<< 1 >>
Rating: 
Summary: Islands of Lost Souls
Review: Perhaps due to their remote location, surrounded by treacherous seas in the Bay of Bengal off the coast of Burma, the Andaman Islands have always been a source of fear and fascination for travellers.Marco Polo, in the 13th century, reported that their inhabitants had the heads of dogs. In the 17th century, even the most daring buccaneers were afraid to harbour there, believing that they would be killed and, according to one French captain "dressed for food". In 1890, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle would pit Sherlock Holmes against a murderous Andaman cannibal in The Sign of Four; while in the 1990s, the native islanders - those few that remain - were still described by the media as living in the Stone Age. The Andamans were settled 40-50,000 years ago and since then they have seen a constant flux of visitors and would-be colonisers, both well and ill-intentioned. In the past 700 years or so the French, English, Indians, Japanese, Malaysians, and Americans have all left their mark with ports, prisons, hospitals, a great many diseases and even more settlers, who today number about 400,000. The islands' discovery by the rest of the world brought war, piracy, imprisonment, slavery and sickness. It's little wonder that only a few hundred of the original islanders remain, split into four tribal groups. One of these, the Great Andamanese, has only three breeding women left. For all their paradisiacal beauty, the story of the islands has not been a happy one. As the book's subtitle suggests, this is not just a journey through space, but also through time. Elegantly merging history, travelogue and ethnography, David Tomory paints as complete picture of the islands and their inhabitants as we are likely to read. Whether bumping along white beaches in an autorickshaw, baking inside a metal ferry cabin or hallucinating in a sweaty hospital bed, he bombards us with information so effortlessly as to be almost subliminal. Cannibalism, or at least the threat of it, has always been central to the Andaman story, and Tomory does a fine job picking at the bones of this persistent rumour. He suggests, rather convincingly, that the cannibal tales were concocted centuries ago by Malay slavers seeking to deter others from exploiting the islands and their diminutive inhabitants. In fact, the sole documented case of cannibalism here dates only as far back as July 1945, when a steamship full of Indian prisoners was thrown overboard by their Japanese captors. One of the few survivors admitted that they had eaten a dead comrade out of desperation. Slavery and captivity are recurring themes of the islands' story, climaxing with the establishment of a high-tech, highly brutal, Victorian jail in1897. The building survives, reminding tourists that there was a time when any visit to the archipelago was likely to be a permanent one. The various attempts to reform criminals sent to the islands mirror those to "civilise" the indigenous tribes, whose few remaining descendants now live in a kind of open captivity on "protected reserves" that provide an all-too familiar echo of the past. Tomory laces his book with mordant humour, but there is no escaping the underlying sense of sadness. Just as the Andamanese provide a tangible link to humankind's ancient past, a kind of genetic petri dish, so they serve as a microcosm of the entire history of human expansion, colonisation, civilisation and, inevitably, annihilation. This is an engaging and engrossing book, and Tomory is a fine guide. Anyone who ever plans to visit the Andaman Islands, whether to confront the centuries-old ghosts of pirates, cannibals and murderers, or simply to indulge in a spot of fishing or snorkelling on "India's Hawaii", will surely want to read it beforehand, and take it with them when they go. Meanwhile, anyone seeking to lose them selves in a model microhistory, whose lessons concern all of us, should look no further. And if we ever do crack the secrets of time travel, this book should immediately be posted back to the 18th century, when it might just prevent a tragedy.
Rating: 
Summary: A Travelogue to the Andaman Islands
Review: This is a travel rather than a scientific book. Like any good travelogue it contains a great deal of interesting historical and ethnological information in easily digestable tidbits. It is a good read and is small enough to carry around. Indeed, it is light enough to be read with one hand while - wait for it! - sitting down and holding on to your backpack against thieves with the other.
The cannibal-tag of the title is misleading. The Andamanese have always been accused of it but there is no evidence whatever that they have never been cannibals. I must mention this here even if I know that I am being a nit-picking fuddy-duddy. Cannibalism sells books so let us be glad that books are being bought.
"Cannibal Isles" despite its title is written in excllent and fluent English. If you are curious about your destination but do not want to carry an entire library with you, take this book, along with Mukherjee's , and you'll be better-informed than 99% of the locals when you arrive at Port Blair. Tomory is strong on local conditions and atmosphere as they are today, giving great tips on how to deal with local bureaucrats and hotel keepers (who are often one and the same, physically as well as in their attitude). Tomory is an old India hand who knows his stuff. The story of how he got his ticket in Calcutta for the boat to Port Blair is highly instructive for advanced students on how you can get what you want from petty local bureaucrats. He has discovered a fundamental secret of the Indian bureaucracy but you will have to buy the book to find out. My lips are sealed.
The description of a Soviet-style culture-speech on p. 17 against malfunctioning loudspeakers onboard ship is hilarious. Everybody who has ever been to a communist country will recognize the scene. While India's embarrassing "tilt" toward the Soviet Union just before the latter's even more embarrassing exitus is ancient history on mainland India. In the Andamans, on the other hand, the Soviet atmosphere of incompenensible speeches, bureaucratic bumbling and "paranoid security crap" (as someone calls it on page 7) still survives.
There is a fascinating description of historical piracy in the Bay of Bengal and its connections with the "legal" navies operating against them. There is material for dozens of action movies here that neither Holly- nor Bollywood have tapped into yet. Unfortunately, there are no references anywhere in this book as to where the author has unearthed this and other interesting historical material. This reviewer, for one, would have liked to follow up those piracy leads.
A few inaccuracies occur, such as calling the Akar-Bale tribe Aka-Baie throughout (the tribe had a few alternative names but Baie was never one of them). That Tomory unquestioningly accepts the horror stories of "Kalapani" and the Cellular jail irritates but is understandable - these stories are sacrosanct at Port Blair, if not historically accurate. For example, the claim that "nobody has ever returned from the Andamans" is made several times. In fact, there was an official repatriation program for rehabilitated prisoners in the later stages of the penal colony and a few convicts actually escaped successfully. Reality, as always, is not so simple. Tomory also accepts without question the version current at Port Blair of Subhas Chanda Bose and his raising of the first flag of Indian independence in 1943 - under Japanese tutelage. There is no hint of the mindbogglingly convoluted events surrounding this early declaration of Indian independence in the Andamans. That the stamps prepared for Bose's future India were printed in Germany is mentioned - but not what sort of Germany it was that printed them.
For a good travelogue these are minor errors and ommissions that do not detract from the value of the book,.
If you are interested in the Andamans and/or want to go there anytime soon - put this book on your reading list.
George Weber
The Andaman Association
<< 1 >>
| 
