I am writing this blog specially on request of my dear friend Aarti who commented to my blog “Live or Survive”.... I am so sorry for writing it so late Aarti, but I got so busy with my personal life that I couldn't find time out to write... I am not so sure if I can manage to convince you about how it feels to be on ship, but I will try my level best...:)

Well every job brings its own challenges and it wont be correct to say other jobs are not so challenging as ours. But there are certain conditions which differentiates merchant navy from other professions.... I will try and list some of them here to start with, just to give you all an idea...

. Ship rolls and pitches most of the time, sometimes more sometimes less, but it is more or less not a stable working platform... Try and image doing simplest daily activities like getting dressed, but on a swing...;)

. Most of the ship is made of iron and so it is the only element which acts on the body and mind... Earth is made of all kinds of elements, so when you work on land you are more stable as against on ship. I have read somewhere that it is one of the reasons of increased stress on board ship...

. On ship if you mess up on pollution issue, you are legally responsible for the act... In other words if you make a mistake in your routine activities, which leads to pollution then you might land yourself in jail and might have to pay heavy fines and don't even think of what company will offer you for all this... It is god damn difficult to work under such pressures sometimes... This makes good part of your work on ship actually... I don't think on land, in a routine job, you will have any such issues... I would get pathetically disturbed, if I imagine a police officer questioning me for something happened in my office, which is not even related to me... Forget about something happened because of me.

. Work hours on ship are pathetically different. We call them as watches. Most of the ships follow this pattern. In this depending on your rank, you will be responsible to manage the everything for a particular period. Generally a 4 hours watch twice a day and a 2 hours of over time is minimum time you need to spend at your work place. Like if you are a second engineer or chief officer, your watch will be 4-8. That is your work will start at 4 o'clock in the morning till 8 in the morning, 4 in the evening till 8 and 9 to 11 am will be your overtime. Generally a routine of such kind will be,

0330 get up get ready, 0400-0800 hrs watch, 0800-0900 hrs breakfast, 0900-1200 hrs overtime, 1200-1300 hrs lunch time, 1300-1530 hrs rest hour, again 1600-2000 hrs watch, and 2000 hrs to 0330 hrs the next day, rest... 1800-1900 hrs is a dinner time, so that is adjusted during the watch, wherein either somebody comes to relieve you for food or you take early or late dinner, as the time allows...

I don't know of anybody following any such work pattern on land.

. This all I said is a routine but when there is any emergency, which can happen anytime, then you have to be present for work that time as well. In this case also I don't know of anybody who works on land and needs to go to the office in the middle of the night to solve the emergency. Remember on ship there is no external help available. On land you have doctors, ambulance, fire brigade, plumbers, electricians, helper, office boys, technicians, etc to name a few to help you or assist you. But on ship you are absolutely on your own, so firstly you need to be extra careful when you work and even then if anything happens then only you have to sort it out.

. Shipping business involves a real big money, so if you mess up in something then its really a very big deal. So the pressures which company imposes on you are also of that scale...:)

So its not that normal to work on a ship. We do get paid a little better than what we might get on land, but believe me it is worth that much. Nobody is fool to pay you for no reason.

. Worst of all you have nobody to share your pains on the ship. Unlike on shore job, wherein after you come home tired and frustrated, at the end of the day, there is somebody there you can talk to. You can share your problems to.

Everybody works for the betterment of themselves and their family. I am not so sure of exact problems in Aarti's marriage life, but if I have to suggest something to Aarti then I would say, be little more responsible. If you really want to solve any problem then try and be in other person's shoes and see why he/she must be doing the way they are doing. Relations like husband and wife must be given that kind of attention I think. When you have married him, you have married with his profession as well. You have to accept every bit of it, and not just accept, you have to be supportive. If you say you are missing him when he isn't around then I would call it a selfish act, which wont lead to any good. It will be obvious for you to miss him, but keep all your feelings fresh to welcome him and you will be pleased to see it working like a wonder. Send him a mail or a note if possible. I don't know if you are doing it already, but if not start it sooner. If feels great just to know there is a new mail. Feels great to know that somebody cares for you. It is very important to take an effort to share this. You will see, you also will get great things in return eventually.

You can't imagine how powerful, simple looking words like “I am there for you or I miss you or I love you” can be. No matter who it is everybody seeks love and it is must to share it to that somebody important. A simple “hiii” can help you get refreshed and it isn't that difficult to follow I guess. If you want love then you must know to give love as well..... When you say you are married or you are in love, understand the meaning of it and behave responsibly.... Bonds like these once made can get you out of worst of the situations easily, which no other relation can do.... This is just my perception to look at life, I may be wrong... If anybody has any better views on this, I would be more than happy to know and follow it. Feel free to comment if you have anything to say.

Thanks for reading my blog, have a great time ahead.