The Three Men at Land’s End

S Balakrishnan *

The other night I suddenly lost peace and sleep. How ungrateful I had been; I had not paid my gratitude and tribute to the Three Men at India’s Land’s End, now called Indira Point. Should I not record it at least now, though 42 years have flown by? They may or may not have survived the Tsunami of 2004 but I am still alive and my conscience would not allow me to SIP or RIP (Sit/Stand/Sleep in Peace or Rest in Peace).

Among the people I clicked as an amateur photographer there have been a few VIPs like reincarnate Lamas (known as ‘Tulku’ in Tibetan), Indira Gandhi and her arch rival Morarji Desai, CM-elect, the Bird Man of India, the vanishing breed of freedom fighters and even a King (of Great Andaman tribe), but these three very ordinary men are very extraordinary to me.

These men were employees of the lighthouse at Parsons Pygmalion Point (the original name of Indira Point); it is situated in the Southern Bay of India’s southernmost soil in Great Nicobar Island. The lighthouse was inaugurated in 1973 and functioned on gas. Such a remote place one can’t even imagine !

Just three or four families with a total of ten members, including men, women and even tiny tots, lived there cut off completely from the outside world. The nearest habitation, Shastri Nagar, was at a trekking distance of more than 10 kms with the jungle and river Galathea crossing the path. No bridge, mind you.

If at all they had a transistor radio that was their only source of contact with the world outside, that also for one-way communication only. No electricity, no school, no hospital, no shop, no running water; ‘NO’ to all amenities we take for granted in our daily life. I wonder how they survived at this very remote Point !

I reached their place by 4.45 on the evening of Wednesday the 25th April 1979 along with Pandian & Balaiah, two youths of my age from Shastri Nagar of Great Nicobar Island, to help and guide me on my foolhardy expedition to Parsons Pygmalion Point (Indira Point), as it was called then.

But to my shock, as soon as my guides saw the lighthouse men they started quarrelling with them as to why they did not help us cross Galathea River. A few hours ago that very afternoon we were on the northern bank of Galathea waiting to cross but the ‘dinghy’ (country boat) was on the southern bank. We sighted two of these Lighthouse men on the other bank and shouted for help to get the dinghy. They just waved off and disappeared in the jungle.

Questioned now, the men gave a convincing reply, ‘the river was in spate’. Yes, true, indeed. It was for the same reason we could not swim/wade across the river. So I pacified my guides. What if the argument angered the men and they refused to accommodate us for the night ? I was worried. We would be stranded without food and shelter in the jungle. But they had all known each other; so things cooled down gradually.

Now the men’s attention turned towards me, a complete stranger. I coolly posed as a reporter from Madras (Chennai) and casually changed my camera from one shoulder to the other. That settled everything amicably. As I glanced at my wrist watch ... gosh ! It was 5.20 pm. I hurriedly loaded the camera and rushed to the shore to click the setting sun.

I would have missed this rarest of rare scenery from India’s real southernmost point by nano seconds. We had carried ‘sooji’ and the womenfolk there prepared uppuma (porridge) out of it. Hungry and tired of trekking, we swallowed it and slept by 6.30 itself on the open verandah of their RCC shelter, just 200 meters from the Indian Ocean.

No trace of this building after the Tsunami, because Indira Point is just 91 miles from Pulo Brase off Achin Head in Sumatra Island of Indonesia, the epicenter of the earthquake that caused the terrific tsunami.

Had there been gas supply it would have been dramatic in the night with the lighthouse flashing its light. The next morning, as we climbed down the winding staircase of the lighthouse, the threesome was ready to leave for hunting. But before that they graciously shared their black tea with us. Their three dogs were raring to go. I clicked them as they stood on the base of lighthouse.

The lighthouse is still surrounded by meters of water since the tsunami of December 26, 2004. I thanked these Telugu people for their hospitality at the forsaken remote Point. I envied their life in the lap of Mother Nature and getting paid as well! As we three took leave of those three it was 7 am. The tsunami was 25 years after I met them. I only hope they had retired by then and moved out.

Because the tsunami had washed away everything there except the lighthouse; the men working at the lighthouse and a few scientists camping there, all lost their lives. These simple men with great impact forever remain as the Three Men at the Land’s End!