Thursday, January 13 2005 14:59 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Port Blair: The royal couple heading the world's last surviving aboriginal tribe feel uncomfortable in modern clothing at a city hospital in Port Blair and are yearning to go back to rebuild its tsunami-ravaged kingdom.

King Jirake and his queen Surmai, who rule over 47-odd Great Andamanese surviving on earth, are sure that they can strike back at the devastation caused by their worst experienced sea fury.

In a secret interview with this correspondent near the hospital where he is being treated for post-tsunami trauma, the King revealed that he wanted to go back to his forest from the confines of the concrete jungle.

Access to the tribal is highly controlled by the local administration and photography strictly prohibited as Andaman and Nicobar Government feels that it would amount to commodification of the (innocent) tribals.

''We want to get back into our leaf carts. This is not very comfortable,'' the 62-year-old King said pointing towards his stripped shirt and trouser.Queen Surmai, who has been attending on him along with Princess Tango agreed.

''We are the people of the forests. We used to roam around,'' Surmai said in Hindi, which their ancestors had learned during the British era.

Nestled in the forest of Strait Island, 250 kms off Port Blair, the tribal village was inundated in the tsunami as the hunter gatherer tribe ran atop the nearest available hillock.

Considered the first tribe on the planet earth, dating back 60,000 years, the safety of the tribesmen was a great concern for the local administration as well as anthropologists across the world after the tsunami.

Princess Tango has another queer reason to long for a forest home. ''Though all eight of our tribal houses were broken by the tsunami, the television is in tact. I have not seen movies for a long time. And so I want to go back fast,'' the 25-year old, mother of three, feels.

She adores films and loves all Bollywood actors, but Shahrukh Khan is her personal favourite. The Princess says, living on tortoise and fish, which they learnt to hunt with both arrows and spears from their early teens, the tribals are fiercely protective about their habitat.

Tango, who studied class six in a local school, clarifies that the negritos are a very docile tribe. Her children - Belei, Chomou, Dinu - eating gruel out of small stainless steel bowls grin. ''They all want to get back home''.

According to official record of the State-run Adibasi Adim Janajyti Bikash Samiti, the population of the Great Andamanees was 49 presently as against 47 in 2001 census.

Their number dwindled sharply from the earliest record of 10,000 in 1789 to 625 in 1901, 19 in 1969. It however, rose to 24 in 1971 and 41 in 1991.

Anthropological experts say the tribe is highly exposed to communicable diseases and unhealthy drinking habit, which they have acquired with civilization.