Recruitment Status in ITBP - Indo-Tibetan Border Police

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Dr. Neeraj BhargavaMedical Offi cer, ITBPVijayCT/Cook, ITBPAntarctica : A Wonder LandIt was a holiday and I was offering prayer in my32 nd Bn Shiva temple in the month of August, 2009. A faxmessage had come to me from my sector HQ for the postof medical offi cer at Maitri, Antarctica. I was in trouble withhot and humid summer of Kanpur. It was an excellentopportunity to explore the virgin continent. All above factorsinspired me to say yes to my wonderful journey to thispristine land. Immediately, I gave my willingness for theoffer.In the mean time, I got an opportunity to speak toother people who had gone in the previous expeditions.They told me lots of interesting things about Antarctica. Itincreased my eagerness to see the beautiful continent.In the fi rst week of October, I got the confi rmationletter that I am selected for the 29 th Indian Scientifi cExpedition to Antarctic. My medical examination wasconducted in mid October at AIIMS, New Delhi.My better half, Dr Sonia gave me permission withcheerful smile. My son Ishan was more excited than me,asking for penguins and lots of ice to make snowman. WhenI talked with my son, he asked me about my departure tothe mission and congratulated me. My mother gave mepermission with lots of precautions and advices. I can’tforget my wife’s smiling face with tears in her eyes at airport,Delhi .This shows her courage as a wife of an ITBP offi cerand an offi cer herself too.I met Director General, ITBP, in Delhi and briefedhim about my tasks there and took his blessings andadvices too. DG provided me the memento and ITBP fl agfor Maitri, the Indian station in Antarctica. Photo cell of ITBPheadquarters also issued me a good quality camera and ahandycam to record all important events and activities.I reported at National Centre for Antarctic and OceanResearch, Goa on 18 th November, 2009, for completing theformalities. Our journey started from Goa via Mumbai andwe reached Cape Town (South Africa). We stayed at agood luxurious hotel, Mandela Rhodes. It is a well planedcity with lots of attractions. It is also one of the cleanest andcostliest city in the world.On 25 th November, with summer team members,I boarded M/V IVAN PAPANIN, a Russian made Ice classship to head towards the icy continent. It was a huge shipof around 125 meters of length. It has 5 fl oors with lot ofspace for cargo and passengers. There were many wordsthat I had to be familiar with, like gang way, loft, bridgeand cabin. My cabin number was 273. I shared it with anaval offi cer. Our voyage leader gave me responsibility ofarranging and loading all food stuff in Cape Town. The nightwas very cold and windy. Most of the members walkedout to enjoy the festival of Id celebration in Cape Towncity. I had the opportunity to interact with the Russian shipcrew members, African local ship agents, and Korean andNorwegian helicopter crews. Russians usually, don’t have avkbZ-Vh-ch-ih lekpkj & tqykbZ 2010 8
Dr. Neeraj Bhargav (MO, ITBP) along with Ct. Vijay (ITBP) presenting memento toMr. Elango, Team Leader, Maitrigood knowledge of English. So I have to resort to some signlanguage to converse with them.My journey towards Larsemann Hills started on 30 thNovember 2009. After 24 hrs, the ship started moving upand down, which in maritime terminology is called 'rollingand pitching.' It occurs due to mixing of hot water of IndianOcean and cold water of Atlantic Ocean at 40 degree south.Ship’s movements are denoted in degrees. There is a saying,'roaring forties, furious fi fties, and severing sixties.' Weencountered high tides, touching the bridge of the ship, andsevere cold outside. Before we reached sixty degrees south,half of our team members were down with motion sicknessincluding the voyage leader himself. God kept blessing me,thinking that if I am down with motion sickness, no bodywill be available to look after the expedition members. Afterthree days of journey, the situation improved. My yogaclasses and routine exercises alongwith motivation lecturesalso helped our team members.The temperature was going down and we could seesmall icebergs coming towards us to welcome our team.Polar clothings were issued to us, so that we could go outand see the glimpses of ice, seals and penguins. For thefi rst time in my life, I saw a huge iceberg of more than onekm length, like a hill. On 10 th December, we were nearerto LARSEMANN HILLS, where our new station BHARTI, isgoing to be established. We were on the fast ice and ourship was not able to move ahead. Our snow scooter andsnow vehicles were able to run on it, as the ice above thesea water was about few metres thick.I saw the ice cutter ship M/V. IGNACHUK cuttingthe ice so well that our expedition vessel M/V. Ivan Papanincould reach up to 30 metre to seashore. Wewalked up to station site on fast ice from theseashore.In Antarctica, climate is divided intotwo seasons. The winter lasts from March toNovember and the maximum temperatureis around -4 to -6 0 C while the minimumtemperature is -30 to -35 0 C. Second phaseis summer from December to March andmaximum temperature is around 4 to 6 degreeCelsius and minimum is -4 to -18 0 C. The windspeed in Antarctica vary from 0 to 120 knot. Itincreases the cold because of the wind chillfactor. In Antarctica, sun shows two importantphases-one is the polar day when sun shinesfor twenty four hours in summer for more than two monthsand second is polar night, when the sun is not visible formore than two months in winter.Larsemenn hill is full of magnifi cant icebergs, greatsun views and fresh water lakes. Antarctica has differenttypes of birds like penguins, skuas, snow petrels, andalbatross and animals like seals and whales. I am fortunateenough to take few shots of killer Whales with my camera.There are lots of protocols we have to follow and all effortsare taken for avoiding disturbance to wild life.Road and helipad works have been completed inLarsemann hill. Immediatly after coming here, I had to do fi rstaid for some minor injuries. Health and stress managementlecture was delivered. The routine monthly examination ofall the team members was carried out.After accomplishing all the tasks at Larsemannhills, our ship started towards the permanent Indian station,Maitri. We reached Indian bay, the berthing point on 10 thFebruary but we could not fl y to our station due to diffi cultweather conditions. Staying inside the ship and dreamingabout the station was the only work we could do for the nextfew days. At last, on 13 th February the weather favouredus and we could reach Maitri on the eve of ValentineDay. It was a wonderful day. I spoke to my family for 15minutes fi rst time in four months. I am here as a winterteam member, so I got good accommodation inside thestation, while summer members were accommodated insummer camps. Maitri is the permanent Indian base from1990 onwards. Here many scientifi c experiments are goingon in the areas of Atmospheric Sciences, Meteorology,9vkbZ-Vh-ch-ih lekpkj & tqykbZ 2010
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Page 6 and 7: ITBP Releases Book on KM Yatrato ma
Page 8 and 9: ITBP observes World Hepatitis &Worl
Page 12: Geology, Geomagnetism, Seismology,
Page 16: 1 st Total Hip Replacement in ITBPA
Page 22 and 23: Name of Child Mother's Name Father'
Page 24 and 25: Archna KumariCGPA-9 (85.5%)Neerja K
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Recruitment Status in ITBP - Indo-Tibetan Border Police

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