When Havelock's sunny skies turned into Cyclone Phethai

When on December 12, my parents along with nine relatives and I, set off on a short holiday to Port Blair, little did we know what the welcoming sunny blue skies would turn into later.

The next day, we sailed on catamaran MV Makruzz Gold to Havelock Island for a planned overnight trip and soaked in the idyllic location. There, we were to learn about the formation of Cyclone Phethai, which had caused rough waters in the Andaman Sea and resulted in the cancellation of ferry services to the island. Mohan Das, a trader and a friend based in Port Blair, called us to inform that ours was the last ferry that managed to reach Havelock.

In the meantime, hotel-owners had conveniently doubled their room tariffs and lobbies were filled with sleepy tourists and their luggage. The shoddy telephone network and the lack of internet connectivity only made matters worse.

Panic began creeping in only on December 15 when the administration informed that the 350-seater, government vessel Coral Green had to turn back for Port Blair. The police were the only point of contact for the stranded tourists until some people found the sleepy little Disaster Management Cell and mobbed them. Grossly under-equipped and unprepared, the local police were also a helpless sight as hundreds of tourists thronged to the jetty.

While it was announced that those with tickets on the first flight out off Port Blair will be given priority, the chaos which ensued made it hard to follow through. A stampede-like situation arose when the first Coast Guard Ship finally docked at the jetty. While six of my relatives managed to enter initially, the rest of us, including myself, could only enter after a lot of frantic shouting and shoving. Bribe-givers, dummy ticket holders and bullies only added to the chaos.

However, in the next half an hour, we were off the island, and the journey was completed in two hours, even as as the ICGS Aruna Asaf Ali rocked violently and tackled waves as high as her bridge. Finally, the next morning, we were off to the mainland, thanking our stars to have escaped this adventure unharmed.