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Kavita Kanan Chandra
The emerald and blue sea surrounding the Indian archipelago of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands beckons tourists for deep sea diving and snorkelling for the beautiful coral reefs that exist under its sparkling surface. The lush tropical forest, swaying palms and long stretches of pristine beaches of white sand makes for an ideal vacation.
The most sought-after tourist destination today, however, conceals the murkiest chapter in our country’s colonial rule.
The brutality of political prisoners in the solitary confinement of the notorious Cellular Jail in Port Blair is spine-chilling. Far away from the mainland India, the islands became synonymous with ‘Kaala-Pani’. Most revolutionaries of India’s freedom struggle died unsung and unknown suffering extreme torture inflicted on them by merciless British wardens.
Now a national memorial, it is one pilgrimage that every Indian should take to honour supreme sacrifice of our valiant freedom fighters.
The Cellular Jail completed in 1906 had seven-pronged structure with honeycombed corridors and a central tower. Each cell measuring 13.5 feet by 7 feet housed one convict in solitary confinement. Even before its construction of the jail, the Andaman Islands were used as a prison to send in exile the prisoners of India’s First War of Independence of 1857.
Even today when you step inside a cell, the horror of captivity is not lost and silent screams seem to reverberate. With only three surviving prongs of the jail and gallows in the premises, this national memorial also has a museum, photos and names of freedom fighters and a library.
A visit to the museum torments as haunting depiction of convicts in fetters and chains bleeding with pain stare back at you. The mood of the tourists becomes sombre as they move from one soul-shattering scene to another, seething with rage or deeply numbed by it. The perverse nature and sadistic nature of tormentors rattles you as scenes of daily floggings, torture and hard labour beyond the convicts’ physical capacity is displayed.
As the momentum of freedom struggle picked up, more and more prisoners were deported to ‘Kala Pani’. The revolutionaries accused in the Alipore bomb blast, Lahore conspiracy case, Gaya conspiracy case, Chittagong armoury raid and others were sent to Cellular Jail. Many distinguished political prisoners like the Savarkar brothers, Pandit Parmanand, Ladha Ram, Indu Bhushan Roy, Pulin Das, Trailokyanath Chakravarthy, Gurmukh Singh, Babu Ram Hari among others were subjected to atrocities here. There were countless hangings, suicides, cases of insanity, failed jailbreaks and hunger strikes.
It was impossible for any prisoner to produce his daily quota of 30 pounds of coconut oil, make ropes and extract 10 pounds of mustard oil. They were hardly given much food or water. Frail in body they failed in their daily tasks. It was enough reason to put them into fetters, neck rings, handcuffs and shackles while the cruel wardens hurled abuses at them. It’s unnerving to even think how the spirits of even the strongest were crushed. Many perished while only few survived to recount the horrific tales.
When Mahavir Singh, a convict in the Lahore Conspiracy Case, sat on hunger strike protesting the inhuman treatment, he was force-fed milk that entered his lungs causing death. His body was tied to a stone and thrown in the sea. It was only in late 1930s that things began to change and in 1938, political prisoners were repatriated from the cellular jail. For short while, it came under the Japanese in early 1940s but the British reclaimed it. With India’s freedom, the jail ceased to exist and a dark chapter was closed for good.
The eternal flame of freedom, ‘Swatantra Jyoti’ erected in the vicinity of the Cellular Jail reminds us of the supreme sacrifice of our freedom fighters. The son et lumiere (sound and light show) should not be missed. As actor Om Puri narrates the history of Cellular Jail through an old Banyan tree that stands as mute witness to the sacrifice of those brave men, silence prevails as spectators fight their tears. This is one befitting tribute to the martyrs that also make you value the hard-earned freedom in new light.
Factfile
The Cellular Jail has a museum, an art gallery, a photo gallery.
Open daily except National holidays.
Timings: 9 am-4.45 pm.
Lunch break: 12.30 pm-1.30 pm (Entry ticket available only till 4.15 pm)
Entry ticket: Rs 30
Photo camera: Rs 200
Video camera: Rs 1000
Film shooting: Rs 10000
(prior permission needed)
Entry ticket for Son-et-Lumiere
(Light and Sound show): Rs 50
Timings: 6 pm (Hindi), 7.15 pm (Hindi) except Monday, Wednesday, Friday when the second show is in English
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