# Green Islands of the Andamans and Nicobars

- Link: https://writersworkshopindia.com/2015/07/21/green-islands-of-the-andamans-and-nicobars/
- Published: 2015-07-21T10:35:47+00:00
- Author: admin

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**Author:** Protiva Gupta (Translated by Meena Gupta)
 **Pages:** 292 **Year of 
Publication:** 2013 **Price:** Rs 400 **ISBN:** 978-93-5045-040-6 (9789350450406)

_**About the Author**_
 Protiva Gupta was born in 1918 and spent her childhood and
early adolescence in Delhi and Simla. She graduated in the late 1930s, at a time
when few women pursued higher education. Her marriage in 1942 to Sudhindra Nath 
Gupta, a civil engineer working with the government of India, gave her the opportunity
to travel to different parts of India, including the Andaman and Nicobar Islands
where they lived for four years (1961 to 1964). This was when she researched and
wrote two books on the islands. Initially, these were published serially in two 
Bengali literary magazines; in the late 1960s, they were published as books to much
acclaim. Mrs. Gupta passed away in 1998.

_**About the Translator**_
 Meena Gupta is the author’s daughter. A retired civil
servant, she currently lives in Kolkata and Hyderabad.

_**About the Book**_
 During the time she lived in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands,
Mrs. Gupta was captivated by their stunning beauty, their history, their connection
with India’s freedom struggle, their ethnic groups (of whom little was known at 
the time and who were very different from other ethnic groups in mainland India)
and how they were used to absorb refugee populations from the erstwhile East Pakistan.
Her research took her to small habitations (where she spent time with its residents),
the Cellular Jail at Port Blair as well as the varied topographies of the islands(
from beaches to rainforests, waterfalls and volcanoes). All these aspects are discussed
in the book. The four years she lived there were a time of critical changes and “
development” for the islands with air service and a naval base being established.

This book will be of interest to any person who has visited and, in the process,
been enraptured by the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. It provides a historical and
geographical study of the islands and also contains stories that form a part of 
their folklore.

_**Contents**_

_Author’s Note_ / 11

PART ONE
 The Andamans

The Journey / 15
 History – Fact and Fiction / 22 The Early Settlements / 26 Our
First Few Days / 37 The Town and Its Surroundings / 50 The Cellular Jail and Its
Inmates / 59 The Surroundings / 83 Exploring the Islands / 92 The Aborigines / 97
The People and the Cultural Life / 113 Conversations with Ex-convicts / 120 Ross
Island / 129 The Japanese Occupation / 132 A Little about Port Blair / 142 The Settlers/
147 The Volcanoes of the Andamans / 166 This and That / 169

PART TWO
 The Nicobars

The Sister Islands / 181
 Our First Visit / 189 History and Geography / 197 Some
Sights and Sounds / 200 The Settlement of the Nicobars / 214 Ethnic Origins / 219
The Festival of Ka-na-na Houn / 223 The Shompens of Great Nicobar / 228 Social Customs/
234 Chowra and Teressa Islands / 240 Nancowry, Camorta and Katchall / 253 Back in
Port Blair / 266 Goodbye / 276

_Index_ / 279
 _Maps_ / 288-289