India’s best kept secret

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: island is home to Radhanagar beach, hailed as the best beach in Asia by Time magazine in 2004. The only way I can describe this virgin island is “breathtakingly beautiful.” You can easily distinguish five to six shades in the blue-green sea! You wouldn’t have enough of it too soon. Spend a day here — it’s ideal for sun bathing and you are sure to come back with an enviable tan.

The next day had no respite either. I left the guesthouse by four in a cab and headed for Baratang, 100 kms from Port Blair. It is famous for its nature trail, limestone caves and mud volcanoes. En route is a 50-km stretch of tropical forests which the Jarawa tribe dominates. The stretch is cordoned off at both ends and vehicles are allowed to move only in convoys. The convoy timings are as strictly followed. A couple of years back several incidents of attacks by the Jarawas were reported. However, trust-building exercises by the administration has helped them realise that they face no threat from the tourists. If you are lucky you may site a few Jarawas but stopping the vehicle or any interaction with them is strictly forbidden. “It is a world out of this one,” that is all you feel when you spot the tribals. It was a long day — hopping in and out of the cab, the steamer and the speedboat. It made me realise that life on an island is indeed tough.

Visit to the Red Skin island the next day was the most memorable. I was thoroughly checked before getting on the steamer and sent back to the ticket counter when I could not show them the permit for the bottles of water I was carrying. At the counter I was asked to deposit Rs 100, refundable only if I could produce the bottles of water on return. My plastic bag was promptly replaced with jute one — all for one buck. Now if that’s not impressive, what is? Red Skin island, like Jolly Buoy, is famous for snorkelling.