Chandigarh, April 2
“Anyone who has seen the beauty of Antarctica can only answer with a bold yes to the idea of going back to the wonderland again,” says Dr Kanwal Vilku, who has just returned after 16 months on the frozen continent. “I come back a very confident person, tolerant, and above all closer to God,” she asserts.

The only woman member of the 19th Indian expedition to Antarctica, Dr Vilku is the first Indian woman to brave the glacial chill and perilous isolation of winters in the chaste abode of penguins.

Far away from home, life for her in Antarctica was a challenge at each step. From boring isolation to dealing with emergencies, to meditating and gardening, her stay was a rediscovery of self and a stimuli for achieving professional excellence. Hailing from Panchkula, though posted in Delhi, she was given the task of providing medical cover to the Indian team based at Maitri.

“Being the only woman in the 24-member team was difficult and I felt lonely. But it strengthened my belief in the values inherited from the Indian society. I was treated as a motherly figure as, at the age of 51, I was the eldest in the team,” Dr Vilku says.

Married to a Signals officer, Col K.S. Vilku, who has just retired from service, she says life in the Army gave her ample exposure to snowbound and difficult areas, where her fascination for nature surfaced significantly. Responding to an advertisement issued by the Department of Ocean Development, she learnt, much to her delight, just four days before the team’s scheduled departure that she had been selected. “My passport, visa and ticket were issued to me at the Mumbai airport itself. In fact I missed the four-day detailed briefing that team members have to undergo at Goa,” she said, adding that she was both elated as well as apprehensive at that time.

On December 6, 1999, the team flew to Johnnesburg in South Africa and then boarded a German ship from Cape Town for Antarctica.

“Initially it was a bit difficult staying away from the family. I used to remember them a lot. I was in contact with them through e-mail, but after a month the terminal conked out and we were left only with telephonic contact, which was restricted to six minutes in a month,” Dr Vilku says.

The daily regime started at 5 am, with a couple of hours in the gymnasium. The team reported for work at 9 am and secondary duties like galley duty, snow clearing, maintenance, and fetching food items from containers were allocated in rotation.

“In the afternoon I used to return to my clinic. For spending spare time, there was a big library and a collection of about 2500 video cassettes, though during my stay I did not watch a single movie. Lectures were held on nutrition and psychological behaviour and there were competitions and sports,” she says. “I also used to do painting and meditation in my room. I had a few ornamental plants and also used to make curd and grow sprouts, besides taking long walks,” she adds.

For going out, she says, there were certain restrictions. One had to be fully covered in protective gear ad weather conditions were very uncertain. A single person was not allowed to go out and carrying a radio set was compulsory.

The nearest other station from Maitri was the Russian station, about 4 km away. “This was the only other station I visited. Walking down used to take about 45 minutes, while a vehicle used to take about two and a half hours,” she states. Stating that besides accidental and cold-weather injuries like frost bite, dental problems were very common and the Russians had extra dental care facilities. “Frozen foods are deficient in vitamins and snow melted water is deprived of minerals like copper, calcium, magnesium and selium, which account for dental problems. Besides, people suffer more from psychological problems because of isolation and restrictive environment,” she comments.

Though the Indian station is equipped with an operation theatre, X-ray, laboratory and all kinds of medicines, the biggest challenge, she says, is that there are no nursing assistants available and nor can casualties be evacuated. “I learnt how to operate the X-ray machine and conduct tests,” she says.

Recalling an emergency, Dr Vilku says that she once had to handle a case of spinal injury. A team member had fallen off a tanker which was still 90 km away from the station and his injury was “quite severe” although there was no deformity. He was saved with conservative treatment, which took about one and a half months.

There was another serious case when the hand of a member was crushed by a container door swinging wildly in strong wind. Besides, she once had to operate on an infected gland and also treat chemical burns.

The highlight of her stay was when two women, one a New Zealander and the other an Australian came to meet her. “It was great. they were also lonely. We spent about 5-6 hours together,” he recalls. The only other contact with other teams was when a Norwegian team came on an inspection tour.

There were also some tense moments. When team members went to the Russian station to drop of members of the Russian team, they got lost in a blizzard and took hours to reach the station. Disorientation, white-outs, frostbite and the possibility of falling in crevices were the dangers they were exposed to. Then there was a short-circuit in a water pump resulting in a fire which, had there been a wind blowing, could have set the entire station on fire.

“Nature is very captivating and I got a chance to observe penguins closely. There were also several rare kind of birds such as the grey, pigeon-like Tern, which migrates all the way from the Arctic and the “ugly” brown hen-like Skua, which is very tame and feeds from one’s hands,” she recalls.

Back home after 472 days, she is now planning to pen down her experiences or make paintings on Antarctica. Otherwise it is back to her doctor’s job in Delhi.