Celebrations and Parties in Antarctica

It's party time!
Where's the party?
(Anyway, the answer to this question would always be the expedition vessel we're aboard! )

A party in progress on board Ivan Papanin

We had numerous occasions to celebrate and party. Parties have always been an integrating component of any expedition. Without them, nothing works out correctly, at least that's what I guess! We generally had parties after a completion of an assigned task and on occasions like the Christmas party, the New Year etc. Seen here is a party on board MV Ivan Papanin after the vessel started sailing.
 Partying was one of the ways to chill off and it's a sort of "hang-out" too as there was no other place to hang out. Personally, I enjoyed these parties even though I don't know how to shake my legs. But I once tried and it was horrible.

The famous "bartenders" on board

In most of the parties one would find my friend KK and me as the "bartenders". We loved that "part-time" job. We were the only teetotalers on board the vessel as far as I know. People really enjoyed our "service". During the course of it, I'd learned some basic tips on bar-tending. It's not that easy as we thought. But we really enjoyed it. It was all fun.

The "midnight" sun on 1 Jan 2010 at 0000hrs

Holi at Antarctica

Two memorable occasions happened during my stay at Antarctica. One was the chance to have a glimpse of the "midnight" SUN on New Year's Day of 2010 (see image above). The other was the celebration of Holi (the Indian Festival of Colors). Even the Korean Helicopter crew joined us in the celebration of colors. It was fabulous and lucky to have got the chance to be a part in such rare happenings.
We also celebrated the 61st Indian Republic Day on 26 Jan 2010 at the Larsemann Hills. It was a touching moment for me as we celebrated the Day on a "foreign" soil. Just like India has a foreign diplomat as the Guest of Honor in its Republic Day celebration, we also had the Russians, a Norwegian, a Swede and the Koreans as our Guests of Honor!

India's Repulic Day (26 Jan 2010) in Antarctica