Now this is interesting...
CLASSIC SEA TERMS:
Baboon watch - The person standing watch while the rest of the crew is on leave, usually the apprentice.
Bird's nest - tangled rope
Black gang - engine room crew
Blood money - payment to an agent for the recruitment of a seaman
Bubbleheads - ships divers (standard helmets)
Cape Horn fever - the feigned illness of a seaferer
Cat's paw - a small puff that ruffles the surface of the water
Deadeye watch - 4 am to 8 am watch
Dead horse - sailor's debt for advance wages
Dogs running before their master - the heavy swell in advance of the hurricane
Dutch courage - fearlessness brought on by strong drink
Dying man's dinner - food quickly prepare during an emergency
Fourth class liberty - watching the shore when confined to the ship
Fuel fever - fuel oil in short supply
Galley news - gossip and rumor
Graveyard watch - 12 - 4 am
Granny knot - failed, un-seamanlike attempt at a square knot
Half seas over - just short of being drunk
High pressure hat - an officer's cap
Hot bunk - a bunk used successively by more than one sailor
Irish hurricane - a flat calm
Livina gale - a severe storm
Paper jack - a licensed captain seen to be incompetent
Pig boat - a submarine
Rope -Yarn Sunday - an afternoon off devoted to washing and sewing clothes
Sailor's blessing - a curse
Seaman's disgrace - a fouled anchor
Soup jockey - Ships officers steward
got some more coming up later...
Sunday, May 20, 2007
Saturday, May 19, 2007
Do we really keep in touch?
I was talking to this friend of mine last evening and we started off on a topic I've had with many many other friends of mine. How everybody has gotten so engrossed in their work that keeping in touch with other people has become a luxury rather than a necessity. How when you meet someone after a long time you're so happy to have met that person, but you couldn't have taken the time off to give that person a call to see how she/he was doing earlier.
When I was on the ship, I went through this phase wherein I would take a walk on the deck late in the evening and look around the ship. Except on the exceptionally rare cases wherein the ship was coasting, there used to be water all around. And all I could think of was "what on earth am I doing out here?" If I wanted to pick up the phone to call a buddy, I'd have to get a phone card from the 2nd officer. Then again, the phone card would be 20$ for just 10 minutes! I'm not a man of few words! I can't say hi in 3 minutes! Gimme a phone and leave me to talk and listen on it for hours and hours together. That's my idea of a phone conversation. I tell you what's happening in my life and you tell me about yours. My joys and tears and yours too. But then again that's just me.
Luckily for me it didn't take long to focus on work. Got back home and I've had loads of time to spend with other people. But then again they need to be free as well.
If I didn't know better, I'd say I was rambling incoherently just now. I was actually supposed to sit and write a port on Shopping Habits of Women. Actually based on a friend of mine who actually stunned me with what she picked up in a day. Somehow, my mind seems preoccupied. And though I've been calling up people I want to, still this conversation held last evening disturbed my mind enough to keep it up and running.
0055 hours now... I should be hitting the sack. Hitting the sack... came up with that sometime during school. Read it in a book.
Talking about books... I got exams next month. And other than the academic books ... me also reading Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner.
When I was on the ship, I went through this phase wherein I would take a walk on the deck late in the evening and look around the ship. Except on the exceptionally rare cases wherein the ship was coasting, there used to be water all around. And all I could think of was "what on earth am I doing out here?" If I wanted to pick up the phone to call a buddy, I'd have to get a phone card from the 2nd officer. Then again, the phone card would be 20$ for just 10 minutes! I'm not a man of few words! I can't say hi in 3 minutes! Gimme a phone and leave me to talk and listen on it for hours and hours together. That's my idea of a phone conversation. I tell you what's happening in my life and you tell me about yours. My joys and tears and yours too. But then again that's just me.
Luckily for me it didn't take long to focus on work. Got back home and I've had loads of time to spend with other people. But then again they need to be free as well.
If I didn't know better, I'd say I was rambling incoherently just now. I was actually supposed to sit and write a port on Shopping Habits of Women. Actually based on a friend of mine who actually stunned me with what she picked up in a day. Somehow, my mind seems preoccupied. And though I've been calling up people I want to, still this conversation held last evening disturbed my mind enough to keep it up and running.
0055 hours now... I should be hitting the sack. Hitting the sack... came up with that sometime during school. Read it in a book.
Talking about books... I got exams next month. And other than the academic books ... me also reading Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner.
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
Home sweet home?
0745 hrs. That's the time I stepped into my house today morning after weeks of suffering (?) in far-away mumbai. If, you can call visits to the malls, movie theatres, shopping and art galleries suffering that is.
Once the courses in good ol' T.S. Rehaman were done and over with, I had decided to report to my company for some documentation work to be completed. Now, I'm in mumbai on a friday evening and I was planning to visit the company only on monday. No problemo! Call up a gool ol' pal in mumbai and back to our favourite haunt INORBIT, Malad! I loved visiting Marine Drive on my previous visits to mumbai, but with the construction work on there I didn't think it would be a nice place for now. Caught up with SPIDEY 3 that day. Just released the previous day so was actually surprised to get tickets. Fun.
Weekend blew by and got my company work done on monday itself. That's when news percolates in that the booking dates for the june exams have been declared and they start on thursday. Great. Now I need to wait till thursday? No problem! Call up other friends and make plans to meet up. For some reason... a seafarer's 'exploits' on international shores make for very good conversation (that being said, it is to be understood that this happens when there's NOTHING else to talk about). Define 'exploits'? To some, it has a sexual inuendo. To others, just plain sightseeing and shopping on international shores.
All said and done... taking a walk about the area you live in can reveal quite a bit. I learnt that about CST a few years ago when I used to go for walks all day long. Stumbled upon cool musuems, galleries and what not. I also tend to catch up on some movies if I find an interesting one on, even if I'm alone. Went for Mr. Bean's Holiday. Lovable humour. You gotta love the movie. And 2 days ago, I caught this french movie at Sterling, Paris Je T'aime (Paris I love you??? dunno) 20 different love stories set in Paris and shot by 20 different directors. Some of the stories were FANTASTIC. yeah, it was in french, but it had subtitles and I loved it. Of course, a couple of them I found a little odd. One of them being the love story between 2 vampires (?). But overall, classic piece.
Before that of course was the booking for the exams which took 2 whole days... I won't comment more. Last thing I need is for one of the staff to be blog savvy and stumble upon my ramblings... goodness me! That would be the end of my sailing... or rather a long delay to my sailing(!).
All done. Got the bus. Luxury bus. Rs. 550! A volvo was going for Rs. 1300! Cramped ourselves into the bus and got here. Stiff knees not withstanding, a decent journey.
And tomorrow, I shall open a book. Tomorrow I shall begin to expedite my studies...
uhhh don't think that last line made sense... basic point... I GOTTA STUDY.
Once the courses in good ol' T.S. Rehaman were done and over with, I had decided to report to my company for some documentation work to be completed. Now, I'm in mumbai on a friday evening and I was planning to visit the company only on monday. No problemo! Call up a gool ol' pal in mumbai and back to our favourite haunt INORBIT, Malad! I loved visiting Marine Drive on my previous visits to mumbai, but with the construction work on there I didn't think it would be a nice place for now. Caught up with SPIDEY 3 that day. Just released the previous day so was actually surprised to get tickets. Fun.
Weekend blew by and got my company work done on monday itself. That's when news percolates in that the booking dates for the june exams have been declared and they start on thursday. Great. Now I need to wait till thursday? No problem! Call up other friends and make plans to meet up. For some reason... a seafarer's 'exploits' on international shores make for very good conversation (that being said, it is to be understood that this happens when there's NOTHING else to talk about). Define 'exploits'? To some, it has a sexual inuendo. To others, just plain sightseeing and shopping on international shores.
All said and done... taking a walk about the area you live in can reveal quite a bit. I learnt that about CST a few years ago when I used to go for walks all day long. Stumbled upon cool musuems, galleries and what not. I also tend to catch up on some movies if I find an interesting one on, even if I'm alone. Went for Mr. Bean's Holiday. Lovable humour. You gotta love the movie. And 2 days ago, I caught this french movie at Sterling, Paris Je T'aime (Paris I love you??? dunno) 20 different love stories set in Paris and shot by 20 different directors. Some of the stories were FANTASTIC. yeah, it was in french, but it had subtitles and I loved it. Of course, a couple of them I found a little odd. One of them being the love story between 2 vampires (?). But overall, classic piece.
Before that of course was the booking for the exams which took 2 whole days... I won't comment more. Last thing I need is for one of the staff to be blog savvy and stumble upon my ramblings... goodness me! That would be the end of my sailing... or rather a long delay to my sailing(!).
All done. Got the bus. Luxury bus. Rs. 550! A volvo was going for Rs. 1300! Cramped ourselves into the bus and got here. Stiff knees not withstanding, a decent journey.
And tomorrow, I shall open a book. Tomorrow I shall begin to expedite my studies...
uhhh don't think that last line made sense... basic point... I GOTTA STUDY.
Friday, May 04, 2007
Of bad days, and even worse
Today was the final day in the PSC&RB course or rather the Proficiency in Safety Craft & Rescue Boat course. It's quite an interesting course in that you got to know about the handling and launching of life saving appliances on the ship. But these 2 guys lecturing at the course? No........ how can you have fun! The class has to be made as boring as possible and so they will drone on and on and on and every doubt will be countered with "Rules are framed by SOLAS! How can you challenge authority!" Sheesh! All said and done, I'm finally out of T.S. Rehaman and boy does it feel good to be out of there! Freedom seems to have attained a new meaning..
So, we're leaving from this place ... 5 of us. 2 of us from Goa, one from Thane and 2 others from Ludhiana. We finally get this 'extended' rickshaw, i don't know what you call it... it's this rickshaw with increased seating capacity. He picks up other people and we're off to this designated place. Mid-way through the journey he tells us he's bringing us to this other junction where the buses start from and we will get it empty so as to facilitate easier transport of our luggage (which i must admit was quite a bit). We refused as we wanted to go to the original place. Finally he stops at this new place which he suggested and tells us the bus is ahead. Now the place we wanted to go to was further ahead so we refused to give the pre-decided fare unless he took us there. We gave him a reduced fare (which was quite a bit) for taking us to this location. He refuses and turns the rick around (we had already disembarked). He suddenly comes at us yelling and wanting the entire fare. The co-passenger sitting with him up front insists we pay the entire fare. A minor scuffle ensues after a few minutes of finger pointing and verbal abuses. In the ensuing melee, which 3 of us were trying to defuse, the co-passenger get's a 'minor tap' on his face from a hand which was deflected by someone. He actually turns around picks up a rock and comes at us. Or rather at me considering that I was standing in front of him. I couldn't even believe this guy would want to do something incomprehensibly stupid as that considering that there were 5 of us and there were just 2 of them. If we had to let it go into a full blown fight, those 2 didn't stand a chance. Asked him to drop it. Best part was the paan-walla who was shouting at us to go somewhere else coz this whole incident unfolded in front of his shop! Better sense prevailed and we told him to take the money and get lost. The guy from Thane vehemently objects to this but we insisted. One reason being that we were 'their' home ground. Any trouble which would get the cops would be to their advantage. And all this for an additional Rs. 5 per head... forget it. Heard of too many scuffles between the locals and the outsiders involving cops with proved detrimental for the outsiders. We're done with our courses. We're leaving. We're outta there!
Got the train after taking a bus to the wrong stop and getting a taxi to the right station (Confusion reigns supreme!).
Met this guy in the train... Mukesh. Graphic designer, DTP editing for Times Of India rather now for the Economic Times. Exchanged info on each other's professions. He was quite interested in knowing about the sea life (who wouldn't like hearing about it the first time? new lands, travel, cultures...).
Finally got to the guesthouse. Can't wait to get back to the room. How inviting seems a bed at the end of such a day!
So, we're leaving from this place ... 5 of us. 2 of us from Goa, one from Thane and 2 others from Ludhiana. We finally get this 'extended' rickshaw, i don't know what you call it... it's this rickshaw with increased seating capacity. He picks up other people and we're off to this designated place. Mid-way through the journey he tells us he's bringing us to this other junction where the buses start from and we will get it empty so as to facilitate easier transport of our luggage (which i must admit was quite a bit). We refused as we wanted to go to the original place. Finally he stops at this new place which he suggested and tells us the bus is ahead. Now the place we wanted to go to was further ahead so we refused to give the pre-decided fare unless he took us there. We gave him a reduced fare (which was quite a bit) for taking us to this location. He refuses and turns the rick around (we had already disembarked). He suddenly comes at us yelling and wanting the entire fare. The co-passenger sitting with him up front insists we pay the entire fare. A minor scuffle ensues after a few minutes of finger pointing and verbal abuses. In the ensuing melee, which 3 of us were trying to defuse, the co-passenger get's a 'minor tap' on his face from a hand which was deflected by someone. He actually turns around picks up a rock and comes at us. Or rather at me considering that I was standing in front of him. I couldn't even believe this guy would want to do something incomprehensibly stupid as that considering that there were 5 of us and there were just 2 of them. If we had to let it go into a full blown fight, those 2 didn't stand a chance. Asked him to drop it. Best part was the paan-walla who was shouting at us to go somewhere else coz this whole incident unfolded in front of his shop! Better sense prevailed and we told him to take the money and get lost. The guy from Thane vehemently objects to this but we insisted. One reason being that we were 'their' home ground. Any trouble which would get the cops would be to their advantage. And all this for an additional Rs. 5 per head... forget it. Heard of too many scuffles between the locals and the outsiders involving cops with proved detrimental for the outsiders. We're done with our courses. We're leaving. We're outta there!
Got the train after taking a bus to the wrong stop and getting a taxi to the right station (Confusion reigns supreme!).
Met this guy in the train... Mukesh. Graphic designer, DTP editing for Times Of India rather now for the Economic Times. Exchanged info on each other's professions. He was quite interested in knowing about the sea life (who wouldn't like hearing about it the first time? new lands, travel, cultures...).
Finally got to the guesthouse. Can't wait to get back to the room. How inviting seems a bed at the end of such a day!
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