Chakrata Teen Lucky Rawat Represents India on Arctic North Pole Expedition

NEW DELHI — Fifteen-year-old Lucky Rawat, a Class 10 student from Chakrata, Uttarakhand, is preparing to return to India on August 15 after reaching the geographic North Pole as the country's sole youth representative on Russia's 'Icebreaker of Knowledge' expedition.

Rawat joined students from 22 countries aboard the 50 Let Pobedy (50 Years of Victory), the world's largest and most powerful nuclear-powered icebreaker ship. The vessel departed from the port city of Murmansk on August 4 and sailed into the Arctic Ocean until reaching 90° North.

Rawat earned his place on the voyage after competing in a three-stage selection process that included a natural-sciences quiz and project defences. He was selected as the lone representative from India out of nearly 5,000 applicants.

Reflecting on the journey from his hotel in Moscow, Rawat described the landscape as a vast, continuous sheet of white where 24-hour daylight replaced normal day and night cycles.

"Before going to the North Pole, I watched many videos," Rawat said. "But it was beyond anything I had seen. There was no dawn or darkness. It was always bright and shiny."

He noted that blowing snow dust frequently blurred visibility across the ice, sometimes obscuring people standing just 100 metres away.