More forays into north pole.
It’s the first time im seeing ice. Earlier pictures never made me think about the cold, I only thought it was nice. At -20 c the body begins to cave in upon itself. The skin turns to the bones for warmth.
Saw a polar bear. Must always remember there are no hyenas in Africa. Haven’t checked though.
Was told in my childhood that Greenlanders lick each other instead of bathing. Again now there’s good reason to doubt its verity.
The bear was all white except for the mouth. But for it even from very close it looks like a white mound. Mohenjo daro. That’s what I am planning to call this first bear if I can tell it apart from the many more I am hopefully going to see in the days to come.
Here too delusion. Every morning waking up in the hope of seeing penguins…
Eskimos!!! In my part of the world it would be a name for a fridge or an ac. Even an ice cream bar. Here it is all the company I will get provided the rest of my party don’t get frozen to death or lost in a snowstorm.
Trying to fathom the philosophy behind staying in the arctic circle. To me makes no sense unless one is evading tax or is a fugitive from the law. In which case I should book a plot here. Have to check with the natives, but first must think of polite way of asking.
Not that it was the first question that came to mind, but it will not be entirely out of context to record here that I havent yet been able to form any definite idea on how the inuits dispose of their dead.
I was told that they merely left the dead out in the open and in this manner their burial was a night’s work for the falling snow which entombed the corpse in a snowy crypt. Interesting… but however on further enquiries I have learnt that this practice is now on the wane because a few years back one such cadaver carelessly flung rolled down a precipice and snowballed into an avalanche that caused much damage in a hamlet at the foothills which on that night was holding its annual prom. Apparently, for years after that no girl in that sleepy village bore any children. Thankfully that has changed and on my trip to the village I saw amongst many other things a santa claus school that has its headquarters in san Francisco.
But that still leaves me with the original question. Discreet inquiries, where not rebuffed, for the Eskimo people are a superstitious lot living as they do for six months in complete darkness, suggest that there is a grave mafia at work which manages the lucrative space for burials business. This international cartel that has had previous experience in this trade in the deserts of Africa and Arabia before the coalition of the willing moved in exercises a strong control over their domain. For the locals this arrangement works out fine, but they were not sure about an alien dead body because that would involve interference from the government.
Although when receiving our briefs we were told to have as much fun as we could, one of the small bits that make up the list of our research objectives is to investigate the survivability of common Indian domestic pests in sub zero temperatures. For these purposes have brought along with us families of cockroaches, lizards and ants, christened respectively the Gandhi, bachhan and the yadav families. Till now all the animals have done remarkably well and have displayed the dogged tenacity that also distinguishes their namesakes. The hostile climate seems to threaten them but little…
Met a zamboni driver and later the ice princess, his snow vessel.
will record further as interesting things occur...