Another Story on the Equator

This morning’s latitude and longitude are at 7 and 51 respectively. We should be crossing Equator tomorrow late night or early morning next day. Gradually more and more flying fish are being sighted, but I haven’t been able to capture any on the camera. From today, another bird, Heron, is also being sighted in greater number. This evening a number of them were resting on the front mast. I did not know heron (Hindi name: Bagula) is found on ocean also; I had considered it a fresh water bird. It is seen abundantly around lakes and ponds in India, of the size of pigeon, and appears white in flight, while sitting totally motionless on the edge of pond, waiting for fish, it appears light brown. It waits so patiently and motionlessly that the term ‘bagula bhagat’ originated since fish, even if sees it, considers it a harmless object. In 1970s, Devanand was making a movie ‘Bagula Bhagat’. When its time for release came in 1974, Indira Gandhi had given a socialist and populist slogan – garibi hatao to signify class struggle in Indian society. The producer of the film in a masterly stroke changed the name of the movie to ‘Amir–Garib’. It was a big hit of its time. It was an ordinary movie with no memorable song but the change of the name created the desired magic. Chitra and I saw it together after having lunch at Standard in CP.

Appending one more story on Equator.

The Amazons: the Story of Women Warriors

The islands ruled by women, with mountains of solid silver, where strangers were eaten almost raw after being hung out, upside down, to ripen in the sun, and where crayfish emerging from the surf were turned to stone as soon as they touched dry sand.
In Greek language, the word ‘Amazon’ means, she who is without a breast.

In April1542, Francisco de Orellana, the Spaniard from Spanish colony of Quito, led an expedition to find Land of Cinnamon, the most profitable spice those days. In the land of Paguana, after they sailed past the mouth of a broad and powerful tributary with water that ran black as ink, they landed at a village where they saw something absolutely worth seeing: a tree trunk some three yards across, upon which had been carved a city surrounded by walls, supported by two jaguars. The courteous natives explained that this was a sacred symbol dedicated to a race of women warriors to whom the village paid a tribute in the form of parrot feathers and palm fronds to use as roof thatching.

Subsequently, the Spaniards found themselves surrounded by canoes loaded with warriors. The Indio warriors, midway through the battle, called for help from the Amazons, their mistresses. A dozen of women warriors came to their assistance, fighting as if they were in command.
According to Carvajal, “These women are very white and tall, and have hair very long and braided and wound about the head, and they are very robust and go about naked, but with their privy parts covered, with their bows and arrows in their hands, each woman doing as much fighting as ten Indian men, and indeed there was one woman among those who shot an arrow a span deep into one of the brigantines, and others less deep, so that our brigantines soon looked like porcupines.”

The Amazons lived, without men, in some seventy villages. Their houses were made of stone, and they had furnishings of gold and silver, they worshipped idols made of gold and silver, they wore jewelry made of gold and silver, they ate off of dishes of gold and silver.
“These women would couple with men from time to time, and when the desire took them, they would assemble a large force and would set off to wage war against a powerful lord who resided not far away. They would carry off men and hold them captive in their own land as long as they wished, using them to satisfy their desires. When they found that they were pregnant, they would send them back to their villages without hurting them in any way. Later, when they gave birth, if the babies were male they would kill them, and send the bodies back to their fathers. If the babies were females, they reared them with great solemnity and taught them the art of war.” (Descubrimiento del Rio de la Amazons by Gasper de Carvajal)

Carvajal, a learned man, added that these women should not technically be called Amazons because, though they did fight with bows and arrows, they did not cut off a breast to use them more efficiently, “and in Greek language, the word ‘Amazon’ means, she who is without a breast.”
At the end of August, 1542, Orellana’s two brigantines reached the mouth of that infinite river that the Portuguese had previously called the Maranhao. From that day on, it would be known as Rio de las Amazonas, literally River of the Amazons – the Amazon River.

Bernard O’Brien, an Irish nobleman in the search of El Dorado in 1620,
claims to have met with a woman chieftain in a city on an island where there may have been gold. He insisted later that he had seen decisive proof that he had visited the legendary Amazons: during his stay, he had seen only women; there was not a man to be seen. Moreover, those women had “vestigial right breast, not much bigger than that of a man, artificially shrunken in order to shoot better with bow and arrow. Their left breasts, in contrast, were entirely normal, like the breasts of European women.” His document still remains in the files of General Archives of the Indies, in Seville where one can read an account of an Irishman who lived among the mythical cunantensecuima, the “women without husbands”, as the natives called them.

This merging of the legend of the Amazon women warriors and the city of El Dorado is a saga of fruitless trekking and quests after phantoms that marked a full century of South American exploration.

(Source: Latitude Zero by Gianni Guadalupi and Antony Shugaar)

Ab Goa Door Nahin!

In one week’s time we shall be reaching Goa. The stores are still full, so the mess secretary in consultation with the management has been quite liberal now in bringing goodies to the dinning table. So now we have dry fruits, fresh fruit and vegetables, honey, ice cream now available all the time with no restrictions. People are also not behaving now in gluttonous manner. I am all for the fresh vegetables. I feel on reaching Delhi, for a few days I will not like to have any cooked daal or vegetables.

The Story of El Dorado: the Golden One

The tales of Equator often seem to involve obsessive quests. One of the most amazing has been the South American saga for the kingdom of El Dorado, the Golden One, who was said to live in a city of gold set on a lake that glowed each morning in a second sunrise that rivaled the real sunrise in glory and intensity. One after another great explorers of 16th and early 17th centuries chased after El Dorado, a name that has become synonymous with vast and illusory wealth.
In the 16th century when the Spaniards who had already plundered the astounding rich coffers of Peru were ready and willing to believe that all of the rest of the South American continent was one vast treasure chest. Word had filtered back that east of the mountains there lay a kingdom whose ruler was so fabulously rich that the Inca emperors had only been a clan of mendicants in comparison. This king was literally covered with gold from head to foot, because a golden powder was scattered over him every morning, adhering to his skin with an aromatic resin. Each night, he would wash off the golden covering in waters of a lake. He would be clad from head to foot again in gold the next morning. The entire kingdom was worthy of the king’s apparel: El Dorado, the Golden One, as the Spanish called this fabled king, lived glittering in the midst of a capital – called Manoa – filled with metal palaces. The walls of the city of Manoa were sheathed in slabs of gold, it was said. At sunrise, the gold would reflect its light so brightly that the entire island glowed in the middle of the lake, appearing to be a second sun rising from the lake waters. Temples and palaces were all sheathed in gold, inside and out. The poor covered the walls of their houses with mere liver. The cobblestones in the streets were diamond; the bed of the lake was carpeted with the pearls.

(Source: Latitude Zero by Gianni Guadalupi and Antony Shugaar)

Duty Free Goods

There is lot excitement in the dinning hall since morning. The notice board has displayed an announcement by the ship Captain that the duty free items will be available at 12:30 pm. Of course, it is only alcohol and cigarettes. If there were chocolates, I’d be interested. I neither smoke nor offer to guests at home. There is sufficient alcohol lying at home, and I have discovered Goa to be an exciting place to buy liquor at half of the Delhi rates. The quality and variety of IMFL (India Made Foreign Liquor, which is the term that British gave to alcohol industry in pre-independence era and is still sticking) are fast improving. The Indian beer, Cobra, seems to be a popular brand in English restaurants and pubs. The India made ‘single malt whiskey’ that I bought (Rs 450/-) while coming to this Expedition is still lying intact. I seem to be more knowledgeable about Goa prices of various Indian premium brands of whiskey and wine and am advising people on comparative rates. But I am sure they will still buy scotch here rather than single malt whiskey at Goa. After all, ‘phoren’ goods are still a craze. It is said that Delhi wallahs are so crazy about the scotch that more scotch is consumed in Delhi than what is produced in Scotland.

Latitude Zero

We are now cruising in the Tropic of Capricorn which has started from the Latitude of 22.5 degrees South to last till Equator at latitude zero; then would start Tropic of Cancer for another 22.5 degrees North. Between these two Tropics lie the hottest areas of the world. Goa is at latitude of 18 degrees North.

LATITUDE ZERO – Tales of the Equator
By
Gianni Guadalupi and Antony Shugaar
Stories of great explorers and eccentrics who braved the exotic equatorial regions of the Earth

EQUATOR – ANCIENT’S UNDERSTANDING
The history of the world has almost always been written from a point of view situated around forty-five degrees north latitude. Consider a territory bounded on the south by Cairo (thirty nine degrees north latitude) and on the north by Saint Petersburg (sixty degrees north latitude), we are looking at the stage on which Western civilization has developed. London lies just above fifty-one degrees, Paris is around forty-nine degrees and Rome stands at forty-two degrees north latitude. Asia lies a little further south. North America lies at nearly the same latitude as Asia.
The band of territory between the 30 and 60 degrees north latitude may not have a monopoly on the world’s history, but it has had a virtual monopoly on the world’s history writing. Most of the Earth’s publishers, broadcasters, universities and libraries look on the world from this relatively narrow swath of territory. Latitude, then, is destiny.

Great stories have been told in recent years about the exploration of the rooftops of the world (South and North Poles). But the tales of the Equator have largely been told piecemeal or overlooked entirely.

The Equator is the largest man made object on Earth. The imaginary line drawn along latitude Zero is longer than any other straight line that can be drawn on the Earth’s surface. It is the fastest moving point on the Earth, gets more sunlight than any other point, and the equatorial sun stands still, straight overhead.

To the people of the ancient world things that we take for granted, like sky, sun, or changing seasons, were much more substantial. For us, for example, cerulean might be an attractive designer colour; however, for the ancient world cerulean was the colour of the sky reflected on the surface of the sea. For them, sky and sea were both vital and immediate factors in life.
In waterfront taverns, tales of all kinds are told of adventures and misadventures of all kinds. Islands of serpents; or of men with forked tongue speaking with two different persons at the same time; or the island of the rukh bird whose egg was as large as the dome of a mosque; another island was inhabited by the karkadann which could spear an elephant on its horn; or another island which concealed the copper urns into which Solomon, the wisest man on Earth and who loved Queen Sheba, had sealed the evil spirits.

The Greek philosopher Eratosthenes compared the noonday shadow at Alexandria and Aswan, and from the difference he was able to calculate the curve of the Earth between those two points.
People of the ancient world had a number of amusing and astonishing understanding of the world, however, they also got a lot things right. They were incredibly brave people and took great and arduous journeys to explore the world without the advantage of mechanized boats and ships or telecommunication satellites, or GPS.

For some humility and understanding: a squad of U.S. fighter jets using computer-guided navigation crossed the Equator not too many years ago, flying in perfect formation, wingtip to wingtip, autopilot engaged. As they crossed Latitude Zero, their navigational systems flipped them over, still in perfect formation. Half a dozen pilots hung head down, safe and sound, but frightened and quite confused.

A Russian Barbeque

This evening we all were invited at a barbeque on the open deck by the Russians at 6 pm. At that time only they had laid food on the table and were serving wine to people who cared to drink. There were soft drinks too. The Russian crew is 30 in number; however, there were only ten of them. The officers including the Captains were missing. For vegetarians there was enough salad, boiled potatoes, bread etc. I liked the water melon best, fresh and sweet. Suddenly a bird of the size of crow came fluttering and entered a stair case going into the engine room. I think it got blinded by the strong sodium lights on the deck. Only some people showed interest to see it. I too went there and found it hiding in a corner. If it went further down, it would surely die due to the heat of the engine room. So I caught it and released it back into the air. By 7:15 pm the party was winding up. The hosts were not bringing more alcohol and were not filling up the food trays. I returned along with some others. In our dinning hall I helped myself with ice cream, my first since I left Delhi. Many of our people felt cheated. I tried to tell them that they had called us for barbeque and not for dinner or for a party lasting till midnight.

Cricket on Board!

The Sea Lions were convincingly beaten by the Sea Tigers. Yes, they were beaten 2 – 1 in a Fifteen-15 three match series today in a show of convincing performance put up by the Sea Tigers.

Emerald Sea has a huge hold (basement storage) of 30 by 15 meters which has been vacant now after the containers were removed at the Maitri. The wind has been very behaving very well since we left Cape Town and there was no pitching or rolling. However, a sea swell coming from some distance away would occasionally make it mildly roll and pitch. With a cricket bat and a tennis ball being handy, the members climbed down the ladder into the hold for Fifteen-15 matches. The rules were framed, but the application of rules being dynamic, they kept on changing. I was member of the Sea Lion team. We narrowly lost the first match. After lunch break, we were soundly thrashed in the second match. However, we could narrow the gap in the third match. Players complained of poor lights many a time when they missed on a catch or misfielded, but light conditions were same for both the teams. The ball soon lost its colour and became dark which also added to the poor light conditions. The rolling and pitching, quite infrequent though, added to the woos of fielding when a fieldsman who was moving forward to catch a ball, suddenly and involuntarily froze in his steps because the ship had moved in the opposite direction. There were many instances of heated arguments between the two teams, but the decisions of the umpires prevailed. These remained topics of discussion even after the day’s play was called off.

Casting Away from Cape Town

As I had feared the ship did not lift its anchor at 7 am. The revised time was 2 pm. Mr Dhar allowed people to go out to the market. The Water Front shopping area and mall were at the walking distance. I was on galley duty along with Saini. Though there was nothing I wanted to buy, but was keen to go out of the ship and walk and walk. He suggested to make only veg pulao for lunch. Surjeet, the cook, was not interested to go out, and he offered to prepare the entire lunch by himself. Half-heartedly I protested, but was happy when he did not relent. Nice munda! Back in the market I again wanted to buy that book: Diamonds, Gold and War: the making of South Africa by Martin Meredith, but then realized that I was not carrying my credit card. Just loitered around aimlessly and came back at 12:30. Surjeet had prepared all lunch by himself; I only helped in preparing salad from fresh vegetables bought yesterday. At 1:45 pm, when I saw Javed Saab still on the ship, I asked if there was further upward revision in ship’s sailing. And yes, now the revised time was 4 pm. I asked if I could walk to the market to buy a book: the shopping mall was just 15 min away. It was possible but I did not wish to go alone. No one agreed to come along. Then seeing my predicament, Javed Saab offered to send me in his car (he has a cab for his stay in Cape Town). Then five other people also got ready. We were advised to return by 3:30, it was already 2:15. No problem. The first book store I visited had the book, but was in soft cover; I thought it would be much cheaper, but it was also at 200 rand as compared to 217 of the hard cover. And the store did not have the hard cover copy. The salesman advised me to the next store in the mall and gave me directions. But he politely refused to enquire on the phone saying he could not talk to his company’s competitors. Went to the next; luckily, this store had the hard cover copy. I asked the salesman for discount. He said his store does not have the policy of offering discount and with a smile asked me why should he give me any. I enumerated four reasons: first because I am asking for a discount, second, because it was my last half hour in this city and I am still at his store; third, I am returning from a five-month long expedition to Antarctica; fourth, I shall give him my autograph.These were all brilliant reasons but, unfortunately, did not cut any ice with the salesman. I though, may be, if it were a salesgirl I would have had a better luck.

On return we found that the revised time to sail was now 5 pm. Finally she left at 6 pm, after a delay of 10 hours. So unpredictability of the journey did not cease to exist with crossing of the Antarctic circle.

Lifting the anchor and sailing away (‘cast away’ is the appropriate term) from the port is no ordinary event. It is quite a ritualistic affair to prevent any untoward event during this period. Port designates a person, Pilot, to come aboard. The ship can not sail until he comes. Two tug-boats pull her to cast away from the port land till a point from where she can turn and move freely. Then the Pilot, who supervises all this from the bridge (navigation deck), comes down and through the ladder, suspended from the ship, rides away in his pilot boat.
For dinner, we had fresh vegetable for salad and veggie. I suggested to make aloo-gobhi differently by stir-frying and putting just some salt (white as well as black) and black pepper only. The idea was accepted, Surjeet also sprinkled some chaat masala. We got compliments. The fresh vegetables had made all the difference.