NCERT Book Class 12 English (Vistas) Chapter 3 Journey to the end of Earth

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Journey to the end of the Earth
Tishani Doshi
Before you read
If you want to know more about the planet’s past, present and future,
the Antarctica is the place to go to. Bon Voyage!

EARLY this year, I found myself aboard a Russian research vessel
— the Akademik Shokalskiy — heading towards the coldest, driest,
windiest continent in the world: Antarctica. My journey began 13.09
degrees north of the Equator in Madras, and involved crossing nine
time zones, six checkpoints, three bodies of water, and at least as
many ecospheres.
By the time I actually set foot on the Antarctic continent I
had been travelling over 100 hours in combination of a car, an
aeroplane and a ship; so, my first emotion on facing Antarctica’s
expansive white landscape and uninterrupted blue horizon was
relief, followed up with an immediate and profound wonder. Wonder
at its immensity, its isolation, but mainly at how there could ever
have been a time when India and Antarctica were part of the same
landmass.

Part of history
Six hundred and fifty million years ago, a giant amalgamated
southern supercontinent — Gondwana — did indeed exist, centred
roughly around the present-day Antarctica. Things were quite
different then: humans hadn’t arrived on the global scene, and
the climate was much warmer, hosting a huge variety of flora and