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Kalapani kaleidoscope

It once had a self-contained township built entirely by convicts in pre-Independent India. A visit to Ross Island in the Andaman and Nicobar will bring your history text-books alive, says G. Suryanarayana.

Visitors to the Andaman and Nicobar Islands can make an interesting stopover at Ross Island -- the site of the dreaded `Kalapani' punishment meted out to convicts by British rulers in pre-Independence India. A penal settlement was establish ed on the island in 1857 where hardcore criminals were thrown alongside political prisoners and freedom fighters. The place lost some of its prominence after the Cellular Jail came up at Port Blair, but it continued to be a centre of British power until the Japanese occupied it in 1942 during the Second World War.

By the time the Britishers regained the island in 1945, the freedom struggle had reached a critical point. The penal settlement was eventually abolished and, today, the island with its horrific history has became a place of tourist interest.

The Andaman and Nicobar Islands in the Bay of Bengal are covered with dense evergreen forests filled with rich flora and fauna and a variety of marine life. Only 38 of the 570 islands in the group are inhabited, some of them by aboriginal tribes.

Ross Island is named after a British surveyor, Sir Daniel Ross, who chose it to establish a colony in 1789. It was soon given over to the incarceration of hardcore criminals from several British colonies around the world. However, due to health hazards t he island was abandoned in 1796 and, 60 years later, the penal settlement was established after the outbreak of the First War of Indian Independence.

The British found the island ideal to cut off the freedom fighters from the mainland. The first batch of 200 convicts was brought by ship from Calcutta by Dr. James Pattison Walker on March 4, 1858. The prisoners were bound in chains and forced to do har d labour; many are believed to have committed suicide due to the inhuman treatment meted out by the superintendent, Dr. Walker.

At night, the convicts were left in the open under the trees, with the surrounding dark sea and sky for company -- thus the name `Kalapani' or black water punishment. Some of the convicts who tried to escape through the sea to Aberdeen Island on the oppo site side were killed by the aborigines on reaching there.

When the Wahibs and Moplahs of Malabar launched their first anti-British movement in 1857, Ross Island was teeming with imprisoned freedom fighters and other revolutionaries. Even as the population increased, the authorities utilised the inmates for deve lopmental activities on the islands.

The authorities even considered importing the families of the convicts to increase manpower. They allowed the convicts to marry among themselves and provided agricultural land for cultivation. The British administration took up the construction of severa l buildings, clubs, officers' mess, public halls, worship places, tennis courts and even a power house to supply electricity on the island. Soon, there were other infrastructural facilities such as educational institutions, bazaars, a swimming pool, prin ting press, post office, library and so on. Many of the prisoners were deployed as peons and household servants and soon became self-supporting individuals. In fact, life on Ross Island took on such modern contours that it was termed the `Paris of East'. Lord Mayo, the Viceroy of India, visited the island in 1872 and praised the administration for its work.

In the course of its chequered history, Ross Island suffered at the hands of natural calamities -- a severe cyclone in 1891 destroyed many buildings and human lives and in 1941, a powerful earthquake shook the place and caused further damage.

During the Japanese occupation, all the British on the island were made prisoners of war (PoWs). The Japanese also damaged many of the buildings and establishments on the island. During this period, the revolutionary freedom fighter, Netaji Subhas Chandr a Bose, visited the island and held discussions with the Japanese authorities for the return of the island to Indian rule. Netaji also hoisted the Indian national flag for the first time at Port Blair. However, when the Japanese forces vacated Ross Islan d in October 1945, it was re-occupied by the British whose first act was to abolish the penal settlement by granting pardon to all the convicts, who were then repatriated to the mainland.

Life on Ross Island was never the same again. All the existing comforts vanished with the destruction of the buildings and facilities. Due to security reasons, the island came under the control of the Indian Navy.

Tourists can visit a small museum, `Smritika', maintained by the Navy, which brings alive the hoary past of the island. The ruins of the once-famous buildings set in bewitching natural surroundings tell their own story.

Fact file

How to get there:

Air -- There are flights from Chennai and Calcutta to Port Blair on alternative days. From Port Blair you can take a steamer to Ross Island.

Sea -- You can travel from Chennai, Visakhapatnam or Calcutta on specified days to Port Blair.

Where to stay: The Government Guest House as well as several private hotels.

When to go: The climateis tropical with minimum and maximum temperatures of 23 degrees Celsius and 30 degrees Celsius respectively. The best time would be from October to April.

Pic.: The Ross Memorial stands on the sea-shore.