What's in a name? well... if you're travelling...

What could possibly happen to you when to alphabets of your name are interchanged? Especially when it is in an international air ticket? Nothing, so I thought. Well, I still clarified it with the company I worked for. No problem so they said. Just inform them it was a typo. Aaah. A typo. Sure.

The day: 02nd April 2006
Time: 2130hrs
Location: Mumbai C.S.I. Airport
Problem: Name as on passport- Moraes Nihal Peter
Name as on air ticket- Moares Nihal Peter
Immigration - "your name is different"
"ummm well the company committed a typo when they were booking my tickets"
"typo?"
"they accidentally misspelt my name"
"oh, did they?"
What followed was a grilling on what was the purpose of my travel, whether I was on my way to Toronto, USA(?, uhh wasn't it supposed to be Toronto, Canada? I wasn't gonna correct him under the circumstances though) Of course I wasn't going there. I had to go to Taranto, Italy to board my ship. Few more minutes of questioning. And I was through! Phew! Just this little trouble so I thought. How mistaken I was to be proved...
Mumbai to Charles De Gaulle, France. At France, immigration check. "Excuse me sir, there seems to be a difference of names on the ticket and the passport" hmmmm... little while later after an explanation on what happened and the purpose of my travel and where I was gonna board my ship, I was allowed to pass through.
France to Rome. At Rome, "Sir, your name...." Jeez. Again.
Rome to Brindisi, Italy. Brindisi, yeah here too. Difference in names. "Sir can you open your luggage please?" Grrrrrrrrrrreat.
Cab drive from Brindisi to Taranto. All over right? Naaaaaah. Immigration police at the port. "Excuse me sir, you flew in here with this name on the tickets?" Aaaaaargh!
Ok ok. All done and over with. No more problems with the name right???
Not so fast buddy... Ship's crew list. "Excuse me Captain, I believe there is an error with the way my name is spelt on the crew list." "huh? How ? I put the name the company sent me!"
Grrrrrr.......

Around the world in 8 1/2 months...

Well... not exactly around the world but touched a few continents except Australia and Antartica (they say there's no way I can get to Antartica unless I join an expedition to the ice shelf!)
Long long time... funny I didn't miss anything out here like I thought I would. Thought I'd miss blogging and chatting and getting online and stuff. Got there and there's no time do anything other than work, eat, talk about women, watch movies and sleep (definitely in that order!!!!). Seems like talking about women from different countries figures quite high on the list of most seafarers I've met. I must admit though that I've met VERY FEW seafarers (only about a couple hundred!)
hmmm countries I've managed to get a glimpse of from flights to sailing and flights again... a brief list....

sign-on: flights--> Mumbai-France-Rome-Italy
sailing--> Italy (Taranto) - U.S. (Norfolk) - Italy (Taranto) - Brazil (Tubarao) - Libya (Misurata) - Brazil (Tubarao) - Bulgaria (Burgas) - Brazil (Sepetiba) - China (Huangdao) - Indonesia (North Pulao Laut) - Netherland (Amsterdam)
sign-off: flights--> Amsterdam-Zurich-Dubai-Kolkatta-Mumbai

well... not much out there... not like I got to spend a whale of a time ashore, but yeah, did get a decent time at every port but Libya. Restrictions there made sure we didn't step on the berth at all. Well, almost almost all of "we" that is.

Feels funny when you're back. All your friends wanna catch up where you've been and you wanna find out what you've missed out on the last few months you've been away. But somehow when the conversation is on you seem to drift a bit... stuff like that NEVER happened before. But now things that used to seem interesting to talk about earlier are now just "ok... hmmm... i see..." you know, so-so. Not like this is the situation everytime... but it does happen more often than not.

Left to join ths ship on the night of 2nd April 2006 and got back on 19th Dec 2006. Finally hit home on 21st Dec 2006. (just hit home EXACTLY on the morning of my b'day, nice huh?) 24th Dec and I'm in Bangalore and 25th Dec evening I'm in Thiruvananthapuram. Travel hungry ain't I???

Looks like I'll have quite some updating to do as and when I get time... getting back to Goa only on 04th Jan 2007. So... if not before, until then!

Cheerio!

This one was a dream...

I saw her standing there outside the cafe,
Waiting for someone, so it seemed,
Walk a distance and come back,
Every few minutes or so, she would.
For someone who dressed so simple
So stunning she had her looks
You'd hear the leaves rustle as the wind blew by
But also unmistakenable was the sound of her anklets
You'd see the lights of vehicles as dusk drew close
But more noticeable were the lights dancing in her soft brown eyes
Then, all of a sudden, her friends came over
Her laughter seemed to drown all sound around
She glanced towards me and she smiled
Then just as quickly as they came, they left.

This one is an inspiration from a Rabindranath Tagore poem... I read his poem and somehow felt about penning this down...

When she steps out alone at night,
The birds do not sing, the wind does not stir,
It is her own anklets that grow loud at every step.

When I sit by the side and listen for her steps,
The leaves do not rustle, the crickets do not chirp,
It is my own heart that beats wildly - I do not know how to quieten it.

I sit there long, anxious for a glimpse,
The shadows do not move, the lamps do not flicker,
It is only me that is restless, the anticipation not leaving me still.

At last! She appears, walking down the street,
The birds, they sing; the wind blows along,
The leaves, they rustle; the crickets chirp away,
The shadows, they dance; the lamps flickering away,
The whole world seems to have come alive,
As my heart beats wilder still.