Havelock/ Swaraj Dweep Island
On 28 November 2019 our principal ma’am, KV1 Port
Blair, asked teachers to take students on Educational Trip to Hevelock and the
very next day, 29 November 2019, it was decided. My senior teacher Mrs Roshini
Samuel, PGT-Chemisty, was the coordinator of the tour, even she was the one who
decided where to go and how to go. Including me, there were seven teachers who
had been sent with students. All the others are my seniors. So, as per itinerary it
was decided to go from fisheries jetty which is 1 km away from our school
campus. All students reached at Jetty on right time and with zest. Principal ma'am
her-self reached there to see off the students. There were 97 students from all
the sections (Humanities, Commerce and Science) of XII. Students were divided
in two groups as there were seats booked in two small ships. Samuel ma’am
decided that Dr. D. Sindhu ma’am PGT-English and I, would go along with one slot of
students by the Bambooka ship and rest of the teachers and students would go by
Ranichanga ship. For some reason I did not make to board on the Bambooka ship.
Sindhu ma’am had to go along with the students.
So, I
boarded on Ranichanga with other teachers. At 7:30 Ship sailed from the fisheries jetty
to Havelock. Students were enthusiastic to go on the deck of the ship so I went
with them. There was cool breeze touching my face and of course some water
spilled on the deck because of the air. Sea was serene and wherever I was
looking there was blue water everywhere. I was missing my elder brother Mr.
Bhanu Pratap and my little angle Sapna. There was my student named Afreen who always
gave me feel of my younger sister moved over the deck, offered me water and
edibles she had. After one hour I met the captain of the ship, it was difficult
for me to describe his personality. I wanted to learn from him about the
subtilities of the maps he was using. He started to explain the things and
suddenly he started to talk about Bharat Bhoomi, God blab la..! Once I felt he
was a patriotic and religious person but he was unscientific and irrational
person. After 30 minutes of my patience, I asked for a glass of water because I
got sea sickness. He took me with him in his cabin and offered me water with
biscuit. In this sense, I must say he was a humanitarian person. His cabin was
full of portraits of gods…! There he had an intresting protrait of Shani Dev and asked me If I could recognize. As I am a Researcher in
Archaeology, I recognized that. He was very happy and told that this image he
put there because his name was Sunny. He switched on the A.C and asked me whether
I want to take rest. I took rest on his bed. He knocked the door and came again
to tell me that our ship was about to reach. it took almost 3 hours to reach Havelok from Port Blair.
I came out of the cabin and what I saw jetty in front of
me. We got off from the ship and counted all the students. Outside jetty was a
bus stand and office of tourism department. From Bus stand we took two buses
run by Andaman and Nicobar administration. Bus led to the next stop; in
between we saw lush green mountain, coconut trees, Supari tree and banana
plant. Our destination was Radha Nagar beach that is ranked Asia’s Third most
beautiful beach. We got off from the bus and what we saw in front of us shining
white sand followed by ocean. There was a tourist department kiosk announcing
safety measures which we had to keep in mind. Near the beach along the roadside
many vendors were selling fruits, coconut, Chat and of course Puchkas (Panipooris).
There were government owned shop Sagarika and two hotels. I was sitting under the Samudri Sagon which was very long and
thick tree and thinking whether I could take one tree to my home as it would
produce wonderful timber. But it can not grow in the environment that is in
Uttar Pradesh. Then Mr. Kundan Bara, PGT-Economics, came to me and asked to see
the beautiful beach. I was reluctant to go because there was scorching sun and
chances were that my skin could get burn. Somehow, I went with him and found my
self enchanted by the beauty of beach.
I wanted to roam around in Havelock but I couldn't..
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| Radha Nagar Beach, Havelock Island |
