Antarctica Gives Us A Memorable Parting Gift

Finally, after a long period of delays and uncertainty, we left Antarctica on 30th Jan 09 at 10:35 PM. This brought down the curtains on the 27th Indian Scientific Expedition to Antarctica. I will now talk of Antarctica in the past tense. I feel as if a large part of me has been torn away. For the last 14 months, Antarctica and Maitri were so deeply ingrained in my system that they seemed inseparable. Maitri was my work place as well as my residence. Our lives revolved around the station and the day to day activities unique to Maitri. The rocks, lakes and the ice were as familiar to me as the trees in my backyard in Delhi. But at the same time, it was high time we left for home. We had already outlived our utility in Antarctica and were staying on just because we had no other option. It would have been depressing if we had to stay on for one more day. The very thought was unbearable.
However, Antarctica has given us the most memorable farewell we could have thought of. That day will remain with me forever. No one would ever have flown out of Antarctica in the kind of conditions we have done. It was cloudy since morning on 30 Jan 09. But the weather forecast from Neumayer did not portend anything ominous. Weather was to turn nasty from 31st Jan. As we left for the Novo Runway at 7:30 PM, it started to snow lightly. There was no wind. As we reached the continental ice cap, the snow drift increased and the visibility dropped to zero. The wind velocity was mild. We lost the way. When we finally found our bearings, we were a considerable distance off course. It took us some time to come back on track. We finally reached the Novo Runway at 9:30 PM. A journey that should have taken us one hour, took twice the time. The Ilyushin-76 of ALCI was scheduled to depart at 10 PM. The conditions at the Novo Runway were miserable. It was snowing as hard as ever and the visibility continued to be poor. Such conditions in any other part of the world would have led to indefinite delays. That would also have happened at the Novo Runway had worse weather not been forecast for the next 3 days. There was a complete whiteout. I was unable to see the ground on which I was walking. The undulations in the snow and ice surface were indiscernible. I fumbled my way around, falling down many times. Sometimes I walked right into a wall of snow without seeing it. A path had been burrowed into the ground leading to the airport cafeteria. Our luggage lying in the snow was soon half buried in snow. It was bitterly cold. I suffered a mild frost bite on my nose tip. The various tents and other structures at the airport presented a bright contrast to the whiteness all around. It was as if Antarctica was giving a 21 gun salute in our honour. What a farewell!!!!!
The interiors of the aircraft were dimly lit and very crude, like a city bus in India. The seats were very congested and there was no space for cabin baggage. There were no windows either. The scene outside was seen on a projector screen in front. Due to the whiteout conditions, we could not make out when the plane took off, except for the bumpy run up of the aircraft on the ice. We were soon soaring high above the bleak Antarctica landscape and were out of it in no time.
It was as if a THE END sign was flashing in front of my eyes.