By:Ranjan Pal

Tourists to the Andamans, enthusiastic about making a beeline for the pristine shores of Havelock and Neil Islands are often disappointed to find that they have to spend a night in Port Blair. It is due to the fact that practically all flights from the Indian mainland arrive too late to connect to the hi-speed Makruzz ferries that whisk you away to these shore havens.

At first glance Port Blair seems like an unprepossessing Indian market city, but dig deeper and you will find a fascinating colonial history. With over a thousand kilometres of ocean separating them from the mainland, these islands presented themselves strategically to the British as the fitting base for a penal colony, to exile the captured Indian freedom fighters over the struggle for Independence. Thus, in its objective it was similar to Robben Island, where Nelson Mandela and his compatriots were imprisoned for many years off the shores of Cape Settlement.