Crevasse Rescue

Video courtesy: Dr Pradip Malhotra, Leader, 28th Indian Scientific Expedition to Antarctica (ISEA).

The logistic team from Indian Station, Maitri had an encountered a huge crevasse while returning back to Station from the Indian shelf on 3rd of March 2009. Fortunately they were within a few kilometres from the Indian shelf & could deploy the crane to get the pisten bulley out of the crevasse. Brave men from Maitri marched onwards after facing & dealing with the deadly obstacle....

Crevasse from Pradip Malhotra on Vimeo.

The Igloo Huts

That’s what the apple and the melon huts are also known as. There are 2 of them near the helipads at Maitri, and another 2 at the site of the third Indian Antarctic Station at Larsemann Hills. The primary purpose of the igloo huts is for camping at places far away from the station. The smaller ones have been nicknamed apple huts and the larger ones, the melon huts owing to their shapes. Very often during the summers, some of the scientific teams have a research project that requires them to camp in the open for many weeks at a stretch, for example, at the Wolthat Mountains or the distant glaciers. Being extremely lightweight, the Igloo huts can be transported underslung by helicopters to the camping site.


The igloo huts are extremely well insulated against temperature and wind. Even in the peak of the winter season, they are surprisingly warm even without heating arrangements. To protect them from being blown away by a blizzard, they have to be strapped firmly and one has to bury the edges in snow all around its base to prevent the wind from getting a grip underneath. They have cots with mattresses and a small table put up inside. A kitchen can also be set up as the structure is fireproof. They have a trap door in the roof to enable occupants to exit in case of heavy snowfall. Contrary to the outward appearance, they are surprisingly spacious. Lots of rations can be easily stored inside. A generator can be attached to the huts for electricity as the huts have plug points and bulb holders.
These are a drastic improvement over tents that used to be used earlier for such excursions. Tents are still used, but only for short stays not too far away from the station. Tents used to be too flimsy for windy conditions, and offered little protection against the cold. There are many tales of tents being blown away with their occupants during such trips.



Apart from camping, these huts can also be used as refugee huts, as they are currently being used as at Larsemann Hills. The ones at Larsemann Hills are well stocked with rations and sleeping arrangements and are meant for use by the field parties working at the site of the new station in bad weather if they cannot be transported back to the ship in time. As with all structures in Antarctica, they are never locked to enable the facilities to be used by any stranded or lost person of any nationality for any reason. Such facilities dot various places in Antarctica and have been life saving on many occasions for shipwrecked travelers or occupants of crashed aircraft.

Larsemann Hills 3: Windmill Installation- Guest Blog

Anant Pande was a member of the 28th Indian Scientific Expedition to Antarctica. He represented the Institute of Science, Mumbai. He is a marine biologist. He worked on Antarctic Krills, the staple food of nearly all animals living in the Antarctic Ocean. He is currently pursuing wildlife biology and Wildlife Institute of India. He can be contacted on http://www.indianwandererslife.blogspot.com/

www.twitter.com/anantpande

anant_pande@rediffmail.com

Among the other achievements, the installation of the first windmill by India at Antarctica must also be mentioned. The windmill installation at BHARTI was a tough task in the severe cold conditions and high winds. After installation, it was supposed to give enough power to the batteries to run the instruments placed in the melon huts. First a suitable rock which can support the huge structure was identified by the geologist (Mr. Ashish Nath, GSI) located in the direction of winds. A platform of cement was built on the rock by the masons and then the sockets were drilled to hold the base of the mill. It was installed on 27th January, 2009 by collective effort of our logistics staff and all team members.

Windmill Installation

In our journey from Larsemann to India bay, sport competitions were organized with both a view to promote sporting spirit and to pass the time creatively. Games of Table Tennis (singles/doubles), Carrom (singles/doubles), Cards (singles/doubles) and Chess were held. Every member participated in these games (Jamie, the Heli pilot from New Zealand participated in TT) and it was very enjoyable to see the sporting atmosphere in the rolling-pitching ship. Mr. KV Ramana Murthy (SoI) clearly swept most of the gold medals at stake and was adjudged Best Player of the team.

Mr. Murty receiving the award from the leader

We started our journey towards India bay from Larsemann Hills on 11th February and reached the destination on 20th Feb.
This was all I can tell in brief about our journey to Larsemann Hills. The construction for the 3rd station is going to start in the 29th expedition and expected to be finished in 3 years. Once the station is commissioned, the opportunity to see Antarctica will double with India having two permanent stations. The country has way to go in polar science.

Larsemann Hills 2: Visit to Kunlun and Davis- Guest Blog

Anant Pande was a member of the 28th Indian Scientific Expedition to Antarctica. He represented the Institute of Science, Mumbai. He is a marine biologist. He worked on Antarctic Krills, the staple food of nearly all animals living in the Antarctic Ocean. He is currently pursuing wildlife biology and Wildlife Institute of India. He can be contacted on http://www.indianwandererslife.blogspot.com/
www.twitter.com/anantpande
anant_pande@rediffmail.com

Visit to Davis

During our near two-month stay at Larsemann Hills, we also got a chance to visit the nearby stations of different countries. The Chinese team invited us to visit the opening ceremony of their new station KUNLUN. A team of five people led by Mr. Ajay Dhar (Voyage Leader) visited the station on the occasion. We also got the chance to visit the magnificently built Australian station DAVIS and know about the research going on in their laboratories. I went to DAVIS on 11th February with 4 other team mates. The station leader Bill received us warmly and showed us around the station. The station was huge and had facilities for pursuing good quality of research. We also got to see the largest of seals, Elephant seals near to the station. On the way back, we landed on Hop’s Island, a site of penguin rookery. There were more than 5000 Adelie penguins on the island. The sight of so many penguins at a time was overwhelming.

Elephant Seals at Davis

Adelie Penguins at Hop Island

Larsemann Hills- I: Guest Blog

Anant Pande was a member of the 28th Indian Scientific Expedition to Antarctica. He represented the Institute of Science, Mumbai. He is a marine biologist. He worked on Antarctic Krills, the staple food of nearly all animals living in the Antarctic Ocean. He is currently pursuing wildlife biology and Wildlife Institute of India. He can be contacted on http://www.indianwandererslife.blogspot.com/
www.twitter.com/anantpande
anant_pande@rediffmail.com

I went to Antarctica as a summer member in the third and the only team to go by ship. The team first went to the Larsemann area in East Antarctica (site for 3rd Indian Station) and then moved over to MAITRI.
We boarded our ship Emerald Sea on 4th of January, 2009 at Cape Town. The voyage was flagged off by Mr. Ajay Dhar, the Voyage Leader on 6th January with much halla gulla including the chanting of Bharat Mata ki jai from the Table Bay harbor, Cape Town port.

The Expedition Ship, Emerald Sea

The journey was fantastic and those like me who had been on a ship for the first time had the time of their life. We travelled for 11 days crossing all natural hurdles ( roaring forties, furious fifties and cold weather) and one fine morning of 17th January, woke up to see ourselves surrounded by pack ice in all directions. The ocean was painted white for miles around us and sun glared so hard that we could not look anywhere without shades. The scene was awesome and we were just 80 miles from the land of Antarctica.We went all around the ship and clicked happily making different poses.

Larsemann Hills as seen from the Ship

Next day the sorties were started off to BHARTI Island, the site for the 3rd Indian Station at Antarctica. We were divided into groups of four and sent to the island. Our group consisted of geologists (Mr Ashish Nath,GSI), meteorologists (Mr. Radheshyam, IMD, Saroj Sahu and Alok Gautam, IITM), Space physicists (Dr. Sandeep Oza & Deepak Maroo, SAC, Dr. Dabas, NPL and Jai Prakash Chaubey, SPL), Ice-core guys (Maha, Akshay, NCAOR), Environmentalists (Bhupesh Sharma and Manoj Kumar, SIIR & Roseline and Neelu, NCAOR), Palaeo-climatologists (Vartika, BSIP), Zoologists (Dr. Rajan, ZSI and me, ISc), Wildlife Biologists (Dr Sathyakumar and Dr Sivakumar, WII), Surveyors (KV Ramana Murty, Maheshwar Singh, Manjeet Singh and Vimal Kishore, SoI) and Logistics ( Devendra kumar, Devendra Sharma, Trinagu and Koli, BRO). There were others who were working both on ship as well as land like Hari and Sanjeeva Sharma (NHO) and one purely ship-based (Nuncio, NCAOR).

Melon Huts at Bharti

Apple Huts at Bharti

Antarctic glacier 'thinning fast'

By David Shukman,
Science and environment correspondent,
BBC News
Courtsey: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8200680.stm

David Shukman joined a team surveying Pine Island glacier in 2004One of the largest glaciers in Antarctica is thinning four times faster than it was 10 years ago, according to research seen by the BBC.
A study of satellite measurements of Pine Island glacier in west Antarctica reveals the surface of the ice is now dropping at a rate of up to 16m a year.
Since 1994, the glacier has lowered by as much as 90m, which has serious implications for sea-level rise.
The work by British scientists appears in Geophysical Research Letters.
The team was led by Professor Duncan Wingham of University College London (UCL).
Calculations based on the rate of melting 15 years ago had suggested the glacier would last for 600 years. But the new data points to a lifespan for the vast ice stream of only another 100 years.

The rate of loss is fastest in the centre of the glacier and the concern is that if the process continues, the glacier may break up and start to affect the ice sheet further inland.
One of the authors, Professor Andrew Shepherd of Leeds University, said that the melting from the centre of the glacier would add about 3cm to global sea level.
"But the ice trapped behind it is about 20-30cm of sea level rise and as soon as we destabilise or remove the middle of the glacier we don't know really know what's going to happen to the ice behind it," he told BBC News.
"This is unprecedented in this area of Antarctica. We've known that it's been out of balance for some time, but nothing in the natural world is lost at an accelerating exponential rate like this glacier."

The highlighted area shows a dense concentration of crevasses along one edge of the glacier. Large numbers of deep crevasses are a sign that parts of the glacier are moving rapidly.
Pine Island glacier has been the subject of an intense research effort in recent years amid fears that its collapse could lead to a rapid disintegration of the West Antarctic ice sheet.
Five years ago, I joined a flight by the Chilean Navy and Nasa to survey Pine Island glacier with radar and laser equipment.
The 11-hour round-trip from Punta Arenas included a series of low-level passes over the massive ice stream which is 20 miles wide and in places more than one mile thick.
Back then, the researchers on board were concerned at the speed of change they were detecting. This latest study of the satellite data will add to the alarm among polar specialists.

BBC News visited the Pine Island glacier five years ago
This comes as scientists in the Arctic are finding evidence of dramatic change. Researchers on board a Greenpeace vessel have been studying the northwestern part of Greenland.
One of those taking part, Professor Jason Box of Ohio State University, has been surprised by how little sea ice they encountered in the Nares Strait between Greenland and Canada.
He has also set up time lapse cameras to monitor the massive Petermann glacier. Huge new cracks have been observed and it's expected that a major part of it could break off imminently.
Professor Box told BBC News: "The science community has been surprised by how sensitive these large glaciers are to climate warming. First it was the glaciers in south Greenland and now as we move further north in Greenland we find retreat at major glaciers. It's like removing a cork from a bottle."

Sarv Dharm Sthal, Antarctica

It’s the only one of its kind in Antarctica. The concept is probably borrowed from the Indian Army, where such common places of worship are omnipresent. After all, for 26 years, the Army has been an integral part of the Indian Antarctic Expedition.
A small area in the loft of the Maiti station, just adjacent to the communication room has been allotted to the mandir, and the place is known as at Maitri. It is a thick carpeted cubicle, occupying both sides of the passage to the library. The low roof is very uncomfortable for the tall statured and one has to slouch or sit down while in the mandir. One side is like a proper hindu temple, complete with and enclosure for hindu deities, pooja samagri, bhajan books and kirtan musical instruments. Agarbattis and dhoopbatthis are not permitted due to the risk of fire. The musical instruments include harmonium, manjeera, tabla etc.

The other side has photographs, statues and books relevant to other faiths. We have Guru Granth Sahib, Kuraan, Geeta, Ramayan, Bible and books relevant to Buddhism and Jainism. These are available in various languages and have been housed in proper enclosures. For the interested, these provide a wealth of knowledge

The mandir is a nice place to spend some quiet time and to de-stress. A quiet one hour here gives a lot of mental peace and makes one forget the stress of wintering over in Antarctica. The mandir property also includes an invaluable collection of religious and spiritual books in various languages added by successive expeditions over the years.
Every Tuesday, at 7 PM, a pooja is held and everyone is free to join in. Fresh Prasad is prepared each time, and consists usually of suji halwa. Tuesday is also the only day when non veg dishes are not prepared at Maitri.

The mandir is the hot favourite spot among foreign visitors to Maitri. They find the concept very fascinating and take numerous photographs in various weird poses. One can find a few articles on the net, written by the visitors describing their trip to the mandir.

The Rolling Mists of Kasauli

Misty Kasauli

The Dussehra weekend offered me 3 days of holiday- sufficient for a short trip to the hills. Kasauli was the closest to Delhi. So Kasauli was where I headed with my parents on Saturday. After a gruelling 9 hour drive, we reached Dharampur on the Shimla- Kalka highway, 13 km away from Kasauli. Dharampur was to be our base for the trip, given the ‘no vacancy’ status of the limited accommodation in Kasauli for the extended weekend.
We departed for Kasauli the next morning. As we ascended to Kasauli, a dense shroud of mist slowly descended on us. The mist rolled in & out rapidly. It was sufficiently cold for us to pull out our woollens. The mist was to be the defining experience of or trip. This, along with the laid back ambience of Kasauli made each moment of our trip worth it. Our family friends, who happened to be Amrita Shergil’s relatives, were staying at the latter’s bungalow at the higher reaches of Kasauli. We proceeded to the bungalow called ‘Ivy Cottage’. We wound our way through the mist, beyond the Kasauli Club to a point that overlooked a deep valley. A narrow road led upto Ivy Cottage. The Ivy Cottage was a typical British style bungalow. Most of the interiors, including furniture, linen, decorative articles, electrical and bath fittings, carpets and utensils dated back to the same era. The setting, too, was typically British. On opening the doors, the mist, along with the chill rolled into the house. Nothing was visible in the deep valley, except the mist. The mist rolled about right in front of us, rolling in and out in a few moments. It was as if we were flying among the clouds. Occasionally, the sun’s rays peeped through briefly. The vast estate of Ivy Cottage was lush with thick vegetation and wild & cultivated flowers. Thick ivy clung to the walls. I exercised my rusty photography finger for the first time since my return from Antarctica & tried to capture this idyllic setting the best I could. We went for a walk along the uppermost reaches of Kasauli. It was an isolated road leading to the Air Force station. Though it was a wide, well paved road, it was more of a nature trail. Wild flowers grew in abundance all around. It being the end of the monsoon season, there was a lush green carpet of grass all around. We crossed sunset point on the way. But it was of no use to us- no sun, no sunset.

Khushwant Singh's Villa

Following lunch, we went to explore the town. The main market was a 10 min walk from the Ivy Cottage. On the way, we crossed Khushwant Singh’s bungalow. The main town consisted of a tiny market extending not more that 25 metres, an upper and a lower Mall Road. The Upper Mall Road was equally microscopic & had shops selling colourful clothes, souvenirs, vegetables & local wine. The Lower Mall Road was where all the hotels in Kasauli were concentrated. Inspite of the weekend rush, the traffic in Kasauli was well regulated & parking regulations strict, thanks to the military control over the affairs of the town. The roads were narrow & steep but well carpeted with beautiful pavement & street furniture. The milestones urged us to preserve the environment.

Kasuali Market

The main market was where the action was. The best part were the halwai shops selling jalebis, samosas, gulab jamuns, paranthas and omlettes prepared fresh all through the day. The thick fog, the winter chill & the quiet, idyllic old world charm of Kasauli were the ideal backdrop for a hot cup of coffee along with piping hot samosas & pakodas straight out of the frying pan, rounded off with gulab jamuns and jalebis. Add to it the warmth of the chulhas and we were in paradise.

Church Of England

Ivy Cottage

The next day, we decided to visit Shimla. That was an antithesis of all the Kasauli was. It was hot, crowded and polluted. It was as if we had landed in Delhi. We did not stay there for more than a few hours and dashed back to Kasauli for the damage caused to our spirits and spent the last night in Kasauli.
Kasauli is so thickly forested that it gives a feeling of a town in a forest rather than the other way round. Nature coexists in harmony with an urban human settlement.

The above paragraphs encapsulate all that Kasauli has to offer- ‘nothing’ in the words of an average Indian tourist. It is regarded as a place that does not deserve more than a few hours and is best visited on the way back from Shimla. There are no usual frills offered by an average hills station- no markets, no restaurants, no cinema halls, no crowds- nothing. But that is the charm of Kasauli- one can do ‘nothing’ here, something we can’t do elsewhere. Long walks, loads of nature, the rolling mists & friendly populace are what Kasauli is all about- enough to make me contemplate purchasing a house there. I left Kasauli with a promise to return soon, this time for a longer duration.

Moods of the Moon

Click on the images to enlarge

Look look.... The oval moon.

The gods gone bonkers???? Is it the moon or the sun?

That's the moon folks

The moon's reflection in the frozen lake

The moonrise? or the sunrise?



That's another beauty

The First Sunrise

[Click To Enlarge]

The sun has finally made its first appearance after a 2 month long polar night on 22nd July 2009. This is a day of rejoicing for all of Antarctica, when the first rays of the sun kiss the ice briefly (the first sunrise is all of 4 min long).

Shown above is the pic of the first sunrise seen by my expedition team members last year on 24th July 08 (the sky was cloudy on 22nd and 23rd July).

The Vakil Saab from Antarctica- Tiny Ones

Adelie Penguins at Maitri

Confused?
Well… These are the Adelie penguins. Their black and white coat reminds one of the lawyer’s dress (as does that of any other penguins).
They are quite short at just above 2 feet. These are the only penguins found in Schirmacher Oasis, where Maitri and Novolazarevskaya are located. Usually found in groups, they live off the sea as does all of Antarctica’s wildlife. The krill forms the staple diet of the Adelie penguins.
During the winters, they migrate to lower latitudes in search of warmer lands. This is usually around April. They swim most of the way, and walk and toboggan where they find sea ice. They return to Antarctica in October. Navigating by the sun, their sense of direction is amazing. They return to the same nesting sites year after year.

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Penguin sunbathing in Priyadarshani lake in Schirmacher

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The Adelie penguins are fantastic swimmers. They can swim for hundreds of kilometers. Since they are dependent on the sea for food, they are found only in the coastal regions. When our ship moored on the fast sea ice, hundreds of Adelie penguins lined up as if to welcome us to their home. Small groups camped right next to the ship as long as it was there, as if to keep a watch on our activities. The Adelies are inquisitive creatures.
Their nests are made of stones, which are a rare commodity in Antarctica, most of which is only ice. This makes them come to Schirmacher oasis, although it is about 100 km inland. In summers, Schirmacher Oasis swarms with penguins that can be found everywhere, swimming in the lakes, sunbathing on the ice, sometimes even inside Maitri. The biggest penguin rookery in Schirmacher is on Lanka, an island of exposed rock right next to Schirmacher. One can find about a hundred penguins here (a far cry from the lakhs of penguins found in a full fledged penguin rookery).



Their sojourn to Schirmacher is also their undoing. They make their nests with stones in circular formations, lay their eggs, and the male and the female take turns to incubate them. While one incubates the eggs, the other goes to the sea to get food. After about 25 days, the eggs hatch, and noisy chicks come out. But the food is insufficient. For the first 7-8 days of their lives, they feed on the parents’ bile. But as the chicks grow, this becomes insufficient. With the parents taking too long to get food from the sea, which is 100 km away they grow weak. Then they either die, or are hunted down by the Skuas, the predatory bird of these parts. Once the kids die, the parents must head back to the sea, else they would also meet the same fate.
I followed up a penguin couple for about a month right from the time they made their nest and lined it with penguin guano. While a parent incubated its eggs, it would not even budge an inch from its place, though it would sometimes lie down on its stomach. It would be in the same posture even after 3-4 days. The hatching of the eggs is heralded by the noisy squeaking of the chicks, snuggled between the parent’s feet. The chirping continued for 4-5 days. Then one day, I witnessed 2 lifeless bodies between the parent’s feet. There was no chirping to greet me. But the parent remained faithfully in its place, as if hoping against hope that the chicks would revive. I hoped that the parent saw reason and returned to the sea, else it would also meet the same fate. Thankfully, it had left by my next visit 2 days later.

A Penguin Nest Streaked with Guano

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Adelie Penguin Incubating its Eggs

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Adelie Chicks

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Dead Chicks

Antarctica FM 28.0

That's Dr Sanjeeva Nayaka in the centrestage

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This post is by a guest blogger, Dr Sanjeeva Nayaka. Dr Nayaka was a summer team member of the 28th Indian Scientific Expedition to Antarctica that concluded in March 09. Dr Nayaka is a scientist at National Botanical Research Institute, Lucknow and was conducting research on Antarctica Lichens. The following is the post by Dr Nayaka:


Dear Readers,
It gives me immense pleasure to write about my Antarctic experiences. I am a repeater having participated earlier in 22nd Indian Antarctic Expedition (IAE) as well.

An Antarctic expedition is like going back to your college days, with a lot of mauj- masti. During 28th IAE one such ‘masti’ thing happened was launch of ‘Antarctica FM 28.0’. It was a group of likeminded, fun loving guys who loved singing.

It started during training and orientation of 28th IAE team at Auli. Three guys (Nancio, Maha and JP) who were sitting at the last seats of bus started murmuring some Hindi film song. Suddenly it struck Nancio - ‘hey we can make a group called Antarctica FM 28.0’.



The idea took shape in ship ‘Emerald Sea’. Since the 28th IAE team had many talented youngsters it was not really tough to form such a group. K.P. Mishra, Nageshwar Rao, Anant Pandey, Maheshwar Singh, Devendra Sharma, Jai Prakash (JP), Hari and Raman Murthy were all great singers. There were many chorus singers (including me) like Manjeet, Saroj Sahu, Maha, Alok, Saurabh, Ritesh, Anand. Whenever there was a function, they used to sing and entertain people. It was not simply singing but involved a lot of preparation as well. A list of songs suited to the occasion was prepared. Later small medleys of 5 to 6 songs (of one or two stanza) were prepared and rehearsed before the function, finally they were sung in group. We did not keep any slow songs in our collection.

The CEO of the Antarctica FM 28.0 was Ashish Nath, RJ was Nancio and Alok was the informal secretary. Mr Anant coined a slogan for the group “kao peo bhar pet, sunte raho Antarctica FM 28”. The team had the support of the leader, Ajay Dhar. Antarctica FM 28.0 performed on board Emerald Sea for all occasions like B’days, marriage anniversaries, festivals etc. There were songs suited to each occasion. By the time the 28th IAE team reached Maitri, Antarctic FM 28.0 was a huge hit.

I had reached Maitri by air, instead of by ship. So I really missed the initial activities of Antarctica FM. When the team reached Maitri, the original RJ, Nancio was on the ship, conducting his research. Hence I was made the RJ. The first function at Maitri was the welcome party. My job was to announce the next program, and every now and then shout “Aap sun rahe ho Antarctica FM 28.0.- kao peo bhar pet, sunte raho Antarctica FM 28”, as it is announced on radio. We did not spare the helicopter crew either. We made them sing and do something for us. Pilots Martin, Jimmy and Engineer Nick really enjoyed FM. Antarctica FM 28.0 was such a channel which people not only could listen, but also see, because we danced, had skits and games as well.

We had many singers of repute on board. Mr Nageshwar Rao (NGRI) is a singer on Akashwani. Now he is wintering at Maitri. Dr. K.P. Mishra (DIPAS-DRDO) is famous for his ‘Gajari’, a type of folk songs in Eastern UP. Apart from this he used to sing lots of bhojpuri songs, both in group and solo. He was the back bone of FM team. Mr. Anant Pandey (ISc-Mumbai) was a good photographer and a good singer, known for his poem ‘Kaliyug mein na aana re… pyare krishanakanaih’. Mr Somdutt (DEAL), apart from being a singer, he also played tabla and drums. He is now wintering at Maitri. Mr. Ramesh Petwal (DEAL), while he was on ship, used to beat table and utensils for music. At Maitri he was our tabla master. Mr. Devendra Sharma (BRO) is a folk singer. Apart from the regular FM team members one more singer worth mentioning, was Mr. Kuldeep Wali (IMD). My God! What a voice and style for Gazals (Mr. Wali died at Maitri recently due to massive heart attack).

Among several function that the FM team gave, the most memorable for me are the occasion Holi and grand finale after reaching back Cape Town. There were lots of songs related to holi, sang in good spirit. To make it more colourful, gulal (pink colour) was smeared on everybody’s face. Somebody brought ‘haldi’ from the kitchen.





On the ‘grand finale’ both I and Nancio anchored the programme. We also had guests from the Indian High Commission along with their families. That day we sang a patriotic song ‘main bharat ke rehane wala hoon’ and a national integration song ‘mile sur mera tumarah’. We also organized a game, ‘pappu can do’. Names were selected by draw of lots. Whosoever name comes has to perform the task again decided by draw of lots. If that person cannot do it, he is awarded the title of ‘pappu’. There was a skit on Gabbar Singh of Sholay. Also, that day was Mr. Sandip Ojha’s b’day, so we dedicated Mogli’s title song (jungle jungle pata chal hai) to him. After the function we had nice dinner and congratulated every one for huge success of Antarctica FM 28.0.

After reaching Lucknow and getting busy with work, I really wonder whether I am the same guy who used to shout ‘Aap sun rahe ho Antarctica FM 28.0. - Kao peo bhar pet, sunte raho Antarctica FM 28’?. Am I the same guy who used to recite those funny jokes and ‘babbar shares’? My God, give me a break and send me to Antarctica again.


Kao peo bhar pet, sunte raho Antarctica FM 28.

Airport During our Departure from Antarctica

Antarctica gave us all a grand farewell. Nowhere else in the world can a aircraft take off under conditions half as bad as these. I took this video was taken during summer time, temperatures were subzero, and it was snowing heavily. The airport cafeteria was half buried in snow.

Antarctica’s Ferocious Blizzards

The Summer Camp Huts after a Blizzard

An Antarctica Blizzard (video)

Antarctica is known as the home of the Blizzard, which can be best be described as ‘Baraf ka toofan’- copious amounts of snow blown around by high velocity winds, winds often exceeding 150kph (80kt), winds ferocious enough to blow away anything in its path, and snow so blinding as to reduce visibility to a few cms. You might be holding someone’s hand but you won’t be able to see him. One can spend hours going around the station without even seeing it. Any outdoor activity is impossible. Maintaining one’s balance is in itself a huge task. Snow percolates one’s nostrils, dungaree zippers, shoes, shoe laces- everywhere. Even a one mm hole in a station wall is sufficient to allow tonnes of snow to accumulate inside the station. Sealing such holes and clearing the snow is a perpetual task during a blizzard.

Me !!!!!!...... Astronaut????

We........... After a Blizzard

Look at the marker on the wind guage going beyond the range (more than 110kt- 200kph)

A blizzard, once started can continue for days, sometimes weeks, at a stretch. And one blizzard follows another, usually at a few days’ interval during the winters. Such is the intensity of a blizzard that snowfall is horizontal rather than vertical. Hence, snow accumulation is minimal to nil except on the leeward side of an obstruction. Snow hits any exposed bit of skin with such force, so as to send a shock down one’s spine. It tends to accumulate on snow goggles and form a layer of ice on it. Several people have died in Antarctica, getting lost in blizzards.
Structures in Antarctica are designed to resist such high intensity winds. Any loose object can become a missile. The station is built on stilts to allow wind and snow to pass below it and thereby minimize snow accumulation along its walls. There have been instances of entire loaded containers being blown away by such winds. They have to be strategically placed to prevent such happenings. All summer huts have to be anchored properly.
Blizzards, and not the cold, are the most challenging natural phenomena in the frigid land of Antarctica, especially in the coastal regions.