A stony challenge

As India’s first woman scientist to Antarctica, Sudipta Sengupta writes about her rocky, yet fruitful experiences and learnings as a geologist in a male-dominated ‘rough terrain’.

I consciously accepted my first challenge after my higher secondary examination when I chose to pursue geology as my major field of study. For the rest of my life, I always tried to accept challenges and lead a life full of adventures. 

I had little idea that it would be a predominantly male-dominated vocation and that the journey would be a lonely one. But after all these years, when I look back, I feel grateful that this profession has given me so much joy and fulfilment in my personal and professional life. I had the opportunity to explore many remote areas all over the world. In addition, I could meet a number of fascinating people of various backgrounds.

After my MSc, when I started my doctoral studies, I worked alone in remote parts of the Singhbhum area in Bihar (now Jharkhand) and had several adventures.

This was a challenge I enjoyed to the fullest. Sometimes I hired a young tribal boy to accompany me during the field work. I faced a rogue elephant and, on several occasions, encountered poisonous snakes. In the late sixties, the roads were primitive or nonexistent; I had to walk miles after miles to locate rock exposures, sometimes through jungles, and sometimes through dried paddy fields. 

At the end of the day, I had to trudge long distances through rough terrain with a heavy rucksack full of rocks. But a rock exposure with beautiful structures made me forget all the hard work. I would spend hours working on that exposure to understand the story behind it. It gave me immense pleasure to go through the intricate path of finding suitable solutions for complex problems. To me, it was not only work but it was my way of life.

Along with my studies, I developed a passion for mountaineering. Back then, it was very unusual for a middle-class Bengali girl to pursue such a hobby, but from my childhood, I enjoyed taking up challenges. Moreover, I was drawn to this daring sport and enjoyed the thrill of adventure. My parents supported me as long as it did not affect my studies.

In my childhood, I have seen Tenzing and Hillary after their epic climb of Mount Everest in Kathmandu, where my father was posted. Later, during my basic and advanced training at the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute, Darjeeling, I met Tenzing again. He was the Director of Field Training at Himalayan Mountaineering Institute and often trained us.

I was a member of the First All-Women Expedition to Ronti in 1967. Again, in 1970, a few girls from Calcutta took an unprecedented decision to ascend a virgin peak (20,130 feet) in the Lahaul Himalaya. In this all-women team, Sujaya Guha was the leader, and I was the deputy leader.

Sujaya was 32, I was 24 and other members were between 22 and 28 years old. Though we were forewarned that the summit would be very difficult, we were quite unprepared for how tough it would be. We discovered that the approach glacier was criss-crossed with multiple crevasses as we ascended higher after our base camp.

However, Sujaya, Kamala and I could successfully reach the summit on 21st August, 1970 despite the difficult climb. We were overjoyed and on our return to the Base camp, celebrated our success with the other members of the team. But the joy was short-lived.

On 26 August, 1970, Sujaya, Kamala and another member, Shefali were involved in an accident while crossing a mountain river near our Base camp and Sujaya and Kamala were washed away.

We found Sujaya’s body but Kamala was never found. It was a triumph that turned into a tragedy. Even today, we are the only people who climbed that hazardous peak. I had the unique opportunity to join the Third Indian Antarctic Expedition in 1983.

It was indeed a dream come true for me! It is not an easy undertaking to do fieldwork in the Antarctic climate. The persistent wind exacerbates the already severe conditions, which could reach as low as minus 15 or 20 degrees Celsius. Even simple tasks like collecting measurements and readings or writing in a notebook were difficult.

Except for a few good weather days, most of the time there would be cold wind blasting against my face — the only exposed part of the body. A geologist’s life is full of adventure. I have had so many rare experiences which a scientist in a laboratory would never have.

(The author recently published Breaking Rocks and Barriers with HarperCollins India.)