Andamans

Feb 9:

Woke up at 3 in the morning to head to Andamans. This was the only market that I would be going to by flight, and it was booked at this unearthly hour. Got to Port Blair by 6 and the day pretty much began then itself. Went to the depot there - Jadwet. Spent a lot of time understanding everything - from the history of Andamans to the history of Jadwet, from the proprietor of the depot - Mr. Mohammad Jadwet, who we soon got to know was a complete rockstar of a guy.
We were booked at a hotel called Fortune, where the rooms overlooked the water, and it was simply beautiful. Had lunch there, did some work on our laptops and then went for the RS meet that got over only at 11. It was indeed a very long day.
However, in between lunch and the RS meet, we squeezed a small visit to a beach called Wandoor for about 2 hours, and it was the most unexpected and amazing things we experienced.
The beach itself was white sand with felled trees because of the tsunami. Then we took a speed boat to a spot where another boat waited. This second boat had a glass floor so that we could see the sea bed, and this was the amazing part of the impromptu visit.
The corals and plants we saw were really awesome. All three of us kept staring at this. Then we spent a short while at an island there, the name I forget coz Murugesan was calling it something very complex.
Murugesan here was a complete laugh riot. He keeps saying the funniest things. He saw something in the water, and suddenly went running behind it saying "catch catch". It was such a funny sight. Then we went and saw what it was, and it was a Sting Ray. We had to tell him that it was one of those that even killed Steve Irwin! He left the poor thing alone after that, but not after managing to take a good photo with it. Murugesan and the camera are one deadly combination. He just goes ballistic taking photos with it. Especially those of his boss Bishakh. He shoots Bishakh staring at the water, staring at the sky, just about every last thing that Bishakh does! At one point, he was even shooting his footsteps in the sand! Murugesan even took some photos of mine, only they were my backside. Quite a few of them actually. Dunnno what his fetish for that was.
Bishakh wrote a "BB" in the sand and took a photo of it. Murugesan doesn't understand what it was, and asked him if it meant "bad boy"! Bishakh had to remind him that its his name, Bishakh Balakrishnan. Murugesan even came up with a name for photos against the sun, which typically shows only the sillhuettes of the people in the photo. He called them "blackie"!
He also has a tendancy to add "The' before everything. So its "THe Blackie photo", "The Bishakh".. So much, that we started calling him "The Murugesan". There can be only one of his kind!
After satiating ourselves with photos here, we got back to Port Blair for the RS meet. This was something everyone really enjoyed, as never have people from mainland come to acknowledge the work people at Andamans do for HUL, and it was indeed a very big market for us. So we told them how important they were to us, gave them awards, and had a nice dinner with all of them. It was a very nice experience, but a really tiring day. First day in Andamans, and worked 18 hours!



Feb 10:

Visited the biggest RS in Andamans - Vincent Traders, and realized the RS was in the worst shape one could find an RS! Salesmen being doubled as delivery boys, horrible godown, bad beat plans.. Spent a lot of time explaining things and tyring to get some corrections in place. Then visited an outlet of another RS - CCS, and saw more stock pressure of some of our products like Red Label and Squash, than anything I've ever seen in Chennai! It was stunning to see things like this here.
We had to wrap up the day by lunch, coz post that there was a ferry that was taking us to Havelock. Had lunch at a place called Lighthouse Residency, and though it was really small place, it served some of the best food we had. The fish was out of the world! Gobbled a lot of food there, and then boarded a ferry called Bambooka.
It was a regular ferry, but the only one at this time, as the more popular "Makruzz" ferry, co-owned by our very own Jadwet was plying only in the morning. However, we had the best seats in Bombooka, as an entire VIP lounge was booked for us, while the rest of the junta sat in the cattle class of over 100 seats. We enjoyed this trip. Stood out on the deck as well for some time, and Bishakh and I were just checking out these 2 really good looking firang chicks, and all of a sudden, they start making out!
Reached Havelock and there was a car waiting for us which took us to a beach called Radha Nagar beach where we were told to catch the sunset. This was by far the best beach I have ever seen. I would rate this right up with the vast white sand beaches of Karwar. The water was a brilliant colour, and it was so soft and inviting. It just dissappeared in the distance, merging perfectly with the sky. I just couldnt resist taking my clothes off and getting into the water. It was probably the best swim in a beach I've ever had. One could easily confuse it for just a big clean swimming pool!

After the sunset at the beach, we went to check in at Siver Sands resort. The place was really expensive, so three of us decided to share one singe cottage, as it was anyway big enough to house even five people in all! After checking in, we went to this hotel called Wild Orchid which is famous for its food, and had Red Snappers and Chicken. Really good food. I was having my usual whiskey and coke and Seema was having her usual Vodka and Organge juice. Since we both really wanted Bishakh to drink, and since he only has wine, and since Wild Orchid only serves wine in full bottles, we bought an entire bottle and did bottoms up on exquisite wine towards the end to wrap up dinner soon.
We had to wrap up soon coz first of all, 9 was the last order at Wild Orchid. Whole of Andamans is just on a different time zone. Lunch closes by 1, dinner by 9. It all goes with the sunrise at 5a.m and sunset at 5p.m. But more importantly, we had to close dinner soon as when I walked out to make a phone call, a couple on a bike asked me where a place called Coconut Groove was, coz there was a party happening there. So I went back and told Bishakh and Seema to wrap up soon so that we could go for the party. But by the time we went to Coconut Groove, it was 10, and too late for a party to be going on in Andamans! What a place.
So we just got back to our resort, and on the way, we were laughing at how we hadn't paid for anything at all. Ever since we came to Havelock, everything was taken care of, and we only needed to pay once we got back to Port Blair, at the offices these places had in Port Blair. In fact, the waiter at Wild Orchid even came and asked us if we need any cash, coz he was told that we only have cards, and may not have money for anything here. Too crazy! We were of course going to pay for everything booked for us here, even if it was a VIP lounge on the ferry that we normally may not have booked for ourselves, but to be taken such good care, that they'd even give us money to enjoy ourselves was a bit much.
Back at Silver Sands, we bought some bottles of beer, went and sat by the beach, drank and cracked jokes till way past midnight. We called it a night by around 1, coz we had to wake up and go snorkeling the next day.

Feb 11:

Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale. Focus. Can't breathe through the nose. Focus. Have to force the breathe out of the mouth. Inhale. Shit, water in my mouth. Surface, surface. Take the tube out. Spit out the water. Open the goggles. Eye hurts. Salt water. Wipe my eyes, blow my nose, put the goggles back on. Put the tube into the mouth. Bite it. That's the technique. Alright, ready to do this again..
Man, I never thought snorkeling could be this tough! Woke up this morning with a splitting headache, took a bath, had a tea, and once the rock music quietened down in the head, went out and had breakfast. Then a small jeep ride to a beach adjacent to Silver Sands resort, and a long boat ride to a beach called Elephant beach. We kept wondering why we had to come so far, and the beach was so sad, with so many tourists. We were just not appreciating any of this snorkeling that we decided to do today.
To top it, I decided to go snorkel on my own. Told the guy I know how to swim. So he gave me a really uncomfortable life jacket and I was attempting this thing I was doing for the first time, and just not liking any of it. Gulping salt water, eyes burning. It was painful!
Just then, a fish swims right in front of me. It looked just like Nemo's friend. Wow! I just follow the sight of the fish, and suddenly, corals! Tons of them. Sea weeds, Water mushrooms, they were all sprouting in front of me. I was just cribbing this whole time, and suddenly, I was awestruck! This was the most beautiful sight I have ever seen. It was straight out of an NGC underwater expedition episode, only this time, right in front of my eyes. I forgot the ordeal the equipment was causing me and kept staring at the water bed. I resurfaced numerous times - to either adjust my life jacket, or spit out the salt water, or pour out the water that entered the goggles. But I kept at it, coz what I was witnessing was worth it and so much more. Our boat guy who was helping Bishakh and Seema came for me, and exchanged my life jacket with a water tube. He said it would be much more comfortable, which I soon completely agreed with, and also pointed me towards the place where the water bed became more astounding than ever. I snorkled for quite some time, and just before heading back, decided to try something adventurous. Let go of the water tube, dive to the bed, and pick a souvenir! Needed a lot of guts to do it. I am not that great a swimmer to manage myself back to shore without the tube. But I just had to do it.
So I did it. Took of my mouthpiece and made my way down. Grabbed the first coral I could get my hands on and came back up. The water tube had gone quite a distance away from me. I swam quickly towards it and caught it before I start to panic. Managed to do it, and then tried repeating the stunt and picking two morefor Bishakh and Seema, But I just didnt have the energy or probably even the balls to try it again. So I just swam back to shore, and realized this was quite painful. Used up pretty much my last reserves of energy to get back, and was thankful I didnt attempt the second round of coral picking.
The moment I got back, I walked towards the other two to tell them my valiant efforts of stealing a coral, and that's when Bishakh tells me that I was indeed stealing it, as its not allowed to take anything from the water bed here. In fact, the boat guy even took it and kept it aside as there were some officials on the beach and he said we'd get into trouble if he sees it with me. One official even came and spoke to us just 5 minutes later when we were changing, asking us how is life and telling us to conserve the place. He didnt notice the coral, but I decided to just drop it back in the water after all that. Managed to take one photo with it though - my big accomplishment in Havelock!
The boat journey back was quite painful. For one, I was really tired and was trying to sleep, and two, the boat kept rocking crazy this time, and water kept splashing on me. After getting back on shore, Bishakh tells us that he was contributing to the waves in splashing water on us, and neither Seema nor I noticed coz we were trying so hard to sleep. What a crazy guy! Ended up getting all my clothes wet, and I was as it carrying so few.
Back on shore, we got back to our rooms, took a much needed shower to get rid of all the grime that finds itself in strange places when you spend too much time in a beach, checked out, and had lunch at Silver Sands itself, as Wild Orchid closes at 1:30p.m for lunch. What a crazy place this is. Last night our last order for dinner was at 9p.m and today this! This place is just 2 hours hours ahead of the rest of the world!
Silver Sands lunch was really disappointing. The place is really nice, and the guy at the reception told us it is the biggest property on Havelock, but they have a long way to go with the food.
After lunch, we drove to an outlet of the RS CCS, and was shocked to see it. The kiosks at Radhanagar which were not under our coverage was so much better stocked with our products than this place. Worst part, he gets serviced only once a month and was carrying expired stocks!

After the brief market visit, went to the port and took the Makruzz - best ferry in Port Blair, so claim hoards of billboards all across Port Blair. Once again, we were given the best seats in the house. There was Delux, Premium and Royale! We get Royale. There are just 8 of them, in the 200 odd seater Makruzz. Jadwet really arranged all of this in style for us.
Got off at Port Blair to Murugesan and Jadwet waiting for us, and headed to Fortune to check in once again. Watched a sound and light show at the Cellular Jail and took a walk around the park next to it. All of it gave us a brief preview of the history of Andamans and it was good witnessing all of that. Then went to a hotel called Sinclairs which had a beautiful view of the beach. It overlooked a very famous beach in Port Blair called Corbyn's Cove. Dinner at Sinclairs was a mixed bag. Terrible starters, but awesome main course. Murugesan provided the entertained here as well. Started talking about all his girlfriends. His exact line was "once I was a playboy. I had one girlfriend doing pharmacy, one in arts, and one in science". What a guy! And he's telling all of this not to Bishakh or me, but to Seema! "The Murugesan" rocks.

Feb 12:
Flight out of Andamans was at noon, and we had a ton of things to do before that. Visit both the RS again, pay for all our expenses at Havelock, buy some souvenirs.. Thanks to everything in Port Blair being 5 minutes away from each other, we managed to complete everything well in time. In fact, we even had enough time to grab a bite at the airport hotel. We just had to have fish once again, and thankfully they were serving it there. The fish didnt disappoint, just like everything else at Andamans. The place, the hospitable people, the numerous things to see and do - Andamans is really one hell of a holiday destination. If only there were more than just a KF and IC flight, plying between more than just the Chennai and Kolkatta sector, at prices lesser than the 12k minimum they operate on, this place could really be a fabulous holiday destination - maybe even the best in India!