Reena recounts the 'journey of a lifetime'

NEW DELHI: Reena Kaushal Dharmshaktu's self-belief has touched a new base. After all, attaining the rare feat of being the only Indian women to conquer the South Pole against all possible odds, natural or otherwise, is a remarkable one.

"It's a journey of a lifetime. It's a totally different world there with no life form around you except your team members. The team was very happy and relaxed. A lot of hard work went into the whole exercise. There was pressure on us to succeed. It was an emotional moment after we reached our destination, a sense of accomplishment overtook us," an elated Reena told TOI on phone from the Madrid airport.

Looking back at the starting point, Reena said that the biggest challenge for her was arranging finance for the expedition. "This could never have been possible without the support of my sponsors, Indian Mountaineering Foundation (IMF) and Bajaj Group, who helped me during training in Norway and New Zealand and of course, the Kaspersky Group who sponsored the expedition."

The Kaspersky Lab Commonwealth team was scheduled to interact with the media in London, it's first such interaction after the successful expedition, at the Commonwealth Club on Monday but their flight to London was delayed. Commonwealth secretary general, Kamalesh Sharma, was to host the girls at the press meet.

The seven-member team walked for 38 days continuously for eight to ten hours a day, pulling 80kg sledges loaded with food, fuel and equipment in arduous conditions. Blinding blizzards, winds in excess of 80mph and temperature below -40 degrees - they confronted it all.

"We started skiing for eight hours a day which increased to ten as the expedition went on. We used to take a fifteen minute break after every 1-1/2 hours of skiing. One of the team members, Kim-Marie Spence had to return due to frostbite on her fingers during the mini expedition, which is a acclimatisation exercise, near the base camp. It was a jolt because she was a good team member. But we had a very strong leader in Felicity Aston, who is a very good polar explorer and had enough experience to command such an expedition," said Reena.

Reena also celebrated the new year twice as the team reached the pole. "As we reached the South Pole I thanked the almighty. It was the first time that I celebrated the new year twice. We had two teams, the US team at the base camp and the Chilean team involved in the operations. So we celebrated the new year according to the US time (they follow New Zealand time) and once according to the Chilean time."

Reena's busy schedule recently has not allowed her to track the response to her achievement in India. "I was never expecting a huge response but I was surprised by the congratulatory messages I got. I haven't been able to track it personally but from what my family has told me the signs looks encouraging."

Reena, who hails from Punjab but lives in Delhi, is returning to India on January 15. Hopefully, her singular feat will not be completely lost on Indian sports fans.