Ross Island: Stark reminder of British Barbarism

This wanton islet of Port Blair (or Sri Vijay Puram as it is called now) has now been renamed after Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, but the deserted look and dilapidated remains of Ross Island faithfully wear the scars of countless inhuman atrocities of British colonialism, while enduring fresh wounds from the ceaseless mayhem of modern-day tourists clicking selfies and dumping litter in gay abandon, with not even a fleeting thought spared for the departed souls of their motherland.

These are the same souls who love to showcase their patriotism standing up for the national anthem in cinema halls or unfurling the tricolor every time India wins a cricket match.

Provided one cares to read about the poignant history of the place, one relives the bygone amid the ruins, if only in parts, and if only in the mind's eye:

The tyrant Dr. James Pattison Walker, wicked beyond imagination, lands on the shores of Andaman and Nicobar archipelago in 1858, with 200 convicts from Calcutta and finds the one-mile circumference of Ross Island an ideal headquarter for a penal colony

On the very fourth day, a daredevil convict named Narain attempts escape but is caught and shot dead, while another captive Naringun Singh, commits suicide

Later, as many as 81 inmates are executed by hanging in a single day

The chained prisoners, at one point numbering over 10,000, are made to pave roads and build structures for the British, while themselves fighting for survival in tents and huts with little in the name of food, clothing, and shelter

Over 3,500 lose their lives due to ill health and only 45 are deemed medically fit

During Colonel RC Tytler's stint as Superintendent of the Convict Settlement from 1862 to 1864, conditions marginally improve, thanks to his humane ways and his wife Harriet's whole-hearted support but this respite doesn't last long as rain, malaria and pneumonia claim countless lives, so do barbaric pharma experiments like administering quinine to prisoners who are forced to live in trelliswork cages

In the midst of all the atrocities, British officials live in sprawling bungalows with their families and enjoy best-in-class recreational facilities including manicured gardens and lavish ballrooms, which earn Ross Island the nickname Paris of the East

In 1872, Sher Ali, a convict on sick leave, assassinates Viceroy Lord Mayo, which is the first big revolt from the prisoners, although solitary in nature

The penal colony is shut down in 1937 and just four years later, Ross Island has to deal with a massive earthquake of magnitude 8.1. Close on its heels, WW2 Japanese troops invade the island, forcing the British to evacuate

Japan is eventually defeated by the allied forces. The penal colony is permanently disbanded on October 7, 1945.

The island is now a 'must-see' tourist location as travel brochures put it in a long list of 'top attractions' including the Cellular Jail and Corbyn's Cove Beach.

Time flies and times change, yet old evils hardly make way for new virtues, instead they assume new forms.

The tyranny of the British rule has been thrown out, but the native terrorism of tourism has taken over…