Review

Pankaj Sekhsaria

Troubled Islands -
writings on the indigeneous peoples and environment of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands

2003, published jointly by the two Indian environmental organisations ALPRAVIKSH, Pune, and LEAD, New Delhi

pages i-viii, 1-90, including bibliography, priced at USD10.00

soft cover 14 x 21.5 cm (5-1/2 x 8-1/4 in)

there is no ISBN number

If you cannot get the book through the ordinary international book trade, write to the auhor:
Mr. Pankaj Sekhsaria
c/o Kalpavriksh,
Apt. 5, Sri Dutta Krupa, 908
Deccan Gymkhana,
Pune 411004,
India
Tel. 020/5654239, E.mail kvriksh@vsnl.com
or from LEAD through their web-site: www.leadindia.org

Books consisting of a number of articles that have already been published elsewhere do not usually make for spell-bound reading. Although this book is put together in just this way, it is nevertheless a most informative and even entertaining collection of articles, written in an easy-to-read style. There is no sign of the dreaded ISIE, the "incomprehensible scholarly Indian English".

For a smallish book, it contains a surprising amount of new or little known information. The subjects dealt with are listed under convenient headings such as "Indigeneous People", "The Supreme Court", "Environment and Ecology" etc. and contains a lot of documents, statistical tables and other information. It is in the nature of things that several items overlap (and often complement) items we also treat on this web-site. Anyone professionally or scholarly involved with the Andaman and Nicobar islands should have this book in his or her library.

One of the articles is an absolute hit and all by itself justifies the purchase: "The New Millennium Tamasha". Is there anyone out there who still remembers the Millennium excitement? Today you are in good company if you scratch your head and just yawn. But back then, lots of people hyperventilated, some expecting the end of the world, others planning enormous parties. The spirit of merciful forgetfulness has buried most of this. With one exception. I do not want to spoil the fun by telling too much here. To get the full flavour, you have to purchase the book and read the article yourself. Only so much: before the year 2000, the bureaucrats of Port Blair had an idea. For those who do not know the Bureaucrats of Port Blair, they are a sort of Indian Marx Brothers, only (normally) a lot less funny. They run the islands and report directly to the Prime Minister of India. However, just before the Millennium they were, briefly, very funny indeed. The bureaucrats decided to throw a gigantic Millennium party for 20,000 paying guests, including foreigners (not otherwise made welcome by these same bureaucrats) - and they planned to make lots of money. Vast entertainments were to be laid on and the high point of the party was to be the first sunrise of the new Millennum. All this was to take place on a tiny island in the Nicobars (otherwise totally inaccessible to foreigners) named Tamasha and inhabited by 12,000 people. It was calculated that 20-30 tons of solid human excreta and a few hundred thousand litres of liquid waste would have to be disposed of somehow on an island distinctly lacking in infrastructure. What the bureaucrats' plan was and how it developed in the face of growing practical difficulties is a tragicomedy. It sums up the essence of the blundering Port Blair administration. Less funny is that those who conceived the idea and then planned its implementation are the very same people who still run the islands. It explains a lot of recent history.

The rest of the book does not have the same entertainment value but it does give lots of solid facts and figures and contains much interesting information, including a description of the difficulties with feral elephants in a sanctuary that the animals had granted themselves. Lists of other animals are discussed that were introduced without regard for possible consequences, got out of hand, were fought through the introduction of another species, which then promptly got out of hand, too. And so on. The Port Blair bureaucrats do not just blunder when it comes to parties.

An index would have been convenient . But since the book has a good table of contents and is not large this is not a problem.

There are quite a number of excellent and very well printed colour photographs. It is noticeable that the Indian publishing, paper and printing industry has made enormous progress recently. A decade ago, an Indian book usually meant terrible greyish paper, awful printing and a binding with strange-smelling glue, falling apart in the purchaser's hands at first opening. This book is and does none of these things. It is well printed on good paper and well-bound - a pleasure to handle.

George Weber
The Andaman Association

 

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Last changed 30 March 2006