Ablaze in a Blizzard

All officers short listed were lined up in Engineer in Chief office , Delhi. The staff officer went inside and briefed the E in C. He was surprised to see the name of Ganesan. The staff officer explained that it was the same officer , commanding 4 E R and who gave reply that he was doing no training. The E in C smiled and told to call Ganesan and disburse other officers. Ganesan went inside and saluted E in C. Gen Rai had all the praise for Ganesan for his uprightness and blunt approach and declared that he would be the wintering Leader of INDIAN RESEARCH STATION. He assured Ganesan all the support and told him to contact him direct in case of any difficulty. Ganesan thanked him and returned to Udhampur. Letter from E in C branch followed. Ganesan would be Dy Leader of India's 7 th Antarctic Expedition and wintering station commander of Dakshin gangotri , India's Antarctic Resaerch station for the period 1987-89.

The letter came in May 1987 and Ganesan would be leaving the country in Nov 1987. He had about six months time to prepare himself for the Expedition , settle his family and children in a selected place and hand over the Regiment. It was highly exiting period to move arround and get things done. He will move from Udhampur to Delhi, attend conference, move to Bangalore inspect Dozers that are being purchased from Bharath Earth movers, move to Chennai, check accomodation and schooling and then move to College of Military Engineering, Pune inspect the winter team that is being selected and trained and finally move back to Udhampur.Ganesan was approved for next rank as Colonel , but his turn has not come yet. Only Colonel rank officers are entitled to travel by Air on Ty Duty. On his explaining the impotance of the mission Ganesan was promoted out of turn fecilitating him to travel by Air. Things moved smoothly. He was allotted 1/3 Defence quarters, Nandhanam, Chennai, a seperated Family quarters and his children were admitted in KV, CLRI, Chennai

The Army Commander, Northern Command Udhampur invited him for Tea. Ganesan bid farewell to 4 Engineer Regiment on 07 Nov 1987 exactly 3 years after taking over. There is no chance of his coming back to the Regiment again as he became the first colonel to Command 4 ER in the rank of Colonel. He was given "Farewell Not Good bye " party in the Regiment. In that a wonderfull song composed by Ganesan himself was sung. "அவனின் பிரிவு முடிவல்ல,மீண்டும் தொடரா உறவல்ல" was an important message which prooved about the cosmic Blessings to Ganesan. which can be seen in subsquent writings. Ganesan left on Antarctic mission on 26 Nov 1987. A new chapter in his life opened...... To be contd.......