Where eagles dare

On a recent trip to Andaman Islands, I visited the infamous cellular jail at Port Blair, first during day time and returned in the late evening to witness the light and sound show performed in the jail complex. 

Assimilating the slow paced, melancholic narration about the torture and misery underwent by the revolutionary Indian freedom fighters under the British Raj, at the ‘Kalapaani (Black Water) penal settlement, as they called it, my heart wrenched. The narrator said that Veer Savarkar, who spent a decade in the jail before he was released and after whom the Port Blair airport is named, made a mention in his writings that the only comfort he received in his cell was listening to the sound of the bulbul birds. I wished I could spot these birds in the island. 

They did not disappoint me as I could see them a couple of days later in the nearby Ross Island which could be reached by boat from Port Blair in a ten minute ride. The tiny and sleepy Ross Island has now only dilapidated structures as remnants of the British era. I could sight peacocks, deers, sparrows and colourful bulbul birds while walking around the island and relate to the bulbuls singing outside of Savarkar’s cell.

As I walked towards the turquoise beach from where one could get a long-shot view of the picturesque scenery printed on the backside of a series of our twenty rupee notes, I came across a couple of young men who were meddling with their joystick –like contraption. They sat on the floor and tried to set up a small toy. On closer look, I realised it was a tiny drone camera. 

As I went closer, it started its ascent with miniature fans fitted on its four arms whirring and whirling. Up and away the drone flew over the sea and steadily climbed in altitude and became a tiny speck. One of the men said their nano drone cost a lakh of rupees. As I watched the technological bird, an unexpected thing happened.

From nowhere, an eagle appeared on the horizon and was circling over the sea. It flew towards the drone thinking that it was another bird on whom it could prey upon. The men who remote controlled the drone tried to change its direction. But the eagle went well above the drone and descended towards it with scientific precision and aggression. 

As it was about to claw the drone in one swoop going very close to it, it took a detour. The men reckoned that one of the fans of the drone could have brushed the eagle’s claw and turned it away. They thought the worst was over. But it was not to be. The eagle returned with a vengeance and was once again within striking distance of the drone. “If the eagle tinkers with the gadget, the drone will fall into the sea  and a lakh would go down the Bay of Bengal” said the men. They manoeuvred the drone trying to shield it from the predatory eagle and finally managed to bring it back to their safe hands. “When eagles dare, it’s better we retreat,” lamented the men and began to pack their kits.