Little Andaman

At the Andaman Islands…

While vacationing across the beautiful Andaman Islands, Piku had one wish that was still unfulfilled. Meat!

Yes, Piku was a meet lover. He loved his chicken for his breakfast, lunch as well as dinner. He could very well have a chicken leg as a snack in the evening.

When at Med School they had a guy from the Andaman Islands. One day as the talk turned to eating meat he was asked what were the different kinds of meat that he had taken. The air was ripe with BHAGAR controversy. Everywhere people were discussing about meat; what poor quality meat unsuspecting Kolkatana had been served all this while and they had relished and digested. Some were even of the opinion that BHAGAR meat helped to strengthen their immunity power and digestive system. It was an indirect indicator of the good health of a Bong's guts. If he could digest BHAGAR, he could practically digest anything.

Other more concerned citizens had new found interest in vegetarianism. Many of them felt veganism to be the way of life. Some had started bringing green leafy veggies for lunch - a small step towards good health, they would explain. Some people had even started shunning chicken shops completely, as if the live birds smelled of stale meat.

Back in the Med School, especially during the duty hours in the evening time when pang of hunger struck, nobody much bothered that what went down as long as it tasted good and made them feel heavy.

On one such occasion just after the evening rounds where over, the young doctors we are munching on chicken lollipops frisked in from nearby eatery. As the meat pieces on the lollipop made their way into the stomach, needless to say the topic deviated towards BHAGAR. What could have been laced with the chicken meat that they were eating - cow, dog, pig, cat…

Talking about different animals soon turned the topic towards animal meat that they had tasted so far. A guy said he had eaten beef when another admitted to enjoying pork in park Street. Someone had tasted snake meat in village. Amid such talk the guy from Andaman surprised everyone with crocodile! He had eaten crocodile meat and it tasted real good as per our statement. To the utter disbelief of everyone he described how a crocodile was caught, killed and its meat cooked and enjoyed.

This time during the vacation at Andaman Piku remembered the crocodile meat. Many of the beaches and the Islands where infested with the dangerous creatures. The warning signs on the beaches made Piku wonder if meat was available for him to taste - a culinary memory for him to take back home.

They had been to Neil Island and Piku had an awesome time. After returning from Neil, as they landed ashore on Port Blair, Piku asked the driver who had come to receive them at the port and drop them to their hotel if crocodile meat was available anywhere in Port Blair and if the meat was good to eat.

‘Yes indeed, the meat tastes very good. In fact it is much better than chicken’, said the driver. ‘However you will not be able to find crocodile meat here in Port Blair sir’, he said. On inquiring about availability of the meat he informed that crocodile meat was available at ‘little Andaman’. For that they needed to travel for around 8 hours on a ferry from Port Blair to Little Andaman.

Piku was not very fond of the limitless sea. It frightened him. He had always enjoyed the safety of the sea-shore while enjoying the waves splashing over it. The very idea of Blue water everywhere for 8 hours straight, was uncomfortable to Piku.

To do hell with the wretched organism! He was not going to risk eight hours on the dangerous sea water just to eat some man eating creature called to crocodile. Let people savour whatever they wanted to. Crocodile meat was not going down his belly.

Back in the City…

His cousin had just called. She was on the verge of a mental breakdown. She was happy. She was scared. She was sad. She did not know what she was.

Only thing she knew was ‘two lines’ on the prega news strip. She was pregnant! She had repeated the test and everytime it gave 2 lines indicating a positive result. She called her cousin to confirm if what she understood was actually what she understood.

‘Congrats Behna, Jiju did it! You are pregnant’, Piku said on the other end of the line. ‘But I am not mentally prepared the Dada’, she cried.

She was looking forward to her upcoming trip to Kolkata. She had taken a month long leave from her Mumbai office and would be down to the city for the Durga Puja celebration. Meanwhile as Piku's Facebook wall started filling up with the pictures from his Andaman trip, she also started planning to go on a week-long tour to the islands with her family.

Aunty seldom had a scope of going out and travelling. Her brother was still in college and uncle being an introvert guy would spend most of his time reading the newspaper or going out on long walks. And amid everything, after the household chores were done, aunty would be left to herself. She looked forward to her daughter.

Over the years her little naughty darling daughter had grown up into an understanding friend with whom she would share almost everything. She was looking forward to the upcoming Andaman trip as well.

But the two lines on prega news confused everyone. Aunty saw the dream of her walking along the coastline on Neil Island vanish into thin air. The pictures of Piku had come perfect.

And now this pregnancy! Couldn't her daughter be a little bit more cautious? Was this the right time? Was she even prepared for it?

If only their daughter had attempted pregnancy after another year, their son would have finished college and aunty could have been in Mumbai taking care of her darling child at the time of confinement. And amid everything she saw the dream of her much awaited Andaman trip vanish.

She felt the pang of anger towards her daughter. But then she was again happy for the new member. It was a mixture of strange emotions. Her little child would now be bringing into the world, another little child.

‘the child that took away her Andaman trip’, and she named the little one, ‘little Andaman’...

‘Andaman’ seems to be a boyish name’, Piku had observed munching on her famed Jhal Muri mixture. ‘what if its a girl?’, asked Piku.

‘Doesn't matter’, said aunty, ‘it will still be my little Andaman’...