That was how city-based Wing Commander Gurmail Singh Kahlon (one of the three pilots on the 18th expedition to Antarctica aboard Polar Bird) felt while on trip to the coldest continent of the world.

Ask him how it feels to be back and he replies: "How would one feel on getting back from a place where the sun doesn't set for months together? I'm in a state of stupor but, strangely, I'm ready to go back."

...Back even after 54 long days of braving cruel snow; back to a land where just two per cent area is exposed rock and 87 per cent is permanent ice sheet; back to a land where he saw the sun set just for two minutes past the midnight!

Kahlon, a Pawan Hans pilot, informed that this was the first time the flying contract for the expedition went to a public sector undertaking, Pawan Hans Helicopters Ltd (PHHL).

"For the past seven years, Jayrow, a US company, was bagging the contract. In December 1997, PHHL selected four pilots and two engineers who went to USA for training to fly in the Antarctica-like terrain. In January 1998, two Bell 407s were bought and it was decided that they would be sent for the expedition."

Kahlon was one of the three pilots whose names were cleared by the Directorate of Ocean Development for the 18th scientific expedition to Antarctica.

"We set sailing from Goa on December 14 and reached the Indian Bay (ship can't go beyond) on February 4. We had to break packs of ice to move forth. There were times when the ship moved just two miles a day," he said.

His most exciting memory is that of crossing the equator. "It was a ceremony. The tradition has it that anyone who crosses the equator must dip in the Southern waters to purge his soul of evil. Those from the Northern hemisphere are considered filthy. So they must purify themselves. We collected sea water in the ship and then enacted the tradition with one of us becoming the Lord of South Seas. As each one took a dip, the Lord shouted: "Accepted". That was how we went further."

Kahlon recalls January 11 when the ship got stuck in packed ice about 100 km short of `Maitri', the Indian base at Antarctica. "Ice could take any time to melt. So we began operations," he said. The job was to ferry scientists to various survey spots and getting them back with the collected samples.

The ship reached the Indian Bay on February 4. "It couldn't go beyond because there were permanent ice shelves which can't be broken," said Kahlon.

"Barring the snow, the experience was wonderful," said Kahlon as he recalled how excited everyone was when the sun set for two minutes on January 28. "If we didn't go by the clock we would have never slept. It's a six-month summer there. The air is so pure that one can see hundreds of miles ahead."

Another delight were the penguins who brave blizzards with speed of 200 km per hour. "The female lays only one egg in a season. We saw how male penguins protected the eggs for 65 days at a stretch. They don't eat anything during this period and lose 40 per cent of the body weight. The females are, meanwhile, arranging feed for the young one."

"It was a journey into vastness, an area of 14 million sq km, a height of 2,300 m above sea level. We returned to land on March 30 but I still feel I'm on snow."