KatchutravelsThis is part of a series, where I take my little son with me on my travels to help him understand responsible and sustainable tourism, so that he grows up to be a responsible citizen who can help inspire others to also understand the importance of respecting nature and nurturing it. In this series, we explore the Andaman Islands as part of #ResponsibleTravelForKids series. Can travel be made more meaningful and enjoyable for kids? Lets explore and find out. Check Part-0 , Part-1 , Part-2 , Part-3 ,Part-4 ,Part-5 and Part-6
The sun had made its way, by the time my monologue with the greens around had ended. The little world at Kalapathar was now the shared responsibility of other people and I. I woke up in the dawn, with a powerful feeling that darkness has that makes you feel that you own the trees, twigs, paths and nature. The sun had found its way through the crevices that the leaves and trees had hidden the beach from, and the golden hour was looking beautiful. The rain brought happiness, and the sunshine too brought happiness, and the transition was never noticed as the focus was just on the beautiful. It was like 2 people standing on a rug, and the rug was pulled without either of the legs getting affected. Rain or Shine, the beauty of nature was something I was sold on.
The sun cometh! The monsoon makes way for the sun-Kalapathar Village in Havelock Island( Andamans-India)
I sat on the beach, and kept my eye frame of reference as one of the sea shells and kept staring at it, while the waves kept crashing nearby. I read somewhere that sea shells bring good luck, and I only wished that I have a peaceful holiday and looked at the waves going in and out, leading to a rythm. I did this for a few minutes before the sun’s rays on my body got a little too warm for my city bred comfort. Every time I stare at the sea, I am in a state of trance trying to comprehend the world and the way it was created.
The sea shells out to sun bathing-Kalapathar Beach in Havelock Island (Andamans-India)
The leaves were welcoming the morning sun, and the golden shade on the sea confirmed that today was out to be a sunny start to the day despite the seemingly monsoon laced dawn. The dewy freshness of the morning was replaced by the sun’s healing warmth. If ever the plants were depressed by the rains, they were washing themselves in the bath of the earliest sunshine. The Andamans anyway has sunlight coming much earlier than the mainland, so the plants get to get light on their body earlier and quicker.
The sun’s rays illuminate the plants on Kalapathar Beach(Havelock Islands in Andamans-India)
I went back to my room to read a book on my kindle cloud reader on my mac. I was relaxing by the room, staring at the forest that the end of the hotel path opened out to. I went to the nearby petty shop run by a localite and sat on her mud floor trying to make conversations with Parvati who runs the shop. It was almost an hour of conversations as I sipped 2 glasses of tea. I figured out that Parvati’s parents had come here in 1961/71 when India moved all of the Bangladeshi immigrants from Kolkata to the Andaman Islands, giving them land. Parvati has grown in Havelock, and speaks Bengali which is the dominant language in the Andaman Islands. The ‘modified modern natives’ of the islands are bengali speaking Bangladeshi’s who have been living here for over 6 decades. The local tribes of the Andamans now live in North Sentinel Islands, which still remains out of tourist bounds.
I bought some chocolates for Nandu, who by then had woken up and walked over to the shop. Nandu quickly took the chocolates and asked me to come to the beach. We went with our beach bucket and found a spot to perch ourselves.
‘Working from Home’-View out from my room at Flying Elephants-Andamans
Nandu’s Lesson #1- The sea is a beautiful place to spend time, even though its warm, and we never do this in the city. Whenever it feels warm, apply sun cream lotion and take a dunk into the sea.
Nandu’s Lesson #2- Youtube is a great place to learn art, but there’s no place quite like the beach and mother nature to pick random twigs, sand. shells and the sea water to learn about elements and art work. There is life beyond Youtube and a 100 MBPS internet connection!
Nandu’s Lesson #3- Life is always better with Sandy shoes. He had no restriction on how dirty he could be while he was playing.
This part of the beach had very less waves, and one could walk into the water for quite a distance. I was anyway following Nandu wherever we went, so there was no danger from the sea. We decided to try our hand at carving some sand art from some of the templates we had. I seemed to have made an airplane and a car from the template we had. Nandu screamed in joy and appreciated that I had done it so well. I was gleaming in joy. My day had been made, since my little son came over and hugged me around the beach art. I took him for an extra ride in the water doing ‘Uppu Mootai’ where i would act like a crawling tortoise and Nandu would sit on my back and we would walk on the ocean floor. A few more flip flops in water, and our stomachs became empty enough.We just had enough energy to walk across to the restaurant at Flying Elephants.
Beach Therapy making sand art at Kalapathar Beach-Havelock Island in Andamans-India
There was no clock or watch needed at the Andaman Islands since we were in sync with nature. We thought it must be about 3 pm, but we realised that it was just about 12:30. There was something about the Andamans that made you start early and feel very productive with a lot of time still lying to use. For some reason, if you lose an hour in the morning you keep searching for that the whole day and never seem to find that extra one hour. But now that we were at sea, it seemed like planet Earth’s most potent way to remedy for stress. Being connected to nature in these couple of days, made me cringe and feel a little immature for needing a mobile alarm clock for me to wake up to.
Motion on the Beach-Sand art for an airplane and car-Kalapathar Beach in Havelock Island-India
G E T T I N G T H E R E
We stayed at ‘The Flying Elephants’ in Havelock Island (Kalapathar Village). Check room rates, and facilities here. You can reach Havelock Island by a ferry/helicopter from Port Blair.
Between Port Blair to Havelock, there are 2 private ferries (Green Ocean and Makruzz) and 1 Government Ferry. The private ferries have online advanced booking, while the booking window for the government ferry is 3-4 days in advance. You would need a local/agent to book the government ferry for you.
There are daily flights to Port Blair from Delhi, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Mumbai and Chennai. Carriers that service Port Blair include, Jet Airways, Air India, SpiceJet and GoAir. Round-trip fares vary in price depending on how early you book. It usually costs a minimum of about 11,000 INR return from Chennai. A 15kg check-in luggage limit exists for most air-planes.
There are no international flights from Port Blair.
