That Wonderland called A&N - Ramble 2: Dive!

Havelock Island was destination no 2 on my trip. It was definitely the most awaited part of my trip - my diving courses. Havelock island is just a small piece of paradise. Coconut trees everywhere, the salty air, beautiful beaches - all the marks of a great vacation already. I had signed up to dive with Dive India and I highly recommend them to anyone who wants to try diving at the Andamans in the future.

Now I think I am a water baby and it is beach over mountains any day for me. But being a water baby in a pool and being one in the ocean - very different things. The ocean is a completely different ball game. Day 0 in training has you filling out forms, watching a few videos and undergoing a snorkelling session to learn basic breathing etc. I easily drank a litre of sea water in that lesson itself. The first and most important lesson they teach and keep repeating is stay calm and breathe continuously. Trust me, it's not the easiest to do. Consciously breathing through the mouth takes time to master because the nose just flies into action all the time, even if it takes in sea water. Day 1 into training and at above shoulder level water, as we learned basic skills, I struggled to stay underwater as the fear of not being able to breathe was constantly playing on my mind. It took some time and a lot of patience from my instructor but it happened finally and we slowly moved towards our first dive spot. Now skills and lessons aside, it was an experience like no other. The ocean is another world in itself and you are a visitor which means you don't do anything to disrupt the life there. People say watching an aquarium calms you down, so imagine this. Schools of fishes swimming along, taking notice of you and then swimming away. A few curious ones come close and the even more curious ones leave a few bites on your legs (harmless though). I saw a whole bunch of fish whose names I never knew. Among the ones I knew, there were clownfish (Nemo), blue tangs (Dory), sting rays, Angel fish, lion fish, crabs, lobsters, eels, star fish and crazy types of coral from fan coral to stag horn coral to anemone (Nemo's home). I was lucky to see a turtle swim by, swim alongside a school of barracuda and spot two white tipped reef sharks. My deepest dive was 26 meters i.e. about 85 feet.

Descending into Dixon's Pinnacle, Havelock Island

Picture Courtesy - Dive India

On top of the reef at Dixon's Pinnacle (20 m below the surface)

Picture courtesy - Dive India

The happy bunch heading back to shore

Picture Courtesy - Dive India

One of the requisites for me to complete my Advanced Open Water certification was the dive I was dreading the most - a night dive. Now a night dive in the Andamans begins at 6 pm. I know you will wonder what's night about that but the sun goes done by 5:15 pm so 6 pm there is like 9 pm in Mumbai. I am not a big fan of darkness, in fact I am a highly claustrophobic so I need to see, feel and know space around me. I don't know how I convinced myself to not chicken out of it but I did. Per my course, I had to be in the water at a depth exceeding 6 meters for at least 20 minutes. As I put on my gear and entered the water, my instructor kept reminding - the ocean is a different playground at night so be careful and aware. With my gear on and hand held torch, I stepped into the water to discover a different set of species that emerge and active at nightfall. Sea urchins out of their holes, snakes slithering around and most fish happily tucked in their lairs. Now coz of my hand held torch my vision was only limited to as far as the torch went and mostly straight ahead of me. However, I was very well aware of the fact that there were more swimming behind and alongside me than in front and that fact was proven when I saw the long tail fin of a sting ray pass by me just about a foot away from the corner of my eye. Little panic build up and I proceed further. A few more poisonous fish were spotted and something inside me says you need to head back. Then suddenly came a school of fish that we couldn't identify immediately (but did later as a type of Indian Threadfin). While most fish keep safe distance from you, these guys seemed to be very attracted to the torch light and started getting too close for comfort. In seconds, we were surrounded by these fishes, each one being about 20 - 25 cm long. I could feel them swimming up close and brushing against my arms and feet and two of them got super up close to my face. Not wanting to attract any larger predators because of this school, we turned back and started heading towards our start point. The nasty buggers tried following us for a while before they headed back. The last part of our dive and the last straw for me was to sit of the ocean bed, torches turned off and to move our arms around to see the bio luminescent plankton. If you have seen Life of Pi and remember the scene where he watches the water glow (picture below), I got to witness something similar on a smaller scale of course but equally magnificent. But once seen, the darkness began to bother me a lot more and m torch was back on and I signalled my instructor that I was ready to head out. Never again a night dive, I told her - I plan to keep my word.

Scene showing bio luminescence from Life of Pi. 

Picture courtesy - indeepwaterblog.wordpress.com

The physical act of diving is extremely strenuous by itself and you need to know how to swim decently well. Don't believe your dive school if they say things like you can dive if you can swim comfortably for 10 ft and float for 10 mins. All this is easier done in the pool than the ocean. The ocean tests your stamina all the time and believe me you get so drained swimming a lap which could very well just be 15 ft in the ocean. My first dive was scary and fun. Scary coz we were taught so much and there is so much to take care of under water  besides just having the fear of being under water - your breathing, keeping your buoyancy at neutral, not using your hands to swim, correct posture for your legs, ensuring your ears pop are among the many many things one needs to constantly remember.  My later dives also introduced me to ocean currents and also taught me to stay steady while moving against them. I did well sometimes, failed miserably a few other times and kept getting dragged away. I got hit on the leg by my buddy's scuba tank, on the head by the fins of my buddy and scrapped my knees dozen of times through my dives. Rough, choppy water is a scary idea and takes one back to Hollywood movies of being stranded at sea. Try moving in one direction and the ocean throws a crazy wave at you and you end up paces away from where you even begin. My heart was constantly racing through each of my dives. I knew I was getting enough air and yet had the feeling of going breathless. I was very aware of the fact that I had water all around me with no shoreline visible and no railing to swim and hold on to. You need to constantly tell yourself that you are fine. Of course, I did have some Hollywood moments (again) as well wondering when the shark would come out of nowhere  and grab my leg. Thank god that didn't happen. The deep blue and extremely gorgeous ocean has a surprise for you with every dive. 

I had some severe struggles with the breathing, mask filling with water, extreme ear pain, few too many scraps and many others but the experience of each dive was worth it all. I am going to say it again the experience under water is like no other, though an hour in the ocean through each dive would feel like and go by like minutes. But don't take only my word for it - try it for yourself, dive!

That Wonderland called A&N - Ramble 1: That some place new

My last few vacations have been about doing something interesting or going some place interesting - I am glad I got to do both with this year's vacation. 

I chose to come to the Andaman and Nicobar islands located to the south east of the Indian mainland (for the geographically challenged). Most people I know asked me why this place. I have two answers to that - one, that I had heard it is extremely pretty and mostly untouched by modern civilization and two, I had registered to learn to dive here with a local SCUBA school. Now Andaman and Nicobar islands for me was as much a mystery as it probably is for many of you. I learned about it in school geography, marked it on a map for my exams, knew the capital was Port Blair etc. 

My little of reading in the last few months got me a little more up to speed with the place. For one, Andaman and Nicobar islands consist of 500+ islands of which just about 20 are open to tourists/ civilians. Some of the remaining are inhabited by tribes completely untouched by the 21st century and live a traditional way of life. Some tribes have also shown extreme aggression when approached by urban man and thereby it was decided to keep the islands only to them. Some of the islands form the Indian military's tri command centre - army, navy and air force due to its location and the remaining some are covered by dense forests and are supposedly uninhabited. 

I got a detailed history lesson when I was there but let me give you some highlights:
- There is evidence of some occupation by Indian rulers from different dynasties in the early 16th & 17th century and possibly prior
- The Andamanese people are among the many tribes who make the original inhabitants of this cluster of island
- The mid to late 18th century saw the colonization of the island by the Danish East India company who later sold rights to the islands to the British towards the end of the 18th century. 
- Merchant ships from Europe that passed through these waters making their way up to Calcutta faced a lot of difficulties around these parts; One being the tribe here which was extremely aggressive so if any ship stopped here to load fresh water or got caught here due to unpredictable weather, these tribes more often than not killed the crew. Two, there was also a danger from Malay pirates (very similar to the Somalian pirates of our times) who roamed these waters and plundered passing ships. The merchants congregation then wrote to the Queen seeking British help and security as they believed this was also part of the British colony.
- Around 1789, the British conducted a survey to seek the best place to set up a base in these islands ultimately choosing Chatham island, now Port Blair. It is believed that they soon abandoned that settlement as they could not adjust to the unpredictable weather and new types of diseases that arose.
- Some 60 years later, they relooked at the islands to build a now more permanent settlement and soon after also began work on the infamous Cellular Jail in Port Blair.
- Viper island, a few kms off the Port Blair coast served as the first prison for convicts in the Andaman islands. The Cellular jail was built after this.
- Interesting fact: All British jails which were put in place in remote locations to hold prisoners of war, convicts etc was always headed by a Doctor so he could look after the medical well being of prisoners and staff there. His second in command would be an engineer who would look after the upkeep of the place.
- Port Blair (earlier called Port Cornwallis, after Admiral Cornwallis of the British Navy) is named after Lt. Archibald Blair, one of the member of the two person commission sent here by the British to survey the place and choose a suitable site to build a base.
- In 1942, the islands were briefly taken over by the Japanese. This invasion was at first welcomed by the Indians living and working for the British troops there but later proved to be a mistake as the Japanese turned out to be far more cruel than the British.

Leaving all the facts aside, it makes for a gorgeous tourist destination. The flight from Mumbai is about 4 hours. As one lands into Port Blair, it is one of the few airports I have seen that has jungles on either side as the flight slowly descends out of the clouds. Make sure you grab a window seat and admire the spectacle of distinct color palettes as the flight is getting ready to land. The aqua blue sea, shimmering white beach and dark green tree cover is one of the most beautiful sights I had seen in a very long time and in India - such a happy feeling. As you get closer to the runway, the surroundings change to include a few buildings and homes - the markings of a city. However, Port Blair is not a city; at least not like the Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai we are used to. One can at best call it a small town with an airport. Small hotels for tourists to stay at before they head off to the islands which serve decent food and offer a comfortable stay. You know what impressed me the most about the place - cleanliness. My god, how spic and span it was. The only "trash" I saw were fallen leaves, flowers and fruit and possibly bird droppings. People here like to keep the city clean, my driver says to me; it is a matter of pride for us. Well, send some of them to teach the rest of us I say; we badly need it. 

Cellular Jail courtyard, Port Blair. PC - Priya Pillai

Cellular Jail, Port Blair. PC - Priya Pillai

Port Blair has a fair bit to see and also serves as a stop for tourists who want to head out to the islands. However, if you do have a day, there is Ross Island which is a boat ride across and shows remains of the time the Japanese took over this island during WWII. There is also the North Bay island which has the lighthouse which features on the 20 rupee note. Also there is the very famous/ infamous Cellular Jail. Many of us know it as Kala Paani jail. History has seen a big chunk of our freedom fighters being sent here. No, you wouldn't know most of them but they were here; living in abysmal conditions, made to work in inhuman conditions, beaten and tortured daily and mainly trying to get their spirit broken. The most famous inmate here (at least that I knew of) was Vinayak Damodar Savarkar or Swatantra Veer Savarkar as our history books would call him. The place is no longer how it used to be with several wings been destroyed over time. Let me tell you this though, it is eerie as ever. Even with a few hundred tourists around the spot, when you step into one of the open prison cells; you will get chills down your spine. Imagine if those doors were closed and locked you inside with that little window. Scary! Many would compare it to Alcatraz in SF and in many ways it was. This gigantic fortress with water surrounding it on most sides - it was rumoured to be one of those "can't break out off" jails. There are a few museums around that dole out details of the history of the place and its place in the history of India. My personal recommendation is the newly opened Kala Paani museum on the outskirts of the city. It has only opened a month ago and it is generally unknown to most people so much so that Trip Advisor does not feature it. It is a treasure house of information about the islands, its people and its place in history. Extremely informative and if you are lucky, the owner himself gives you a tour detailing out the research he conducted.

 Kala Paani Museum. PC - Priya Pillai

Japanese printed Indian currency during invasion. PC - Priya Pillai

Port Blair is fairly cosmopolitan with a high no of immigrants from West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala. Hindi is the most commonly spoken language here followed by Bengali, Tamil and then local dialects. The Nicobar islands, I am told have more pronounced dialects. People are generally quite friendly with tourists as tourism seems to be the popular industry here. We landed on a Sunday and as luck would have it apart from the Sunday bazaar, all shops remain closed. Tourist spots too shut by 4:30 pm everyday. Not surprising though as the sun rises here by 5 am and sets by 5 pm. The island people begin their day by 6:30 am and wrap up by 4:30 pm. I was left wondering what to do when it is pitch dark at 5:30 pm. 

My next stop from here was the beautiful (and much awaited) Havelock island. My plan was to spend the next 8 days there and complete my Open Water as well as Advanced Diving course. Excited much!

The 30s Tamasha

Even before I delve into this post, I will confirm my stand that age is still a number for me. However the whole "getting older" cycle is showing me (and some of my friends) some signs of how life is slowly taking a different path. Being 30 and single is at the moment, a damn good phase of my life. I have the choice to design my life the way I want. However, the last few months I have seen some very obvious changes in my lifestyle and strangely many of my friends echo the same. Wondering if this is my start to ranting as a crabby old lady, hmmm but anyway; I know many others who echo these sentiments.

My sleep is extremely important for me - Not taking away the fact that it always was, however now I deliberately run away from late nights. I have no qualms making excuses to skip a dinner or late night movie esp on a weekday. I will still head out on a Friday or Saturday night but bring up a plan on a weekday and I go *facepalm* "no way Jose".

I have my choice of music that I want to listen to and I am easily awkward to the point of being hopelessly bored in a place that plays new age pop. It is embarrassing enough to try and Shazam the song and then read the details and figure "Damnnnn, who is Nikyee Heaton ???". Similarly I love the feeling of showing off my Michael Jackson knowledge and (don't judge me) boy band knowledge to those 90s born kids who never had a boy band poster in the bedroom and drooled over it (Fine, guilty again!)

I choose comfort above all. Be it my wardrobe or shoes, comfort triumphs all. Stylish comes a close second but now I see myself eyeing those 5 inch heels and going "I waaaaannnnnttttt but damn how my legs will kill me".

I have started to ensure I have a complete blood and the works check up done every 6 months and so. I also have taught myself to understand what all those numbers in those reports mean. I know that's no biggie, most people know that but it's a new one for me. Similarly I care a bit more about staying fit; I consciously try and avoid the junk that I love so much. I just realised its been two months since I had Joey's pizza *sob sob*

Although, there are a few things I have picked up when I was closing in on the 29/30 age mark which I am quite happy about. I have started to enjoy heading out and doing things on my own - watching plays for example. I like the solitude of my own company sometimes. I have picked up a cause that I feel very strongly about and am trying to do my bit. 

So what do you think, age or just laziness 😁 My brain keeps swinging between the two; I think it's usually an amalgamation of the two. 

You know how people make such a big deal about the whole "turning 30" bit; take it from me it is still just a number. Being happy in your own space triumphs all other feelings. Of course, sometimes the higher the number, the better it is - be it in a salary package or a bottle of wine 😜

Tatksang Monastery and the "behind the scenes" of that trek

It's been 6 months since our trip to that beautiful mountain kingdom of Bhutan and now ask anyone I know, I shamelessly promote tourism to that country. One thing I tried to do when I started on my trip was to maintain a diary of my day to day experiences in Bhutan - I feel bad to say that I failed miserably. The detailed posts only lasted 3 days and the rest were notes and scribbles of thing I found very interesting. This morning, I found that diary hidden and forgotten among some HR books and in that was a detailed description of the most amazing day I had in Bhutan - the climb to the Tatksang Monastery. While I gave the essence of it in my Bhutan post a few months ago, I definitely feel the need to put down the details of this particular day; so here we go.

As we arrived into Paro the previous evening, we were already mesmerized by the pristine beauty of this country. The stories of green mountains, rolling fog, beautiful trees from the fairy tales seemed very real here. 7:45 am, the next day and we were ready to go; this was the part we were looking forward to - the climb to the Tatksang Monastery. The Tatksang Monastery or Tiger's Nest Monastery as it is popularly known is built along a cliff in the Upper Paro valley. The story I was told goes: Guru Rinpoche arrived on this cliff on the back of a flying Tigeress from Tibet and meditated here for 3 years, 3 months, 3 weeks and 3 days in a cave, thus anointing the spot to build a monastery there. He is considered the Protector Saint of Bhutan and according to some, is believed to have introduced Buddhism to the region.  

A little after 8 am and we found ourselves at the car park at the base of the mountain. Our guide + driver Kinzang had come prepared with sticks to help us hike. This trail is like no other - Cut through the mountains just enough to be a path, it is rugged, rocky and if it rains, the mud turns to slush, turning the trail into a slippery slide. The trail does not start off easy; right from the base, it is rough. Your eyes need to be focused on the path ahead; you never know when one stray root or stone can knock you down. Heaven forbid, if you tumble a few steps far too left, you will find yourself rolling down the side of the valley. Having said that, everyone attempting the climb was very enthusiastic at the start. About a km into the climb and my sister decides that she cannot continue. No amount of pushing and prodding from me or Kinzang helped. She decided to head back down to the base and wait while we returned. 

My climb wasn't any easier. For one, I climbed a few kms ahead and threw up all my breakfast at the side of the mountain. For another, the mountains gave me a damn good reality check of my fitness level; the result - extremely unfit. I stopped every few kms to let my body relax and recuperate. The trek has two major stops before you reach the monastery; commonly called view point 1 & 2. The climb to the first view point was tough, very tough. After about 3/4th of the journey to the first view point, the monastery shows itself from across the valley, hidden slightly in the fog. What kept me going, apart from my determined desire to see the monastery were the people along the route. Believe me, you do find people who are more or less in your situation - huffing, puffing, stopping every few minutes. The encouragement I received was tremendous. Random strangers pushing you to keep going and you, in turn encouraging the other tired souls. The guides also keep you entertained with stories and legends from the place - how you need to make a trip to the monastery 3 times to have a deep desire fulfilled, how these mountains have also been the death place of tourists who have gone over the edge while taking pictures. 

The first view point arrives and I am so mighty proud of myself, am almost celebrating with a victory dance; although I know I still have a long way to go. The Monastery is now clearly visible, a valley away. As we were reaching there, my guide gets a call from the tourist office at the base that my sister has asked for a horse and will be arriving at the first view point in a while. As horses are allowed only up to this point, we had to wait before before we proceeded. Meanwhile, Kinzang told me of how all Bhutanese people including the Royal family make it to the monastery on foot. No horses or other preferential treatment for anyone. There are also a group of people who make the trip every week or sometimes twice a week carrying food supplies to the monks living there. Yep, my mind was officially blown. Carrying my own weight there was bad enough for me, now imagine doing that with a 50 kg bag of rice on your bag. Respect! My sister arrived 45 minutes later and meanwhile, I soaked in every bit of fresh mountain air that my lungs could take. The serenity is unbeatable. The chattering noises from the tourists resting here only lasts a while and the silence takes over again. 

As we continued onward, I could distinctly feel the air getting thinner making it harder and harder to breathe. My legs were no longer the problem. The nose and forehead has started throbbing, all signs of high altitude and cold weather. The energy to carry on was there but breathlessness became a concern for me. They say this can be taken care of by having altitude sickness medicine before you start your trip to such places. My sister had had some and I didn't and maybe that's why I felt this much more than her. A few short and deep breaths helped me make it every 100 steps. View point 2 was my short term goal -  On making it there, I would decide if I wanted to continue 350 steps down and 350 steps up to the monastery or I would be content with the view from there. A bite of an energy bar and some huffing and puffing later, view point 2 had arrived. The monastery was closer and in full view but still a valley across. The view is magical. Gleaming and glittering in the sunlight, it was beckoning everyone towards it. A little break to relax and take pictures and Kinzang had started egging us to move quickly. 

It was nearly 12 pm and the monastery shuts at 1 for lunch; which meant we would need to wait for an hour if we reached late. How I climbed down those rickety, half broken stone steps and back up again, I don't know but we made it. At 12:30 pm, we were at the monastery door. It is when you arrive at the spot that you fully realize the brilliance behind the construction of the place. Standing so precariously on the side of the cliff, it is almost floating in the air. I kept wondering how they managed to construct in the first place almost centuries ago and again recently about a decade or so ago, when the monastery caught fire and some parts had to be rebuilt. We quickly went from room to room and spent a few seconds in quiet reflection. All my thoughts were all and only in gratitude. I took a few seconds to peek down from one of their balcony area; you only see a never ending valley. The 4 hour trek up culminated in 30 minutes of seeing the monastery and it was time to head back down. Heading down is intense pressure on your knees and ankles but takes you far lesser time than climbing up. There are quite a few shortcut, very steep ones for the climb up mind you; that we avoided earlier and we happily took on the way down. 

Two hours flat and we were back where we started. You couldn't rub the smiles off our faces as hard as you tried. I knew my legs were going to give the minute I reached home but for now there was no pain. It was now time of an well deserved meal and more deserved rest. People visit the monastery for many reasons and to have many desires fulfilled; for me it was to see the sheer beauty of this place. For that and only that reason, I am always ready to go back to Bhutan.