A trip to Agatti island in Lakshadweep is etched indelibly in my memory. I visited Agatti, one of many islands that are part of the Lakshadweep archipelago, with my wife on a holiday in 2018. Though the capital of Lakshadweep is Kavaratti, the only airport in the archipelago is on Agatti.
I had made advance booking for accommodation at Agatti through an online portal. To intimate me that tourists have to obtain permits for entering Lakshadweep, the travel agent sent me an email attaching the format of application. Surprisingly, a report from the police verifying antecedents of the applicant was also to be attached with the application. After my wife and I applied for the report, police officials came to our house for verification like they come prior to issuance of passport. Finally we couriered the police report attached with the application, duly filled, to the travel agent. I had never imagined that for going to another part of India, stringent formalities would be entailed.
Commencing our trip from Chandigarh on the appointed day, we flew down to Kochi via Bengaluru. Next day, we collected our permits and enjoyed sightseeing in Kochi. On day three, we boarded a small Air India plane from Kochi to Agatti. That was the sole flight landing at Agatti in a single day. The same aircraft took a return flight after a brief stopover.
