Indian Antarctic Expedition – Philatelist’s Guide

 

 

 

A book titled "Indian Antarctic Expedition-Philatelist's Guide" by well known philatelist Sh. Abhai Mishra was released by Sh. RC Agarwal, Outstanding Scientist & Director DEAL in a glittering function, held at DEAL Officers Institute, Raipur Road, Dehradun. The function was attended by large gathering of scientists, philatelists and veterans of Indian Antarctic Expedition.

Indian involvement with Antarctic Expeditions dates back to year 1911 when Captain Scott attempted to reach the South Pole. The book traces the history of Indian Antarctic Expeditions through mails and letters carried with the expedition. It documents the Indian Antarctic postal history through cancellations, cachets, labels, envelopes, letter heads, QSL cards, postcards used during the expedition. The book reveals very rare and lesser known facts of Antarctica. The Himalayan mules for the Capt. Scott, south polar expedition of 1911 were provided by the Indian Government and were trained by Lt. Pulleyn at Landour, Mussoorie. In 1961, Dr. Giriraj Singh Sirohi became the first Indian to visit South Pole. To honour his contribution a point was named 'Sirohi Point' in Antarctica by the US Navy. In 1971, Dr. Paramjit Sehra became the first Indian to winter over in Antarctica and was honoured by the Soviet Antarctic Medal. The book illustrates, hundreds of rare letters carried with the expedition and describes each and every Indian Expedition in detail.

Various institutes from Dehradun has been integral part of the Antarctic Expedition. DEAL has been pioneer in providing communication support to the Indian Contingent. HAM radio operators from DEAL have done tremendous job in Antarctica. QSL cards used by the HAM operators have been listed in the book. The author himself was part of twenty-first Indian Antarctic Expedition in 2002 as communication officer. The book is first of its kind to be written here. Others present were Sivakumar, AK Shukla, Jaya Mishra, Rajesh Varma, Sudhir Porwal, Vipin Kaushik and Sanjay.

 

About the author

Abhai Mishra is a defense scientist at DEAL, Dehradun and  an amateur philatelist . He is an ardent photographer and has designed over fifty special covers and cancellations for Department of Post. He was a member of XXI (2002-03) Indian Scientific Expedition to Antarctica. His philatelic interests include early Antarctic expedition postcards (1890-1850), Indian Antarctic Expeditions and Uttarakhand Postal History. He has authored a book titled "Uttarakhand - A philatelic Journey", published by Department of Post, Uttarakhand Circle . He has also participated in several  stamp exhibitions and won awards. 

Mr Abhai Mishra may be contacted at email : abhai_mishra@rediffmail.com

Receiving award at Stampmania 2009, Vadodara