Tourism

Today we met a group of 4 people from a tourist agency who were setting camp to receive tourists from Europe for a white desert safari of 10 days. They had all state of the art equipment for this and will take 10 days to set up the camp for some rich tourists. Cost: Euro 25,000/- per person. These people were also associated with the making of a documentary for BBC: "Blizzard - the race for the pole". It is the story of famous polar explorers of 1900s, Edmondson and Scott. Ishu, I very often now remember the film in the Discovery Imax theatre on Shackleton in Charlotte many years ago that we saw together. I was filled with awe and had thought that such places were meant for exploration only by these great men of spirits and adventure. I had thought such places were not meant for me and had felt contented visiting Dodital and Har-ki-doon. Their feats of that time opened gates for persons like me to visit this continent with the help of all logistics and equipment. My salute to these great pioneers.

I also accompanied the scientists from the Geological Survey of India studying rocks. Went at 10 in a big snow vehicle with 350 horse power and returned at 6 pm. They were kind enough to take me with them. It was a real Antarctica feeling with snow and rocks of various kinds speaking and giving their history of evolution or formation to these scientists. Who says rocks are mere stones? More later.