2020-01-17 Fri

Col. Jatinder Kumar (JK) Bajaj, a mechanical engineer, and seasoned mountaineer was the first Indian (and the first Asian) to reach the South Pole on 17 January 1989.

India has already reached Antarctica and had the vision to reach further south. At the bottom of the Earth to be Specific! Col. JK Bajaj was determined to finish this unfinished achievement and did the best he could and when the opportunity came he seized it with both hands.

In the year 1984 Bajaj was asked to lead a small team to survey the area around Dakshin Gangotri which was an Indian station at Antarctica. The motive of the survey was to undertake navigational, communication and logistic studies for an Indian expedition to the South Pole the following year. Though the mission was risky, Bajaj was determined and haunted by the idea to reach the South Pole.

He spent days of his annual leave at Gulmarg ski slopes in Kashmir followed by a trip to the ski slopes in France and Italy where he trained for the mission. In September 1988, Bajaj attended the final selection and pre-training camp in Alaska. He then returned to India and began the expedition in early December.

Hercules Inlet was their expedition start point. Fighting howling winds they covered 5-18 miles (25-30 km) per day with 30kg of weight along with them. After the journey of 1200 miles and 50 days, on 17th January 1989, the team walked the final steps to the South Pole, arriving 77 years to the day after Captain Robert Falcon Scott. This is how the Indian flag was hoisted at the bottom of the earth.

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