Sunday book pick: We do not need to know everything about the Andamanese, says ‘The Last Island’

“Epochs of history rarely come to a sudden end, seldom announce their passing with anything so dramatic as the death of a king or the dismantling of a wall. More often, they withdraw slowly and imperceptibly (or at least unperceived), like the ebbing tide on a deserted beach

That is how the Age of Discovery is ending.”

In 2018, my family and I made a trip to the Andamans. Like many other tourists, we too undertook the excruciatingly long journey to the Baratang lime caves from Port Blair in the dead of night. The possibility of spotting the Jarawas – the most populous tribe on the island – was quite high. On our way back from the caves, in the middle of the afternoon when the sun beat down mercilessly even in the cool winter month of February, we saw the Jarawas being ferried by Indian government vehicles to schools and medical centres. The tribals – who otherwise don’t bother with clothes – were appropriately covered as per the decorum of the mainlanders. Men wore ill-fitting shorts, women, nighties, and children, frocks and knickers. They cut an odd figure.

Then, all of a sudden, our car was stopped by a Jarawa man – his age was...

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