Havelock Island

The island is named after Sir Henry Havelock, a British general of the mid-nineteenth century, a name given during the colonial administration of the Andamans, though the island had no permanent settlement then. The wider archipelago was inhabited for thousands of years by Andamanese peoples, and Ritchie's Archipelago was mapped by British surveyors as part of the work that followed the founding of the penal settlement at Port Blair in 1858.

Havelock's modern population arrived after independence. From the late 1940s and through the 1950s the government resettled Bengali refugees displaced by the partition of Bengal on the Andaman islands, clearing forest for paddy fields and coconut groves and laying out villages that were given the names still used today — Govind Nagar, Vijay Nagar, Radhanagar, Shyam Nagar, Krishna Nagar. The settlers fished, farmed rice and kept cattle, and for decades the island was connected to the outside world only by a slow government boat.

Tourism began in a small way in the 1990s, with simple huts on the beaches, and accelerated after international magazines singled out Radhanagar Beach in the early 2000s. The 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami altered parts of the Andaman coastline and disrupted the islands badly, though Havelock suffered less than the Nicobars. Since then resorts, dive schools and fast catamaran services have grown quickly, and the island has become the centre of Andaman tourism. In 2018 it was officially renamed Swaraj Dweep, one of several islands given new names that year, although both names remain in everyday use.

Havelock is a settler society, and its culture came in the boats with the families who cleared the forest. Bengali is the language of most households, and Bengali customs shape the year: Durga Puja and Kali Puja are the main festivals, Saraswati Puja is kept in the schools, and fish and rice are the basis of every meal. Tamil and Telugu families, government employees posted from the mainland and a growing number of workers who come for the tourist season add other languages to the mix, with Hindi used between them.

Two economies now sit side by side. The older one is agricultural — paddy, coconut, areca nut, bananas and fishing — and still visible in the fields and cattle along the road between the villages. The newer one is tourism, and many younger islanders work as dive instructors, boat crew, cooks, drivers and guesthouse staff, often returning to family land in the monsoon when visitors disappear and much of the island closes.

Manners are those of a village rather than a beach resort. Modest dress away from the sand is expected, shoes come off at temples and in homes, and people are generally reserved and helpful. Conservation rules are taken seriously by the dive community: reef damage, shell collecting and plastic waste are live local issues, and turtle nesting beaches are protected. The rules that forbid contact with the islands' indigenous peoples apply here as everywhere in the territory.

Something over six thousand people live on Havelock, spread among a handful of villages across an island of roughly a hundred square kilometres, most of it forest. Govind Nagar, by the jetty, is the centre of everything: the market, the school, the health centre, the dive shops and the offices. The other settlements are strings of houses along the two roads, with paddy fields, coconut groves and grazing cattle between them.

The rhythm of the day is set by the boats. Ferries from Port Blair arrive in the morning and early afternoon, and the jetty fills with arriving visitors, departing ones, freight and the autorickshaw drivers who meet them; the supply that comes in determines what the shops sell that week. Diving and snorkelling trips leave early, scooters move along the Radhanagar road through the middle of the day, and the island's social life gathers on the beach at sunset. Electricity, water and mobile coverage are less reliable than on the mainland, and many places run generators.

The season governs the year. From November to April the island is busy and everyone works; in the monsoon rooms empty, some businesses shut entirely, and families turn back to fields and fishing. Fresh water in the dry months, waste disposal, coral bleaching and the pressure of rising visitor numbers on a small island are the recurring concerns, along with the reliability of the ferries that every livelihood depends on.

Eating on Havelock means fish. It is landed at the jetty and in the village, bought the same morning, and cooked either in the Bengali way of the settlers — in mustard oil with mustard seed, green chilli and turmeric, served with plain rice — or grilled at the beach kitchens with masala, lemon and garlic for visitors. Snapper, grouper, barracuda, tuna, squid, prawns and, at some places, crab and lobster all appear, depending on what the boats have brought in.

Rice is the staple, grown on the island itself, and a village meal is rice with dal, a vegetable curry, a fried item and fish. South Indian breakfasts of idli, dosa and vada are easy to find, as are the north Indian vegetarian thalis and parathas that suit the many Indian holidaymakers, and the larger resorts cook pasta, pizza and pancakes for international guests. Bengali sweets such as rasgulla turn up in the village shops.

Coconut is the island flavour and the island drink: green coconuts opened at roadside stalls, grated coconut in curries and chutneys, and coconut oil in the cooking. Bananas, papaya, pineapple and jackfruit come from island farms, and areca nut grows along the roads. Tea is drunk strong and sweet with milk throughout the day; fresh lime soda is the standard cold drink, and alcohol is available at licensed bars and resorts rather than everywhere. Supplies of anything imported depend on the boats, so menus shorten in bad weather and in the monsoon.