The morning after the accident, we received news of the accident and evacuation of all the members to station. And then we could see that the members who waved goodbyes few hours ago, were walking back to the station with their bags. It would be a total of ~80 members in the station now, apart from the heli crew members. But bharati is designed with 24 living modules which can accomodate 2 people at once. So how could we all accomodate ourselves in bharati? With prompt response from leaders and officials, we utilized all the space we had, including lounge, tt room and entertainment room, which are the 3 common areas apart from dining. Within a day or two, a team identified with the accomodation related responsibilities made the arrangements with support from logistic members. Now we were 3 people per room and the heli crew were accomodated too. Bharati rooms have 2 layer cot setup with the upper cot foldable. Now the third mattress was put on floor. Well this was still the first step of adjustment. Imagine all the needs a person has for an entire day, that too in a cold remote desert. From temperature, water for all purposes to food to cleaning, the station and all the ~90 members now in station gave their utmost support to manage the situation. And the station engineers did their part in providing the resources and measures to use them in an optimistic way keeping in mind the health and capacity of systems, situation, prioritisation of purpose...,etc and the chefs were almost always in the kitchen while they paralelly managed to give rest to each other. They also sent tea tp warm us up while we did shramdaans in the chilly weather. Needless to say, the leaders were in constant planning for further actions and continuously guided the teams. And the members, ready for any support they could provide.

PC: Dr. Sukumar

A formation in frozen lake
PC: Dr. Sukumar

PC: Dr. Sukumar

PC: Dr. Sukumar

Icicles, connecting ice and water

PC: Dr. Sukumar

Those dots on shelf, are containers at runway
PC: Dr. Sukumar

My window to the world had become snowy!

Bharati top...the ships behind us

The birth of icebergs
PC: Dr. Sukumar

Supermoon...PC: Dr. Sukumar

Snow drifting

But all this is just the story of station. Lets get to the ship. The ship was back at bharati. Water ingress continued and the crew identified the root of issue. The ship was loaded with cargo and fuel that was to be delivered to maitri. The cargo was unloaded from the ship with the efforts of every member who has been there at that time. It was a hectic time to manage work and shramdaans for many. But as a team, there was immense strength. Shramdaans were planned in teams and executed to ensure resting period for members. Fuel and cargo unloading took place parallelly while measures were taken to arrest the water level that has ingressed. When the time and need had come, the little differences did not matter and everyone rose above the situation. And it reminded the age old saying, 'Unity is Strength'

And in another dimension, we had the installation going on and given the uncertainity of situation, it was necessary to think out the possibilities and consequences and act accordingly. But then, some experiences teach you while some change you. While a part of all of us was changing, we still managed to spend time meeting for tea, coffee and meals.

These are just the few of the many parallel stories running in the minds of all. This is just my story and parts of others' stories at the time. But there is a story of beautiful sky show, that I believe was part of all our stories. The Aurora Australis (or) The Southern Lights. While everything happened so fast, the beginning of nights happened too. And on one such night, we had the skies greet us, with our first aurora of the expedition. And my first ever aurora. We were excited at the way it glowed brightly and moved in a smooth and slow dance. Photographers tried to capture the memory. Some of us were on bharati terrace, and none of us knew the art of capturing the auroras. So we came up with some weirdly innovative ideas to have a picture. One such picture is below.

Over the next few days, while the teams were on action, flights were scheduled for the departure of members and a rescue vessel to support the ship and complete the voyage operations. And then the members left, all the maitri cargo shifted back to rescue vessel, the ship went back to capetown to collect more cargo, delivered them to maitri.

PC: Dr. Sukumar

Innovative photography, put a torch on face!
PC: Dr. Sukumar

Our windows to the world were our windows to the skies
C: Jyotish K Jayachandran (The experienced)

PC: Jyotish K Jayachandran

PC: Jyotish K Jayachandran

On frozen lake

How about a little skating on lake?

A cold march day

Holi hai!!

Wherever you go,
biryani follows you!

We did celebrate this too, coz, why not? Idea credits: Myself

NCPOR's 18th foundation day

The last arrival...

Meanwhile, we had a celebration for Holi with sweets, barbeque and biryani. After a few days, the ship arrived at bharati to take back the installation team and to deliver more cargo. And then on 11th of april, we were all alone for the winter that has already welcomed itself to the icy continent.

Note: Every expedition team deals with some unforeseen situations and its almost always a new one. There is always support from the former expeditioners, explorers and the government to handle the situations and when it comes to the Indian Antarctic Program, there are many who have worked hard to lay the path for the following expeditioners. They are fondly called the stalwarts of Indian Antarctic Program. And while I write this chapter, I am returning from Goa, after meeting many of my antarctic friends and recollecting many more moments on the occasion of debreifing function for felicitation of expedition members at NCPOR, Goa.