A trip to Agatti island in Lakshadweep is etched indelibly in my memory. I visited Agatti, one of many islands that are part of the Lakshadweep archipelago, with my wife on a holiday in 2018. Though the capital of Lakshadweep is Kavaratti, the only airport in the archipelago is on Agatti.
I had made advance booking for accommodation at Agatti through an online portal. To intimate me that tourists have to obtain permits for entering Lakshadweep, the travel agent sent me an email attaching the format of application. Surprisingly, a report from the police verifying antecedents of the applicant was also to be attached with the application. After my wife and I applied for the report, police officials came to our house for verification like they come prior to issuance of passport. Finally we couriered the police report attached with the application, duly filled, to the travel agent. I had never imagined that for going to another part of India, stringent formalities would be entailed.
Commencing our trip from Chandigarh on the appointed day, we flew down to Kochi via Bengaluru. Next day, we collected our permits and enjoyed sightseeing in Kochi. On day three, we boarded a small Air India plane from Kochi to Agatti. That was the sole flight landing at Agatti in a single day. The same aircraft took a return flight after a brief stopover.
The airport at Agatti, located on one end of the island, abutted the sea. We were allowed to leave the airport only after checking of permits. Our accommodation, a modest room, was barely one kilometre away.
The island was so narrow that we could see the ocean on both sides while walking on single-lane roads. There were hardly any four-wheelers and very few two-wheelers. The island had a few small eateries. All tenements were single storey. Only the BSNL building was made of concrete, which was two or three storeys high.
Agatti did not have Internet and television connectivity. Moreover, there was prohibition. Besides us, we found just one more tourist couple from Mumbai who were staying in a government guest house. It took hardly half an hour traversing Agatti from one end to another riding in a ramshackle Maruti van that we could hire. We noticed taps on the roadside from which people were filling water in their pots and pans.
Fish and coconut were the only local products of food. Other stuff, available in a limited way, was brought from the mainland. At the other end of the island, there was a small beach where we frolicked. Agatti was nestled by serene lagoons in whose shallow waters we could wade into the sea joyfully. Soft sound of waves and soothing wafts of breeze, without extraneous distractions, were ingredients of a rejuvenating holiday.
chander59@icloud.com
