Every journey begins with the first step. An adventure begins with an open mind. I think this expedition will be both.

As I recall the journey to this date and place,,,,sitting at the southern most city of South America, Punta Arenas, it reiterates the fact that I am just living my dreams. The journey so far has been a part of my dreams being realised. For the rest of the adventure, the team is raring to head off to the remotest corner of the earth by the 10th Dec.

The adventure begins... Adventure is one of those things that is defined very subjectively. Some say an adventure involves travel, risk, and uncertainty. Others will claim that braving the mall the day before Diwali bonanza or commuting in Mumbai local at the peak hour is all the adventure they need. To me, adventure is something out of the ordinary. It involves a certain amount of risk, some uncertainty, a high level of excitement, and the assurance that it will not be repeated ( at least in my life). At the end of the day an adventure is above everything else unique. I am safe to say that everyone will call this journey not only an adventure, but the adventure of my life.
The first thing all my friends ask me is what exactly inspired us for this kind of adventure. I, for sure wasn’t involved in its early conceptual stage. If one person deserves recognition for garnering this dream journey, it should be our leader, Cdr Satyabrata Dam. He has been the originator and designer of this novel idea. The stupendous success of the Navy’s Mt Everest expedition in May 2004 took the Navy to the Top of the world (also termed as the third pole). It was he who wheedled the idea of taking the Navy to the most northerly and southerly points of the planet (North and South Pole). Here we are today on the way to the South Pole…

It was a honour bestowed upon me to be the deputy of this daunting expedition and the promising team. I joined him in the later stage of the team selection and ever since has been thick and thin with the preparations, training, paper work, and not the least team management. But for flawless and untarnished support from all involved in the Navy as well as the Ministry, the journey this far wouldn’t have been so easy and possible.

Most notably, the commitment, involvement and support we received from the team members and their family was unconditional and absolute. It did help us to execute our rigourous fitness schedule and the training expeditions with much alacrity and perfection. The team underwent an extensive X-country ski training using Nordic Telemark Skis and pulk sleds in Greenland Arctic Icecap during Jul/ Aug 2006 under similar weather conditions and terrain as the South Pole. Later the team was put to a rigorous training and physical conditioning in the Himalayas for over three weeks prior to departure. All of us have been sincere and dedicated in our training and also in the job at hand. All our supporters and well wishers be rest assured that the team will not only unfurl the flags of the country and the Navy but also the dreams of the countrymen. It’s not just a word, but an assurance to all of you.

The journey till Punta Arenas has been eventful and very memorable. Everything has gone as planned – all flights were on schedule, none of us lost our baggage, the stay at New York, Santiago and now at Punta Arenas was just perfect. Except one thing… which was more perfect ! Our doc Ajay and his able assistant Rakesh responded well to an emergency call onboard Air India flight off Paris and conducted delivery of a baby girl. They have earned us accolades world wide and befittingly should I say… a job well begun is half won.

Punta Arenas is a small coastal town located on the southernmost tip of South America. It is a colourful place to visit, characterized by diversity which makes the city an important departing point for many a tours and trips. It´s summer here, so the grass is bright green and deciduous trees are filled with lush green leaves. The first thing I noticed here is that the trees and bushes are all leaning quite a bit to one side. This is because the wind is very strong, and usually blows in the same direction. It really is amazing to note how the environment an organism lives in really shapes, how it looks.

The weather out here is always perfect for walking around, but a little “CHILE” (:)). The people of Chile have a beautiful light coffee coloured skin with dark hair and even darker eyes. They wear brightly coloured clothes and always appear happy. The concrete buildings are so colourful as the flowers in their garden.

A warm ‘Hola’(means hello) to begin with, a bit of banal wrecked Spanish and a colgate smile is all it takes to attract the Chileanoes. I did buy a Spanish dictionary with a keenness to learn the language….though it seems easy to learn, we get a beating every time we attempt to strike a conversation. It is full of fun and our life has been ‘mocha buena’( very good).

The team has been totally focused when it comes to the expedition. Our day begins with a solid two hour conditioning exercise - walk / run along the sea followed by individual workout in the gym. We then take a long stroll into the streets of Punta for exploration cum sight seeing. Else settle for a book to keep ourselves occupied. Though we have been experimenting with our food finding new places to eat daily, we make sure it is healthy and nutritious. At least our doc is very particular about it !

Sight seeing has been the most fruitful time saver. Every time we go for a stroll, we get to learn more of the city, its people and culture and in the bargain we had a lot of fun too. A few minutes walk from the hotel would take us to the Munoz Gamero Square (or simply the City Center) surrounded by the beautiful conifers and dominated by a statue of Magellan, which is also accompanied by Onas native Indian statue. Local legend says that everyone who kisses the toes of the Onas will someday return to Punta. We all took turns kissing the toe and prayed for lot of good luck in our expedition. This place is ever flocked with the locals, children and the tourists alike. It is awesome to see the teenagers perform (or try to) skateboards, roller skates and the likes.

Cemetries, I hear people say, are great places to learn about the history, culture and customs of a place. Still, no one was particularly fond of visiting cemeteries. I decided to forego my rest one afternoon and visited the city’s Cementario Municipal. It was not all that big – was not small either. Besides usual tombs, there were a lot of mausoleums, some of which are quite new. These mausoleums look very much like those morgues where bodies lie in filed cabinet like drawers. Most of the tombs had inscriptions in Spanish, but a number of them in English and German. I found each grave with brightly coloured stones and even more colourful flowers within each grave.Offering in the form of flowers and the occasional cigarettes or chocolates are made. Families must tend to their loved ones quite regularly, as most of them had fresh flowers on them.

What's black and white and pink all over? Penguins! It was such a big treat when we saw the first penguin. It took us an hour drive up the coast to the Penguin Colony at Seno Otway Natural Reserve. I had first thought that the trip would involve taking a boat to some island. The penguin Colony is really on a grassy plain near a beach. It’s a long walk from the parking and the foot paths meander through the penguin burrows fenced off here and there. These are not the majestic King penguins, but the smaller Megallanic Penguins. A lot of baby penguins were on the beach basking in the sun. Some stayed in the burrows. None seemed to care that humans were walking about looking at them with great fascination and snapping pictures like crazy. These penguins are not camera shy at all.

Wonder what’s that pink stuff all over them? Their diet consists of mainly krill, which is pink. They seem quite content sitting in this pink smelly mess. Guess it all depends on your point of view. The penguins sure don't seem to mind, so no issue to us at all.

Magellan penguins mate and come down here to their breeding grounds every year. They can have one or two broods a year and both male and female take equal part on raising the hatchlings. The penguins will return to where they hatched to create their own nests.

Also in the beautiful landscapes are the flocks of wild geese, rheas and other sea birds. On the way to the colony we saw these birds which looked like an “ostrich”, but we were wrong. They are South American cousin of the ostrich called the Ñandú, a species in which the male incubates and raises the offspring while the female is free to roam. We also saw plenty of sheep, birds, and rabbits. Most of us fell asleep on the ride back.

Another day we took a trip to Fuerto Bulnes which sits on the Santa Ana hill lock along the banks of the Straits of Magellan. It was awesome and narrates history as it was established as the first Chilean garrison in southern lands during the Manuel Bulnes government in 1843.The access portal built with wood, grass rolls and the wooden fort show skilled their architecture was. The fort, though abandoned and unmanned was clean, in spite of numerous visitors. All of us spent a few moment in the Church inside and each of us did put up our wish list to the lord.

We also got to see the monolith that represents Chile’s Geographic Centre (from Arica to South Pole). On our way back, we took a de tour to the Laguna El Parriller National Reserve. It was heartening to see the facilities they have carved in the form of activities of the people which include camping, fishing, trekking and photography. The 90 minute trail would have been a great trekking experience but for the showers that stopped us. The camping site with cooking grills at a nominal cost are an eye opener for us towards promotion and development of national resources. The showers also forced the fisherman to retreat denying us the chance to taste their local fish. With a heavy heart, we departed saving the experience for our next trip.

Since it is a located in one of the ports of entry to the country, Punta Arenas is a duty free zone and hosts many shopping centers that sells tax free household appliances, electronic and photo devices, perfumes and handicrafts to the locals and the tourists. We did visit them and made a long list of items to take home on return from South Pole. Also, there are a number of hypermarkets where we frequent to stock our daily fruits and water consumption. These are basically like our super markets or departmental stores in India named ‘hyper’ with a reason – they are densely crowded and there is a lot of movement.

Our work out schedule and hunt for healthy food continues. Every day we jog to different parts of the city and also try out new eating joints, thereby spread the presence of the Indian team. It has been the talk of the town as we are fairly a big group and also look a lot different from the usual tourists. Even the street dogs, strangely large in number, seem to appreciate our presence in their land and always attempt to make friends with us every time we walk down the street. We have been focusing hard on our fitness under the watchful gaze of Brijendra and Manoj. They seem hard to run out of exercises to make the schedule any boring or monotonous. We have jogged along the sea front to the Armada Equestrian fields and to some of the beautiful parks with wonderful landscaping. In the last few days, we came across a football ground in the National Sports Complex and its such a delight to jog, roll, crawl and do any exercise you want in the turf. New venues everyday only makes us look forward to exercising in the morning while it is damn cold and the city is still asleep.

The team is all set and raring to go. Our flight to the Patriot Hill base camp was scheduled for 10th Dec. But with the last flight of 3rd Dec rescheduled due to bad weather, it still is uncertain. Weather in Antarctica is always a factor. It is always unpredictable. I have learned that things change any moment and the game of waiting for the right weather has begun which sure will instill in us one of the greatest quality of an adventurer( particularly in Antarctica) – patience. I only hope that our flight goes on schedule . I don’t want to get stuck in Punta for any more days with nothing to do. Not that I’m bored of this place, but its high time we begin with the real adventure and gat to taste more fun.

Jason and Steve are the polar guides accompanying us in this trip. Both are supposedly top class in their job and are highly experienced in the polar trips. While Steve has already left for Patriot Hills to oversee our preparations, Jason landed on the 7th evening. Jason gave us a detailed briefing on the entire expedition same evening. He also did a slide show of one of the last degree ski traverses. It has given us a good picture of what to expect in the trip and plan accordingly. Next morning Jason with an agency rep (ALE) checked our equipments and also helped us fix our ski and boots. They were more happy with our clothing and other equipments. We were really well prepared and organized for the expedition which did send across positive vibes on our focus and intention.

Subsequently Mike Sharp of ALE briefed us about the agency and its crew, the continent, Patriot Hill base camp, Flight schedules(IL and Twin Otter), South Pole base etc. It was an immaculate AV presentation par excellence that has left us in the end, doubtless and beyond questions. This also was an occasion for us to meet all those folks bound for Antarctica, along with us, chasing their dreams. There were a big group of marathon runners taking part in full and ultra Ice Marathon, some to better their previous record, a few to complete the ‘ 7 week – 7 continent – 7 marathon’ dream run and still others for the heck of it. There was Shital Mahajan with two Naval sky divers on a world record attempt. Then there were few attempting Mt Vinson and other mountains in the Ellsworth range. Some were like us, skiing to the South Pole. And there was also a family on a weekend flight to South Pole(loosen your eye brows please.. they happen to be the flight operators family). It was a really exciting to be amidst like minded people. Each one was applauding the achievement of other, while being quite humble and unassuming about their own feats. It did develop a bonding straight away and brought a feeling of oneness in all of us. Guess, it is just the beginning of some unforgettable days ahead of us.

The same afternoon ALE´s Admin Controller and his staff weighed and collected our baggage and left us in short notice to board the aircraft. None of the baggage had exceeded the weight limit of 20 kg except mine, which was the heaviest at 23 kgs (and Manoj had the lightest at 15.3 kg). I did a thoroughly investigation to find out how can my bag can weigh so much more, but couldn’t really know the reason.

May be I am also carrying huge amount of good wishes in my bag. It was incredibly amazing to see our web post overflow with good wishes and solidarity from an amazing panorama of individuals, encompassing all possible parts of the globe. Many of you are unknown to us, but I hope that you all know us little better through the website. We are trying to keep you abreast with our progress. I am more than sure that you all will continue to pray for us and keep adding strength and power to our body and mind all through the expedition. It is a proud moment for all of us. We carry the dreams of not only our own but also of the entire nation. we are undertaking this journey not only for ourselves, but also for each one of you. I am lost for words to explain how thankful we are for the good wishes each one of you have sent and the efforts all of you have taken to pep up our spirits to an unbelievable limits. This would certainly push us hard and pave the way for us to realise our dream.

The weather report at 6 pm continued to be bad with the winds above 20 knots and gusting to almost 45. The weather has certainly improved and has shown optimism among the operators. We all are praying for the weather to calm down and become stable soon. While we were waiting for the weather to improve, Jason showed us the film on his 2205 Ice Challenger Expedition that exposed us to the conditions we are heading to, soon. It was nice of our Defence Attache at Santiago, Commodore Rajeev Jaswal, to have come down all the way to see us off. All of us had a nice chat with him.

The good news beckoned us … at last! The weather is getting better. The first flight took off finally on the 10th around 12 pm which means that we should also take off tomorrow around same time. We may expect a call at 9 in the morning. The waiting seems to be getting over, but it is never over till we actually get airborne. We all had early dinner and hit the bed soon. This sleep might very well be the only good one we would have in the next few weeks or so. All of us are getting restless and frantically want to darn the skis. Most of us (at least I am) desperate to complete the journey and go back home soon to our near and dear ones.

My thoughts are lingering homewards .. I don’t know why, I am unusually home sick this time. I am really missing my wife Riki and son Archie a lot ….I have been really unkind to them. Archie had just seen two days of light when I left for the Everest expedition. Riki was brave enough to take care of the baby and herself all alone… only with a hope that I would realise my dream to go atop the highest summit.

Ever since I shifted to Delhi for the South Pole expedition, we were a lot unsettled for various reasons. I want you to know Riki ……I am very thankful to you for being so supportive and understanding. I love you more than anything else in the world. You have undergone a lot of pain whilst I was trying to pursue my dream. You have held our home while I have been out on various adventures. You have been taking good care of my sister in the hospital. You have sacrificed many of your likes and wants. I can never thank you enough for all the things you have done. I understand that I have missed out a lot of Archie’s growth. This time I again missed his first day at School. I only hope that I will be able to make up for all the tough times you have gone through all these years of my mountaineering and skiing. Thank you once again Riki and Archie. I love you !

Let me extend my thanks to all our well wishers and all the countrymen and assure you that we will make all Indian proud. We will keep up the hopes and expectations of the greatest nation in the world… our mother India.