A Himalayan Boy's Arctic Dream
When Lucky Rawat looks out from his Moscow hotel window, the Arctic already feels almost like a dream. Outside are trees, an open stretch of road, a parking lot lined with cars — something the 15-year-old Class 10 student from Chakrata, Uttarakhand, loves. Just days ago, he stood at 90° North, the geographic North Pole, as India's sole youth representative among students from 22 countries on Russia's 'Icebreaker of Knowledge' expedition, as reported by The Times of India.
Lucky reached the North Pole aboard the 50 Let Pobedy (50 Years of Victory), the world's largest, most powerful nuclear-powered icebreaker ship, with the group departing from Murmansk on August 4. "Before going to the North Pole, I watched many videos," Lucky told The Times of India. "But it was beyond anything I had seen. There was no dawn or darkness. It was always bright and shiny."
The Arctic was a vast, continuous sheet of white, with snow dust sometimes making someone standing 100 metres away appear blurry. Unlike the South Pole, which sits on land, the geographic North Pole lies atop constantly shifting sea ice in the Arctic Ocean.
A Scientific Expedition with a Human Touch
Organised by Russia's state nuclear energy corporation Rosatom, the expedition was described by The Times of India as a floating university, with workshops, polar-scientist lectures and hands-on experiments. The New Indian Express reported that the expedition was a global mentoring programme in which 66 highly talented students from across the world participated alongside international experts to reach the North Pole. There were experts from diverse fields such as marine science, nuclear engineering, artificial intelligence, radiology and biotechnology. Among them was Sergei Lukyanenko, one of Russia's most popular contemporary science fiction and fantasy authors, along with Jairo Bastos, a Brazilian researcher-engineer, and Noel Rajabu Mabele, a Tanzanian medical doctor, according to the same report.
Students in the age group of 14-16 were selected through a five-level talent hunt. Globally, 5,000 students applied for the programme, of whom 22 were selected; Russia selected 44 students from 73,000 applications. Lucky emerged as India's sole student among nearly 5,000 applicants in the selection process, which began with a three-stage competition involving natural-sciences quizzes and project defences, as noted by The Times of India.
A Scientist's Perspective
Dr S Bijoy Nandan, dean and scientist emeritus at the Department of Marine Sciences of the Cochin University of Science and Technology (CUSAT), also joined the expedition and is reported by The New Indian Express to be the first Malayali to step on the North Pole. Recalling the moment, he told the outlet, "It was around 3 pm on August 8. Icebreaker vessel 50 Let Pobedy reached 89.6616 degree North latitude in the Arctic Ocean. We got down from the vessel and ploughed our way through the snow to the point where the navigation equipment read 90 degree North." He described it as "an incredible moment," adding, "We were standing on the frozen ocean, which was 4,000 m deep. There was a blizzard, with wind speeds crossing 10 m per second, and my face froze the moment I removed my mask to click a picture."
Nandan collected water samples and launched a balloon with sensors to study the stratosphere, according to The New Indian Express. He mentioned evidence of Arctic amplification, increasing aerosols, and mercury detected in organisms in Svalbard, the report added.
Observations and Reflections
The New Indian Express reported that during the voyage, the team observed depleting ice sheets, broken icebergs, pancake ice formations, and even sighted a polar bear. The team walked about 250 metres from the ship to the North Pole, with the ship's captain being Ruslan Sasov. The return journey included a stop at Franz Josef Land, an archipelago with 192 ice-covered islands.
Growing up in the hills, Lucky climbed mountains almost as naturally as other children played; family treks became sibling races over "who climbs first." His hometown also meant he was among the 2-3 students who had seen snow before the expedition, according to The Times of India. "Students came from places such as Egypt, Tanzania and South Africa," he said. Showing village photographs to fellow students, Lucky felt proud explaining India's diversity, the report noted.
Mentors taught about icebreakers, safety, and science, and a lesson about dreaming and making it reality. As Lucky prepares to return to India, he carries with him a new dream, inspired by the journey that took him from the hills of Chakrata to the frozen ocean of the North Pole.