to see the Taj Mahal etc.
These islands are a part of India, but are 1200km (750 miles think Raleigh to Chicago) off the east coast in the Bay of Bengal. They have been a part of India since the colonial days. It is a similar distance to Burma (Myanmar) I think the only flights come from either Chennai or Kolkata (Calcutta), None from the east..
Briefly there are about 550 islands of which 37 are inhabited, and one of the others is home to a live volcano!. There are about 350,000 people and the principal town is Port Blair. That is not very big by Indian standards and has something of the feel of one of the Caribbean towns. I am reminded of Belize City but have limited Caribbean experience.
My hotel is about 50m off a sandy beach. Not the best beach on the islands I understand but pleasant anyway. There is evidence of fortifications everywhere and an abandoned gun emplacement is sitting on the rocks by the beach.
Part of my hotel package was a ½ day tour of Port Blair and I also had to find time to go through the excruciating experience of getting a SIM card for my phone. This was made more difficult because I did it here in Pt Blair. There are some restrictions on foreigners here and everyone has a permit that you have to carry with you. When you arrive you basically go through Immigration all over again.
My tour basically stopped at 4 places.
A real Log Skidder!!
Log Loader with single top clamp!
The first is the Forestry museum and is located in the Chatham wood yard. This is run by the government and is a working sawmill albeit with some fairly antiquated equipment and is designed to provide wood from local forests for local consumption, although I believe some is exported either abroad or back to mainland India.
There appeared to be one crane for unloading ships and one large forklift for handling the incoming wood. One limitation is the gate from the unloading area to the mill. The gate is about 10 ft wide but lots of the logs are longer than that. The solution is to lift the load on the lift truck mast high enough to clear the wall (ICA for the Cat folks). Heaven forbid that someone should widen the gate! (PCA for the Cat folks).
My brother Steve would be in heaven as there are large supplies of unusual hardwoods and with his love of wood and the furniture making potential he would be a happy camper!
There was a small exhibit but the more interesting part for me was walking through the mill and watching the (limited) operations going on. An OSHA of HSE inspector would have an instant heart attack, and the US attorneys would be licking their carnivorous lips if they saw what was going on. Open belts and pulleys, an open circular saw blade and anything else you can imagine. Add to this the policy of allowing unsupervised groups of people to basically wander through the place at will, and I hope you get a flavor of what I am talking about!
At the end there was a stationary exhibit of a railway locomotive that was used to move wood around during the harvesting process. The Brookville Company in the USA built it and a Caterpillar engine powered the locomotive.
I have not had a chance to do any research on this but it does demonstrate the wide-ranging presence of Cat products over the years.
The other three places visited were the naval museum, the aquarium and the prison museum. I have to say that I had minimal interest in the naval museum other than some excellent photos, and in some respects the Aquarium was a repeat or at least very similar to the naval museum.
Inside my taxi. Note symbol on top left of windshield.
The Prison museum was a totally different story and had a profound effect on me. I would not be doing it justice to include it here so I plan a separate post, that might just include some rants and raves on human rights issues and stupid strategies. As I said it really had a profound effect on me.
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