India in the Antarctic

Sudhir Khandelwal, a psychologist from Delhi, India has been blogging from the Indian base, Maitri this 2008 season. According to the News Post India his is the first-ever blog from an Indian from Antarctica. It's a great blog--at the moment focusing on the skuas he has named Shiv and Uma and their chicks. The photos of the views of Lake Priyandiarshini, seen from their base, are simply beautiful.

I realize, in writing this post how American-based focused I am (for obvious reasons). But 30 countries operate bases--either permanent or summer only--on the continent. I'd love to visit some of them.

In December 1959, twelve nations signed the Antarctic Treaty: Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Chile, the French Republic, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, the Union of South Africa, The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and the United States of America. In May 2000, sixteen more countries joined, including India (there are now a total of 46 member nations). They built a base called Dakshin Gangotri (Dakshin means glacier and Gangotri is a glacier that flows into the Ganges) in 1983 that was buried by snow and ice and abandoned in 1991. In 1988 Maitri opened in East Antarctica in the Schirmacher Region. Here's a map: