Last week, I got a call in the morning from some Gopal! Deep in sleep I could not realize that the only Gopal I know would call me at that time, because he was living in the southern most continent of the globe! At the volleyball ground a fat man appeared in the evening, and it was Gopal to my surprise, my friend and a technical person at EGRL, Tirunelveli. He is back from Antarctica after spending more than a year there. I was keen to listen to him to know how the life at the most harshest continents of the globe was! He gave me a huge volume of photographs and videos. I would like to share some of them here so that my friends can get a glimpse of the nature of life and activities at the icy land.
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| Bharati: India's station at Antarctica |
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| Maitri: India's station at Antarctica |
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| View of Moon from Antarctica |
National Centre for Antarctic and Ocean Research (
NCAOR), Goa, under the Ministry of Earth Sciences, Govt. of India is the responsible agency of Indian Antarctic programs. India has three stations at the continent: Dakshin Gangothri (1983), Maitri (1989) and Bharati.
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A Bit of History:
The first Indian to set his foot on Antarctic continent was Lieutenant Ram Charan, a meteorologist in the Indian Navy, who joined an Australian expedition in 1960. Indian interests in Antarctic research goes back to 1970's. As a result of some Indo - Russian agreement Indian scientists could join Russian team to Antarctica during those period. The research activities of India's polar studies got momentum when the first Indian expedition to Antarctica in 1981 was conducted under the leadership of
Prof. Syed Zahoor Qasim.
The team landed in Antarctica on 9th January 1982 and hoisted Indian flag on the icy continent. India's first station at Antarctica, Dakshin Gangotri, was set up after two years of the first expedition. Later the station got buried under ice. It was restored and is being protected as a historic site. Another name in the history of Antarctic program of India, as a student, is
Dr. Dinabandhu Sahoo. He was the first Indian student to reach Antarctica, who joined the seventh of Indian Antarctic expedition. India's third station Bharati is at a distance of 3000 kilo meter from the second station, Maitri! People who want to go to Bharati from Maitri sail to Cape town in South Africa and then to Bharati (if not in a helicopter or air craft)! How vast is Antarctica!
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| Courtesy: The Hindu |
Having established the scientific capabilities of India at the Southern most continent, the
first Indian team set out to visit the South 'Pole' which was still thousands of kilo meters away from Indian station Maitri! The team was led by 62 year old Dr. Rasik Ravindra! Mr. Ajay Dhar, a technical officer in the Indian Institute of Geomagnetism was lucky to be part of the team in the year 2010.
The first Indian to set his foot on Antarctic continent was Lieutenant Ram Charan, a meteorologist in the Indian Navy, who joined an Australian expedition in 1960. Indian interests in Antarctic research goes back to 1970's. As a result of some Indo - Russian agreement Indian scientists could join Russian team to Antarctica during those period. The research activities of India's polar studies got momentum when the first Indian expedition to Antarctica in 1981 was conducted under the leadership of Prof. Syed Zahoor Qasim.
The team landed in Antarctica on 9th January 1982 and hoisted Indian flag on the icy continent. India's first station at Antarctica, Dakshin Gangotri, was set up after two years of the first expedition. Later the station got buried under ice. It was restored and is being protected as a historic site. Another name in the history of Antarctic program of India, as a student, is Dr. Dinabandhu Sahoo. He was the first Indian student to reach Antarctica, who joined the seventh of Indian Antarctic expedition. India's third station Bharati is at a distance of 3000 kilo meter from the second station, Maitri! People who want to go to Bharati from Maitri sail to Cape town in South Africa and then to Bharati (if not in a helicopter or air craft)! How vast is Antarctica!
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