Antarctica Diaries

200 million years ago, the world’s continents were part of one big supercontinent called Pangaea, which started to break into several parts, eventually forming the 7 continents as we know them today. 

One of the parts that separated from the southern side drifted northwards and crashed into another plate, creating the highest mountain range in the world, from which some of the largest rivers flow.

This is the story of the formation of the Himalayas, from whose glaciers flows the mighty Brahmaputra river, the nourishing lifeforce of our land, Assam. 

It is indeed the Indian tectonic plate crashing into the Eurasian one that formed these mountains, and it is incredible that this Indian plate, 200 million years ago, used to be joined with what is today, Antarctica.

Scientific Reports (nature.com): Pangea breakup and northward drift of the Indian subcontinent reproduced by a numerical model of mantle convection

These are the stories I wanted to discover and experience, when I stepped foot in Antarctica, and it felt extraordinary to take our gamusa from home to her sister continent. 

I am especially grateful to our honourable CM for supporting my trip and to Awesome Assam for providing me with materials to promote Assam on that international stage. The trip would also not have been possible without the love and support of my family and friends.

The story starts in 2018, when as a space scientist very frustrated with the lack of women in tech fields, I discovered that less than 12% of the people who have gone to space are women. I have always wanted to be an astronaut, inspired by Kalpana Chawla, but I realised how statistically it was still very difficult to achieve that feat for women. So I asked myself a more basic question: how many women scientists have been to a remote place like Antarctica? This is how I discovered the Homeward Bound program, a prestigious leadership program for women with science backgrounds, which brings together women every year to experience Antarctica accompanied by a research expedition.

I applied and was selected for a trip in 2020, but due to covid our trip only took place in 2023. So on November 3rd, 2023, 80+ women set sail on board The Ushuaia, to cross the Drake Passage and leave on a brief escapade from human civilisation. Indeed, it was such a strange feeling to be away from society. We lived on a ship, with daily excursions on small inflatable boats (Zodiacs) to the land. There is no way to describe what it felt like to be surrounded by just the sounds of nature, away from any sort of artificial noise, with not even an electric pole in sight for days.

There really are no words to describe my experience of Antarctica, which is why I am relying on art to express where words have failed. It took two days to cross the Drake passage but that first sight of Antarctica felt so overpowering. My senses really shut off the sounds and smells of the ship to fully experience the antarctic environment. We first landed on the Southern Shetland Islands - this is where I saw my first penguin ! It was another day of crossing the Bransfield strait, before we set eyes on the real Antarctic Peninsula.

Antarctica is a continent of water: sea, ice, glaciers, snow, hail, mist, fog, clouds, even the circumpolar current which links three oceans. Water has been a very powerful driver in my life – it gives us life and can also take it away. Many years ago I had a near-death experience due to drowning and all these years later, Antarctica truly awed me with the power that water has over us.

Antarctica is in the southern hemisphere, which means the continent was entering summer then, and the days were very long. 

We were near the Antarctic Circle so there was almost no night and the sunsets were some of the most spectacular that I have seen in my life: the Antarctic ice shelf, several hundred meters thick rising in front of us, the open ocean on the side stretching out into the horizon. A landscape of white and blue of all shades covered by a blanket of soft orange and pink.

Indeed, Antarctica can give you a sensory deprivation of the colour green. There are no trees, and at that time of the year, you could barely see any moss. We were not the only ones there, we saw many wildlife which had adapted very well to these conditions, too harsh for our fragile human bodies. Colonies upon colonies of three types of penguin: Gentoo, Adelie and Chinstrap. We also saw Orcas and Humpback whales, one of whom got very curious and approached our boat, swimming a few meters beneath us. I felt so calm yet in awe of the power of nature – this humpback whale, which could have overturned our boat if it wanted to, but it only swam around us peacefully, intending no harm. Why can’t humans be as respectful of these other species that share our planet with us?

Indeed, as humans, we have such terrible imprint on the planet, the effects of which are very visible on the ice continent. One of the most spectacular things that I saw for the first time in Antarctica was “black ice”. It is ice so pure – formed over thousands of years under tremendous pressure due to the weight of thick ice and glaciers, so much so that all air bubbles are expelled – and you have ice so transparent that it reflects the sea around it and appears black. However, more and more large chunks of this black ice can be seen in the sea, as climate change is causing the Antarctic ice shelf to melt at a fast rate. We also saw a lot of icebergs due to continental ice breaking off the main ice shelf, and there is characteristically less sea ice. This is indeed dangerous for everyone because it is causing sea-levels to rise.

Going to Antarctica finally after planning it for 5 years was a very gratifying experience as a scientist and also an as artist. 

I felt united with nature; it was like meditation. 

On the ship, I spent a lot of time by myself, trying to soak in as much of the radiance of the surroundings as I could in the 3 weeks that I spent in the Antarctic peninsula. 

On the day we left, I felt such a powerful surge of emotions. It felt like memories dissolving into a distant dream, it felt so unreal.

Antarctica Log | 12.11.2023 

Voices in the Antarctic Storm: Navigating Challenges on a Journey of Discovery

"Halfway through our expedition, this first phase has served as a metaphorical icebreaker for the 88 women with STEMM backgrounds on board. 

Caught in an Antarctic ice blizzard – the winds rose to 200 kph and the temperature dropped to -30°C – we used these strong winds to carry our voices across the planet and even to outer space. We collaborated with the NASA Global Observer Project by taking local observations of weather conditions to ground truth satellites and improve forecasting.

Seeking shelter from the Antarctic storm to reflect: ‘Shades of white of the white continent of Antarctica. Landscapes, icebergs, ice floating on the surface are white, grey white, blue white, turquoise white, even black white when it’s transparent.’

We have barely scratched the surface: the wealth of knowledge shared is just the tip of the iceberg. Now it is time to go in depth and discover what lies underneath to come together and collaborate for global impact. It is time to bring everyone together for our mother earth and sing an ode to Pangea: a time when all continents were connected.

A celebratory message to the people of Assam, that land nourished by the waters of the Himalayas: your gamusa has reached your sister ice continent!"

September 2024 | Antarctica – Polar opposites - Upcoming exhibition in Perth | The Laneway Artspace

November 23, 2023 | Assam girl Priyanka Rajkakati successfully completes voyage to Antarctica (assamtribune.com) | The Assam Tribune

November 23, 2023 | Assam's Priyanka Rajkakati successfully completes voyage to Antarctica | India Today NE

November 03, 2023 | Assam's Priyanka Rajkakati leaves for Antarctica for a 'trip of a lifetime' | India Today NE

HB Full list : Media - Homeward Bound (homewardboundprojects.com.au) 

December 20, 2020 | Adventure in Antarctica to 'break the ice', forge ties & to grow | Oneindia News