On a hot June day in 1981 S Z Qasim, then environment secretary, reached out to answer a telephone. The caller was Indira Gandhi, the prime minister. The conversation was brief and to the point. "Can India reach Antarctica?' asked the prime minister. Qasim, who had only an academic knowledge of the continent in question, replied in the affirmative. A few months later, he found himself at the helm of a 21-member team, the first from this part of the world, on its way to Antarctica. Keen to avoid brickbats in case the expedition collapsed, but also as shrewd strategy, the government shrouded the project in secrecy. The expedition quietly embarked from Goa on December 6, 1981, floundered in the impenetrable pack ice that surrounds Antarctica, and finally landed on the coast after three botched attempts.

Since then, Indian researchers have set foot on Antarctica 24 times, spent more than 70 days on its icy expanse, and frozen away approximately Rs 25 crore in just per-expedition costs. All kinds of scientists flock to