Harsh reality about Pain
Historic perspective
Of the many memories to make in Andaman, my heart sank a bit with the ‘Kaala Pani’ story. I am at this mid-adulting phase where I feel I understand pain beyond my age despite having a low threshold for it — life has its ways. Pain triggers many emotions and enhances our ability to try and understand perspectives beyond comprehension.
After two beautiful beaches and one splendid sunset, I was ready for the second day in Andaman, with the travel checklist highlighting ‘Kaala Pani — the Cellular Jail’. The Cellular Jail is a colonial prison in Andaman, an architectural marvel, and more importantly, a strategic problem-solution fit.
As someone working in a strategy role, I cannot overstate the importance of anticipating future problems and devising solutions. The jail, strategically located on a rectangular land with three sides covered by seawater and one side facing a large jungle, made escape nearly impossible. It was on an island, so even if a prisoner tried to escape, survival was unlikely unless they tricked the guards during a ship transfer.
The jail was constructed with seven spokes of unequal lengths radiating from the center, allowing complete vision from a single point. There were no windows, preventing prisoners from seeing or interacting with each other, thus eliminating motivation to revolt. Each prison cell was identical, with a lock system that couldn’t be opened by prisoners, even with the key.
Pain was scrutinizingly studied and exploited here. Prisoners were brought closer to the execution room to increase mental stress as they anticipated their D-Day. This was a camp version for Indian political prisoners — the jailing system was meticulously planned. Each cell was designed to control prisoners not only in their food intake but also in excretion, with a single pot provided. If the limit was exceeded, prisoners stayed with it for a day until they could clean it. Weather conditions demanded only one blanket, and the bed was a mud floor.
Is that not enough to break a person? For the British, it wasn’t. Daily tasks included manually extracting liters of palm oil, leading to injuries from the scrapping and crushing activities. Prisoners faced evening punishments for not meeting daily targets or pausing during tasks. Casual deaths were common, with bodies discreetly disposed of in the ocean. This was considered the best jailing system of the time.
Proofs of such tyranny can be found in the museums. What made it a strategic marvel was the manipulation of pain — physical, emotional, and mental. Pain demands to be felt and lingers as a shadow, occasionally out of sight. While happiness engrosses us in living the moment, pain forces us to seek relief. No wonder the best artists often have the most vivid echoes of pain.
The Kaala Pani is one such wonder, where many writers, including Veer Savarkar (after whom the airport is named), were chiseled. This isn’t limited to writers alone; consider the lives of Vincent Van Gogh or Michelangelo Buonarroti.
Maybe my mid-adulting phase makes me believe I understand pain beyond my age, but I am certain that the political prisoners lived lives accepting pain beyond imagination. The harsh reality of pain is traced in the journey from understanding to accepting it.
PS: There are two beautiful reasons for you to clap — the oh-so-pretty pictures clicked by the author and the writing piece obviously 😜
