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.

: Please read my post "One minute for yourself" first, before you read this. That will help you to enjoy this post better.

 

 

 

After practicing to spend one happy moment for myself everyday, I realised that it is infact very easy to stay happy.

 

 

What to you is "living"? Getting older? Passing time?

 

Well life is so challenging... There is so much of competition these days... You have to be on your feet everyday to survive... Survive and do what? Strugle more? Or live a little?

 

Sometimes I wonder if there is anything called as life? Or its just "survive" all the time? Everybody tries to work hard, thinking of bigger and better life. Something which will please them or their friends and/or family. But do we really give ourselves enough time to experience it?

 

Well I wouldn't blame anyone, I know life is infact very demanding these days. Also values dont work in todays world, what sells is what you have to display. The superfecial layer. It doesn't matter whts inside, the packet should be impressive.

 

Guess what I prefer to do, to be transperent. Be and show what I really am. Try and Njoy life in any and every way. Focus all my activities to one single goal, hapiness. Not necessarily bigger and better kind of stuff. Be honest with your feelings while interacting with people. And you will know clearly, who really love you and who pretends to love you. Interact with everybody and everything with happy attitude and you will get happiness in return. And the best thing is it doesnt cost u a penny. Something like, all the precious things are either without a price tag or with a tag which is untouchable. Mother's love, nature's love and the list goes on...

 

So the point in telling all this is, learn to have fun. Stop taking unnecessary things so seriously, its not worth it. There is nothing in this world which can't be done. All you need is love. If you love yourself, love what you really are then you will be the happiest person in this world. Give it a try, its very simple.........

 

 

Love, love, love
Love, love, love
love, love, love, love,
love, love, love, love,

 

(Love) There's nothing you can do that can't be done
(Love) There's nothing you can sing that can't be sung
(Love 4x) Nothing you can say but you can learn to play the game
It's easy

 

(Love) Nothing you can make that can't be made
(Love) No one you can save that can't be saved
(Love 4x) Nothing you can do, but you can learn to be you
It's easy

 

All you need is love
All you need is love
All you need is love, love,
love is all you need

   Yesterday I was watching this program called "One life to Love" which was very interesting and triggered some interesting questions in my mind... So thought of sharing them with you all...

   You know the very name of the program is so meaningful. One life to Love. I was just wondering how many of us must have actually given time for ourselves? Everybody must be loveing themself like crazy, then why not spend sometime and think of what you really like. Think of what really makes you happy... what is it that you really want for your ownself... not your social responsibilites, but you... this rat race of life has made at least me forget of what really pleases me... or for that matter, what is real me... i never had spent even a minute thinking about what I really am, untill this thought struck me... and tell you honestly it gave me immense satisfaction. I just spent a minute, but that set a lot of things clear in front of me.

   That prepared me to align my priorities. and now i have decided to make that as a routine. i will spend at least one minute each day to think of what i had set to do & what i am doing, what i really like to do. i will try and be my actualself for at least a minute everyday... i will try and think of nothing but me for that minute... it has worked for me, for both days & more than anything it gave me a lot of happiness... Try it yourself and let me know if that helps in any way... even though it looks very simple, but it is a very difficult exercise, at times even difficult than board exams... you have to be extremely honest with yourself... it almost gave me a new and fresh life... try it yourself & be prepared to get reformed for better...

    On Thursday, the 13th of September 2001 at Paradeep, I signed on the Nobel ship E-Trader, - called by some in those days, E- Terror. I signed on as an Intern. "E-Trader" was a large bulk carrier of some 36,000 GRT.

    On Tuesday the 11th of September, after being fare welled by friends and relatives, I left for my ship! I had been kitted out with some overalls, and some 'civvie' clothes - which I intended to get into at the first opportunity!

    It's a bloody difficult life son. It was the final comment of our brief conversation with the warden. I really didn't know how to respond to such a cryptic, and to me, such a deflating statement, so I said nothing. He didn't say it with any bitterness, but his comment was enough to dampen much of the enthusiasm I had felt until then about what lay ahead for me. Years of training required me not to answer back, nor to express the disappointment I felt in the face of his prophecy. After all I told myself, what did he know of life at sea today? He was an old man, and if he had been to sea, he probably sailed in rust buckets. Things were much different these days weren't they? Life at sea can be hard, but so can life in general.

    Now I was in the plane, at the Mumbai Domestic airport finally! As the plane slowly made its move on the runway, I sat thinking of all the constraints that had governed my every move prior to today, making mental notes of how I imagined my new life would be. I further started imaging that I would have nice big cabin, a good cafe, even have a large ice cream or a cream cake in a cafe! At that moment, the sky was the limit; reality was yet to come!

    I finally arrived at the Bhuvaneshwar airport, where a certain Agent was waiting with a placard of my name. We went straight to the taxi. The taxi itself was a vivid experience. As we were passing through several textured roads, I could imagine the rolls of ship already! We were finally at the Paradeep port & were through with all custom works. Then agent introduced me to a port taxi driver, and left me with a cheery "Best of luck, soldier", a handshake, and he was gone!

    I was finally inside the Pradeep port!

    Sometimes I wonder how lucky I am to have so many great experiences. I have spent hours leaning over ship's railing to see the dancing & rolling sea, as if she has just been proposed. I still can hear the gushing sound of water as the ship cuts through. The calm moonlight pretends to be shy & the cool wind blowing as if trying to have a conversation with me. It's just the wind and me sometimes. I would close my eyes & have long & deep talks with her, nobody to bother us. Wind passing all over my body as if she can't get enough of me.

    Coastlines are my messengers who passed me the messages of my dear once just so many times. If I don't get sleep & start to linger on the bed; sea would create nice and big swells & wind would start to blow faster as if patting me a swing & singing a lullaby. How on earth anybody could experience this otherwise?

    How fortunate I am to be part of this great profession. I am blessed with the great treasure of the challenges & experiences I had on ship. How can I not remember that... The roaring deep blue sea, the wonderous sunset & wide open sky, you feel like a king on board.
    Its a different charm and grace in itself. From the curvacious forecastle to the stylish poop deck, ship is so beautiful... :) From the strong anchor to the monsterous main engine, nothing can beat this...!!! Its a different game in itself right SeaFolks...? When she cuts through & rides the wave she just doesnt stop for anybody... There are just so many things I can talk about, which are nothing but just imagination to people ashore...
Dont worry people I will try my best to make you all understand... Wait till I write my next blog, till then you all please take care... :)