How India docked in Antarctica

Urmi Popat must like ice and snow A lot Five minutes into our chat at her sprawling bungalow in a leafy bylane in suburban Mulund and it was easy to figure why ldquoMy father is a keen adventure enthusiast with a zeal for the mountains Going to the Arctic and Antarctic was a deeprooted desire that he had nurtured from his school days when all he knew of these elusive regions was from Geography booksrdquo Popat says leading us in to her familyrsquos love affair with the icy continent ldquoFor several years he kept enquiring whether he could be a part of an expedition to Antarctica but to no availrdquo Penguins march across Antarcticarsquos iceladen landscape Pics CourtesyNational Centre for u00a0Antarctic and ocean research ncaor Ice Age tourists Eventually this trained architect also got curious about these regions that were dubbed as ldquotoo farrdquo The family tracked down an agent in the US and travelled to the icy continent in February 200102 thereby earning the distinction of becoming the first Indian tourists to unfurl the tricolour in Antarctica ldquoOur joy doubled when we as a family were able to ring in my fatherrsquos 60th birthday in a place he had always dreamt of visitingrdquo recalls Popat barely able to contain her excitement The family reached Antarctica via South America ldquoWe flew to Chile and sailed from its southernmost tip When we set on land in a blink we spotted hundreds of penguins march across the frozen landscape We had to pinch ourselves at the stunning imagery and that we werenrsquot watching a show on a travel channelrdquo reminisces Popat ldquoIt transcended all impressions mdash no amount of books photographs and movie clippings had prepared me for this spectacle of having set foot on the most divine beautiful landscape on earthrdquo Aerial view of Bharti the Indian centre in Antarctica This globetrotting family had travelled previously to the Arctic This area covers regions of Alaska Canada Scandinavia Greenland and Russia and includes towns inhabited by humans hotels and shops ldquoAntarctica is poles apart literally It has research bases of 49 countries with scientists and few tourists Both are dreadfully cold regions but Antarctica is harsherrdquo she explains while comparing the two Polar Regions In between her travels Urmi wrote two coffee table books mdashDream Destinations and Arctic and Antarctic mdash Journeys to the extremities of the earth ldquoIt was a natural progression and I enjoyed the processrdquo she reveals as one wondered about the number of country stamps vying for space on her passport Urmi Popatrsquos parents Shakuntala and Ashvin unfurl the Indian flag in Antarctica Pic Urmi Popat India in Antarctica Flash forward to 2011 Popat was invited to present a paper on responsible tourism options in the polar realms at the National Conference on Science and Geopolitics of Arctic amp Antarctica in New Delhi Going by her experience in this field of work the National Centre for Antarctic and Ocean Research NCAOR and the Ministry of Earth Sciences invited her to recreate Indiarsquos passage through 30 years of Antarctica research in a coffeetable chronicle From its early days at the Dakshin Gangotri station to its present site Bharti the book follows Indiarsquos giant strides in various disciplines of Antarctic science ldquoAntarctica becomes one of the worldrsquos most discussed regions as far as environmental issues are concernedrdquo she says Urmi recalls being amazed at the dedication and spirit of multiple teams who slog night and day in inhospitable weather conditions and away from family to achieve a common goal Urmi Popat Fact to format For this book Popat worked for over a year collecting amazing rare photographs and interviews globally to give readers a glimpse of the real Antarctica through snow and ice and human triumph against the odds The support from NCAOR and the Indian scientific expeditioners to Antarctica helped immensely Besides this huge task of tracking Indiarsquos presence in Antarctica didnrsquot warrant oversights be it person or event Was it tough for her to translate a vast complicated subject into a coffeetable book for a diverse reader base we ask ldquoThis book had to be a repository of exciting motivating and even hilarious accounts We included unexplored voyages anecdotes from crew members frames of the fastest overland traverse to the South Pole the Equator crossing ceremony Indiarsquos research stations flora and fauna breathtaking natural phenomena while trying to explain the nuances of the frigid continentrdquo 90 degree SouthIndiarsquos Journey to Antarctica was released on July 27 2012 at the Vigyan Bhavan New Delhi In the cold gtgt Because of the plate tectonic theory every piece of rock occurring naturally in Antarctica has a blood relationship with those in India and other continents gtgtu00a0The Adelie Penguin was named in 1840 after a French explorerrsquos wife Adele This species is identified by the white ring surrounding the eye gtgtu00a0The current station Bharti has a life span of 25 years gtgtu00a0Antarcticarsquos landscape is dotted with Sastrugi mdash windsculpted snow ridges formed when the wind erodes and drifts the snow Log on to wwwmanaspublicationcomu00a0