The polar warriors

Take a tour of the Arctic and Antartica through Suhas Mantri's Marathi travelogue

The polar warriors

Dona Dhruvanvar Dona Pawala simply translated means two legs on two poles. It’s the name of the travel monologue by realtor Suhas Mantri. It offers a simple, descriptive chronology detailing the trials and tribulations that the author and his team of five faced while on their expedition through Antarctica and the Arctic.

The book cover of Dona Dhruvanvar Dona Pawala

Speaking on the occasion, Mantri said, “I absolutely love traveling and have traveled over 50 countries so far. My journey to the poles acted as the final motivation to pen a Marathi travelogue.”u00a0The story narrates how Prakash Bang, Rajesh Chandak, Umesh Lahoti and Nitin Nyati along with Mantri braved the excruciating weather to carry on with their journey. “There were times when we felt like it would not be possible to take even a step more. The climate was freezing cold and we had to put on layers of clothes, but we carried on because giving up seemed more difficult,” he added.

The book launch of Dona Dhruvanvar Dona Pawala

Along with reports from Mantri, the book includes pictorial editions by Prakash Bang to help people experience the beauty of the polar regions, like the icebergs in the Kodak valley. The images appear to have made an impression on politician Raj Thackeray, who while releasing the book stated, “Out of all the travelogues that I have read so far, I would place this one among the top 10. For those people, who, like me, are not able to travel the world, these travelogues act as a platform to know more about these places, in a very interesting way.”

Incidentally, Mantri is not new to the world of literature. His first book The Come Back was about an entrepreneur bouncing back from the brink of bankruptcy. The travelogue in Marathi is his second book and will soon be available in English and Hindi as well.