-------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | | Goanetters annual meet in Goa is scheduled for Dec 27, 2005 @ 4pm | | | |The Riviera Opposite Hotel Mandovi, Panjim (near Ferry Jetty/Riverfront)| | Attending.......drop a line to [EMAIL PROTECTED] | -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Christmas Day send-off for 25th Indian Antarctic mission
Fakir Hassen Cape Town, Dec 24: Two students participating for the first time in an Indian Antarctic expedition will be in a 50-member team that will celebrate Christmas on board when the 25th such mission sets sail from here Sunday. The Indian Antarctic missions have in recent years been starting out from this city rather than Goa, from where the first one started in 1981. "This cuts down the time considerably, as it takes three weeks from Goa, but eight to 10 days from Cape Town, depending on the weather," team leader Prem Kishore told IANS. Kishore, a seismologist, is leading the team on his fourth such trip. "We are looking forward to continuing with the projects that have been started in Antarctica already, especially the core drilling to get a better sense of what lies beneath," Kishore said. "Tremendous advances in technology have made things much easier now, although the limited satellite coverage still restricts communication mainly to e-mail, telephone and fax." P.S. Goel, secretary of the department of oceanic development, said he was very pleased with two firsts in this mission. "We have two first-timer students on board this time. Also, the private sector is involved for the first time," Goel told IANS. One of these students is Preetee Oswal, who is also one of the only two female members aboard the ship - besides Vinita Phartiyal of the Institute of Paleobotany in Lucknow. A Mumbai-based pharmaceutical company has also sent a pharmacist to study the variety of chemicals available in the Antarctic. Goel said the cooperation with South Africa, whose base is near that of India in the Antarctic, was very good. "I have had discussions with my South African counterparts here, and we are looking at the possibility of joint participation in Antarctic expeditions for mutual benefit in future, following on the excellent cooperation that exists between the two countries at international forums on the Antarctic, especially at the UN," Goel told IANS. The director of logistics on the mission, Bhaskara Rao, said special arrangements have been made to ensure that the homesickness that invariably results on missions like these is kept to a minimum. "Alongside the bulldozers and helicopters needed in the Antarctic, we have loaded enough supplies from Goa and Cape Town to ensure that every kind of north and south Indian diet is catered for by our chefs," Rao said. About half the team of 35 scientists and 15 crewmembers will serve at the base until the end of the Antarctic summer in March, while the rest will stay there until March 2007. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Goa - 2005 Santosh Trophy Champions | | | | Support Soccer Activities at the grassroots in our villages | | Vacationing in Goa this year-end - Carry and distribute Soccer Balls | --------------------------------------------------------------------------