VISTAS

S.3 JOURNEY TO THE END OF THE EARTH

-by Tishani Doshi

About the author: Tishani Doshi is an Indian writer, journalist and dancer of
Welsh-Gujarati origin. She was born in Chennai on 9th December 1975. She
gained a Master’s degree in the Writing Seminars at John Hopkins University,
Baltimore.
She moved to London in 1999. In 2001, she returned to India where she became
a dancer with the choreographer Chandralekha. She also works as a freelance
journalist contributing to various newspapers.
She has published six books of poetry and fiction. She is a widely read authoress
and has to her credit many awards.

Theme:
The travelogue ‘Journey to the End of the Earth’ describes the journey of the
authoress from madras to the end of the world, Antarctica. It is Antarctica where one
can understand the earth’s present’ past and future. Her emotions range from relief to
profound wonder.

Main Points:
The writer visited Antarctica, the coldest, driest and windiest continent in the
world, aboard the Russian research vessel, Akademik Shokalskiy.
The journey, beginning at Chennai, passed through many areas, geographical,
local, ecological and temporal.
Her first reaction to the continent was of relief, followed by wonder at its
vastness, seclusion and geological history.
Part of History
Before human evolution, Antarctica was part of a huge tropical landmass called
the Gondwana land, which flourished 650 million years ago.
Biological (flora and fauna), geological (changing continents) and geographical
(climatic) changes occurred and Antarctica separated and moved away evolving
into what it is today.
A visit to Antarctica gave the writer a deeper understanding of mountains, the
earth’s history, ecology and environment.

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She felt unsettled in two weeks’ time not only because she came from a much
hotter place, but also because all features of human civilization were absent from
an already desolate landscape.
The long summers, the silence broken occasionally by cracking ice sheets and
avalanches, the blue whales and icebergs, all contribute to an ecological
implication that the future for humans is not good.

Human Impact
Humans, who are known to have existed for a mere 12,000 years, have caused
tremendous impact and played havoc with nature.
Population explosion, strain on available resources, carbon emissions, fossil
fuels and global warming have all resulted in climatic and ecological imbalances
that have also affected Antarctica.
Antarctica, though unpopulated, has been affected and there are concerns for its
half a million year old carbon records trapped under its ice sheets.
If we want to study the earth’s past, present and future, Antarctica is the place
for us to go.
The ‘Students on Ice’ programme, an initiative of Canadian adventure educator,
Geoff Green takes students on expeditions to Antarctica, to create awareness in
them, the future policy makers.
The stark proof of global warming and environmental threats help students
attain an understanding of ecosystems and biodiversity of our planet.
Small changes in the atmosphere can be threatening. The microscopic
phytoplanktons are single celled grasses. They nourish the entire Southern
Ocean’s food chain which helps in the understanding that further depletion of
the ozone layer will set off a chain reaction that will affect the global carbon
cycle.
The simple truth is- Take care of the small things and the bigger ones will
automatically be taken care of.

Walk on the Ocean

Before their return, the writer got an opportunity to walk on the ocean at
65.55 degrees south, which made her realize that she was walking on 180
meters of ocean water under which there was a rich kaleidoscope of life.

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Reaching home, she wondered whether Antarctica would ever be warm
again, how much difference a million years can make and, that each day
makes a difference.

Word- Meaning and Explanation:

Pg.18: ecospheres-environmental zones; set foot-landed; amalgamated-mixed
up
Pg.19: hosting-sheltering; flora-vegetation; fauna-wild life; wiped out-became
extinct; Cordillera- an extensive chain of mountains or mountain ranges;
Pre Cambrian-the earliest period of time, between 4600 and 543 million years
ago’ from where the earth was formed until the first simple forms of life (single-
celled microbes) appeared; shields-protective plates; mind-boggling- difficult to
imagine and very strange; jamming-blocking; buckle-tighten;
Drake Passage-the water body that connects the southwestern part of the
Atlantic Ocean with the southeastern part of the Pacific Ocean; circumpolar-
going round the pole; frigid-very cold; desolate-deserted; chilling-frightening;
prospect-sign
Pg.20: billboards-notice-boards; perspective-way of thinking; midges-
mosquitoes; mites-insects; surreal-strange/dreamy; austral-relating to Southern
Hemisphere; ubiquitous-present everywhere; calving ice sheet-breaking of ice
chunks from the edge of a glacier; consecrates-purifies/gives respect; prognosis-
judgment about future; paltry-very small; geological-related to earth’s physical
structure; ruckus-noisy commotion; etching-printing; unmitigated-absolute or
completely bad; disrupted-disturbed; crucial-important; sustained-supported;
pristine-ancient/original
Pg.21: carting-transporting; blasé-indifferent; repercussions-unwelcome results;
Southern Ocean-Antarctic or Austral Ocean
Pg.22: epiphanies-moments of very strong emotions; wedge-enter a narrow
space; gangplank-a board for walking between the boat and shore; kitted out-
equipped properly; Gore-Tex-synthetic waterproof fabric; glares-strong bright
lights; stark-sheer; periphery-suburb/outer surface; Crabeater seals-krill eater
seals found around the coast of Antarctica; sunning-enjoying the sun; ice floes-
floating sheets of ice; mammoths-huge extinct elephants that lived million years
ago ________

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