The Last Emperor – Loka, the great Andamanese king

S Balakrishnan *

Golat, that is the boy in the photo. As I write this I hope he has many daughters and sons and countless grandchildren of the same age as he appears in the photo. This is possible because this photo was taken 37 years ago.

I think I had noticed the three of them the previous evening itself. I was passing by the Adi Basera (Tribal Guest House) in Port Blair, Andamans, on my way back home from Aberdeen Bazaar.

My rented portion was a little ahead of Radha-Gobind Mandir and Adi Basera was somewhere midway. As soon as I noticed them, I could guess they were Great Andamanese; I have already seen the Jarawa people and also the Onges; the Great Andamanese differed in physique and looks from the other two, though slightly yet significantly.

Back then in the eighties, the total population of Great Andamanese was a frightening low of 26. Now they are 57. I am sure Golat and his family members form a considerable lot in this group.

So the next morning, that is on 14th April 1980 (Monday), I went to Adi Basera well prepared with two cameras – one had black & white roll and the other, luckily, colour. It was around 8.40 AM. The threesome was chatting in front of Adi Basera in that warm morning sunlight. I approached them hesitantly. 'Photo?' I conveyed my desire awkwardly in mono syllable.

I was not very conversant in Hindi; it was just two years since my arrival in Port Blair from the land of Tamils, i.e.,Tamil Nadu. I had just picked up rudimentary Hindi. And I was not sure if they could converse in Hindi either.

Anyhow, there was nothing to worry about. The single word worked wonders and all the three willingly posed for the photo shoot. Probably they had been photographed umpteen times for research purposes. I exposed one in colour and two in B&W. How stingy of me! I am cursing myself to this day. But it was not digital era and each frame of the roll had to be used with utmost care.

The boy introduced himself as Golat; pointing to the elderly person, Golat said he was Picher, and the other was their King, King Loka! I could not believe my ears! What a lucky fellow! I congratulated myself without an inkling of what was to follow. See, how majestically the King is posing for the snap. After all, a King is a King, no? Whether for a square foot of land or for the whole world. It flows in their blood, I suppose.

It was then the unexpecdted happened. King Loka pointed to my wrist watch and asked for it. Notice that Golat is wearing one. How to wriggle out of this sticky situation? It was not even two years since I joined a central government job in Port Blair and I was trying to stand on my own legs, two of them in all.

My monthly salary then was only Rs. 498, out of which 50 Paise were deducted towards group insurance! Adding to my woes were the costly 'vices' that I had cultivated, like travelling, photography, watching all sorts of films (unless you watch how would you know good from bad or worse?), writing & posting them. But at that very moment I was cursing my photography interest as it had landed me in that piquant situation. The other worthy asset was my wrist watch and the King was asking for that!

But it was a surprise that even during such a critical time my dull brain worked wonders. Probably it works only during emergencies. Nowadays it does not even react to my wife's incisive comments. I thought how this watch would be useful to him. Does he even know to read time?

Even if he knew, what use it would be in their exclusive reserved tiny Strait Island of just 6.02 sq. km? I realized that he was asking it merely out of curiosity, as a novel item. When one of his little citizens (Golat) was wearing, would it not befit a King to wear one too?

Analysing thus, wonder of wonders, I gave a punch dialogue in just three Hindi syllables 'kaam nahi aayega" [no use (to you)]. With that I was compelled to withdraw from the scene. I feared that if the King persisted with his demand, the situation could turn serious and I could even be arrested for creating trouble to a tribal, especially the King himself.

So I quickly waved my hand to them, particularly to Golat, and wisely sneaked out without showing my back to King as is traditional in a King's court. But it was a golden opportunity gone amiss, I feel now, mainly due to language barrier on either side.

Well, at least I could say hello to a King and take a snap of him – the first and last King who had graciously granted audience to me . Wish I had taken a selfie with the King, but the concept was unheard of then! I understood later that they had been brought to Port Blair from their Strait Island (70 km. away) by the Administration for health checkup at G.B. Pant Hospital.

As I searched the net now for Loka, I was saddened to learn that he had passed away. But I found the photo of Golat M, who prefers living in Port Blair, the city. He is aged 46, hence he must be the same Golat who I happened to meet. He is married to Lico and has 2 daughters and 3 sons. Hope he has very many grandchildren so that the tribe thrives.