My cousin Dr Madhuri Gore recently posted this photograph of what she called the "ultimate remains of a tree" spotted by her on the Elephant Beach, Havelock Island, The Andamans.
So many of the islands that make up the Andaman Islands, are full of old ruins of the various activities, punitive and otherwise , carried out by the British, against Indians fighting for Independence; like an island (Neil?), where so called "enemies of state were hung" , and the famous Cellular Jail in Port Blair , where one may still see the torture methods used on prisoners.
It must have been interesting being a tree on one of these islands. A life longevity akin to those who have lived a simple, disciplined life in consonance with Nature, and then a message to those of us left behind.
Witness to war,
Swarming British, perhaps a few
Japanese across the islands,
punishing Indians
fighting for Independence,
then seeing jails built.
What a life.
The presence since then
of the Indian Navy
and tons of mainland folks
crowding to enjoy the beaches
and history.
And again,
what a Life
and
what a Death.
Like the Jarawas*
decimated in their own land,
now only 423,
she lies on the beach,
one more tree ,
greenless, motionless,
shaken to her roots
by not just the earthquake
and tsunamis,
holding out her hands to the Sky,
asking
"what have we become? ,
a insensitive, violent, thoughtless people?"
before destructing to pieces
and flowing into the Deep...
What a Death.
*Jarawas : Native adivasis / indegenous people from the Andamans, who have inhabited these islands before anyone from the modern colonising world landed up there. Excessive thoughtless interference and interaction by the outside world threatens the health of these tribes.
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