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| With the onset of clouds, the water became dark, "Kala paani" |
The sun playing hide and seek with
the clouds, the soft breeze gently tickling the waves of the sea and the lush green palms swaying lazily in the
nearby islands, emerald was the colour of the moment. Balmy air swept the place
though contaminated once in a while by the whiffs of diesel emissions of the
boat.
As we reached the beautiful island,
the attendant at the Vessel announced that we had only 15 minutes at our
disposal and we could see the “Phansi Ghar” (Gallows Room) and the Court at the
island. A real “Phansi Ghar”! A cold
shiver went down my spine.
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| Steep steps lead to the Gallows Room |
Huffing and puffing, we climbed the
high steps to the central hillock where the “GALLOWS” still stand a live
testimony to the atrocities of the British who had built a building with
openings on all sides, visible to the convicts on the island to remind them all
the time of their impending death. The prisoners on the island, surrounded by
sea on all sides, had no escape route even if they wanted to and had an
opportunity.
There were only three buildings on
the island, the Gallows on the hillock in the centre of the island, a room
which was the Court Room for summary trial of the prisoners and a tin shed
which looked more like a crematorium.
There are of course a number of trees
half destroyed by the recent Tsunami wave which has given a graveyard kind of
look to the trees in this infamous place.
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| The Gallows |
As the history goes, Lt Archibald Blair, in the year 1788, was assigned the job of exploring the possibility of starting a British settlement. He travelled to the
Andaman & Nicobar Islands and found this place. The vessel “Viper” in
which he travelled is stated to have met with an accident and its wreckage was
perhaps abandoned near the island. The
island is said to be named after the vessel “Viper”.
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| Could it be a crematorium??? |
The building of the jail at Port Blair had been undertaken
by the British under the supervision of Major Fort in the year 1867. It is stated that in the year 1872, Lord Mayo, the Viceroy of India visited the island. He also visited various establishments, works etc, including the site of construction where Pathan Sher Ali who was one of the convicts, was engaged in the building of the jail. Lord Mayo is reported to have said, "This is such a beautiful place! Why should anybody complaint about being sent here. I would rather pay to be able to live here all my life." This enraged Pathan Sher Ali so much that he immediately attacked and killed Lord Mayo. Later, Pathan Sher Ali was convicted and executed in Viper Island on these very gallows.
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| A tree turned to a stub by recent Tsunami attack |
The entire island had around it an
eerie feeling. Even the sea-breeze seemed to be loaded with torture, torment and death. I stood there gazing into the oblivion, with unknown faces emerging from nowhere looking sad that they were handicapped and were not able to pursue their mission of getting freedom for their country.
The Court Room at the jetty, the gallows in the centre, the Crematorium look-alike tin-shed on the sea-shore and innumerable tree trunks turned to stubs after the onslaught of recent Tsunami, all added to make me feel very low.
The more I thought about it later, the more I empathised with the freedom-fighters making me sad and morose and a surge of impotent anger against the British started overpowering my mind. It was now time to return to the present.
The Court Room at the jetty, the gallows in the centre, the Crematorium look-alike tin-shed on the sea-shore and innumerable tree trunks turned to stubs after the onslaught of recent Tsunami, all added to make me feel very low.
The more I thought about it later, the more I empathised with the freedom-fighters making me sad and morose and a surge of impotent anger against the British started overpowering my mind. It was now time to return to the present.
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3 comments:
Informative. I also visited Viper island, but had forgotten the History. Thanks for reviving the memory. I feel sad thinking about all those valiant Freedom Fighters who lost their lives to give us a free country.Looking at the state of affairs of our country now, I feel really disappointed and sad.
I thought it was called Viper Island becoz it had too many Viper snakes in the island in those days.
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