Bills of lading

Singapore - national day!

2011-08-09T11:05:00.000+05:30

Today is Singapore's national day and Google as usual did come out with something nice on its search page.

Coincidentally this also marks almost one year since we moved to Singapore and so thanks to Singapore and friends to have made it a fantastic last year... Atleast parts of it!

Japanese Food

2011-07-08T09:44:00.000+05:30

I liked the kimchi, but sometimes you just have to say "No".

Changi airport

2011-06-10T16:24:00.000+05:30

Purana Qila - Light & sound show

2011-04-12T15:25:00.004+05:30

Saw an amazing light & sound show on the Humayun Gate of the Purana Qila.

Below a few of the visuals as taken from the iphone. Great fun.

Heres a link from delhi tourism for the show timings.

Morning at the Singapore anchorge

2011-01-05T04:58:00.001+05:30

It is a worrisome thing when...

2010-07-25T20:49:00.001+05:30

... your agent sends you the message...

Good evening Sir;

Good afternoon Sir ;

We tried to do the best but did not found the second Tug.Next High tide tomorrow 16:00lt .
Awaiting yours

Brgds
"

Stuck high and dry!

The smaller they are, the harder we fall

2010-06-02T12:03:00.000+05:30

Kaya (my daughter) turned one year recently & it has certainly been an awesome journey. I'd sure like to wax lyrical about how much she has learnt and what all great things she does, apart from saluting me at regular intervals, but she has her own blog. This is my blog and here I am allowed to write about how much I have learnt over the last year.

I think as a parent the biggest thing I have learnt over the last year has been to appreciate the small things. The ability to support your own neck. The ecstatic jumping with joy on someones ability to poop. The satisfaction on feeling a burp. The pride on seeing somebody urinate in the potty seat. The awe at the complexity of the human body to actually stand in place, bend down and pick up a round object.

I like to think that I am still learning. I am learning that it is a privilege when someone rests her head on your shoulder. and I am learning that it is harder then I expected to watch your kids fall. The day my kid learnt to roll over, it seems to have been a series of suicidal rushes as a carry over of some Jihad from her last life. As she is now learning to walk, things have only gotten worse. The last time, she dived off her Pram in great style to land face first in grass.

The problem that I am facing is that the realization is dawning that this is not going to get easier. Today itself she seems to be more keen on running, rather then understand how walking works. After the pram incident she has hopefully understood that flying would take longer to master.

The only solution to this seems to be to restrict her movements to an area two by two feet covered below by an mattress, above by limitless air and surrounded on all sides by parents. And every time I do this, I only feel that I am holding her back from achieving her true potential. She would probably be already running laps around the house If it hadn't been for the dammed mattress.

I realize that the actual problem might be metaphorical. Maybe I am actually getting myself to come to grips with the fact that kids will grow up and that they will take actions that will cause pain, hurt and other associated emotions in varying percentages. And over time, my words will progress from orders to instructions to advice to suggestions to guidelines to garbage. And not necessarily in that order.

There are of course ways in which new parents can get over their fear of their children hurting. Much like microwaving eggs, this would involve dropping kids from progressively greater heights and leaving them in progressively hazardous situations. Once we have a detailed database, we can then carry out a detailed risk analysis and set our risk limits in which to expose the little chaps. The only downside with this approach that I see, is that due to the changing physical nature of kids, we will have to undertake the study every alternate year. An alternate to this would be to set a height limit. i.e you could say that once your kid was as tall as your shoulder, you would let them do whatever the hell they wanted. reaching your ear would mean free prophylactics on the dinner table. There are further options, and as I weigh the merits of each of them versus the two by two mattress approach, I fear and fret.

That is another thing I am learning. I am learning to be afraid.

Oil spill of the Southwest pass.

2010-04-28T21:47:00.003+05:30

The recent explosion of the oil rig off Louisiana has resulted in oil leaking from underwater pipelines. This picture of the oil slick right next to the Southwest pass entrance does bring the situation to focus. I have benn trading in this area for the last few years so it fells like my own backyard.

This taken with the Eagle Otome oil spill in the sabine river earlier this year sure seem to indicate that the US gulf isn't having a good year till now. And the hurricane season is yet to start!

Conversations at a French airport

2010-03-11T04:21:00.001+05:30

A : so this sign indicates that these seats are reserved for the
handicapped, blind and the deaf. Who are the fourth set?

B : maybe it's you know the speech impaired people

A : oh ! I thought it was meant to be a couple of gay guys.

B : why would they reserve seats for gay guys?

A : I don't know. Maybe because they are french. Plus why do dumb
peole need seats? Why can't they fucking stand quitely in a corner
Like the rest of us?

Why does bad food happen to fat people?

2010-03-10T06:42:00.000+05:30

The problem with fat people like me is that we have tasted good food.
And after tasting good food we have liked it. And after liking it, we
have eaten more of it. Make no mistake, we have become fat by working
hard at eating good food.

Which is why it was a bit tragic for me when all my lifes dedication
and efforts were disregarded by aeromexico when they put this thing in
front of me on the Mexico city - Paris connection.

Now the previous post was about Mexican food and heaven knows I have
put enough posts praising mexiccan food, but what I fail to understand
is why a bunch of mexicans would try to feed me French food in a
location from which I could not concievably escape.

Now I do not hate French food. Fat people with food are like mother
Teresa with lepers. We love all food. But like her we understand that
there is simply not enough time to take care of all the food in the
world and we have to decide which food group needs us more.

People have gotten fat on frech food, but he fact is that whenever I
have tried the same, I have found it so exhaustively pretentious that
it burns off all the bloody fat. French dishes are named something
like "mon de rue el carap" which probably translates into something
like "crappy food from the roadside". Something which have been
sucessesfully feeding white tourists for the last fifty years at a
fraction of the cost.

I had thankfully eaten a hearty Mexican meal of something that sounded
distinctly more exotic ( diabla anyone?) before boarding, so I just
prodded around at it to check if it would retaliate and cut a cross
section of it. As you can see in the picture, it didn't make things
any better.

Next time if these guys do make me fly with these guys again, I hope
they will be considerate enough to provide parachutes as well as the
sissy life jackets.

Shrimp diabla

2010-03-06T23:58:00.000+05:30

Last mentioned in vincents post, it is the most amazing shrimp dish
ever. Recommended with a chilled beer.

Life is good. :)

DIE LOBSTER DIE!!

2010-03-02T05:34:00.000+05:30

There definitely seems to be something in the Pagan religious practice of
sacrifices. The sacrifice of my reproductive organs, as mention in the last
post, did certainly seem to please Neptune, and we got some splendid weather
for the next couple of days. And as the sea seemed to be in a particularly
benevolent mood, all sorts of fauna and Aquana were being showered on us. I
saw my first Turtle at sea, as it lazily gobbled at a bunch of sea weeds.
The first night at anchor we set ourselves up on the poop deck with fishing
tackles and beers. I ofcourse maintained my record of never catching
anything, but the guys got a fair amount of Red snappers and these white
fishes, the nomenclature of which we argued over the beers. A few years back
and we would have lit up a barbeque and tossed them right there on the
grill. But these days people are actually expected to follow these pesky
safety regulations. Damn them all!

I have to admit that safety regulations do help. They tune the mind to some
Zen like state, where you are able to sense danger. For example, when I
looked out of the porthole on the next glorious morning, I immediately
sensed danger as I saw the bosun running back along the deck with what was
evidently an alien object eating his arm right up to his shoulders.

Like all prudent masters, except Nelson and James Cook- who wound up dead at
sea, I immediately swung into action and prayed to god. Then I sat down at
the desk and looked at the phone for the next five minutes. At the end of
that time, as the phone had not rung, it was evident that the alien
infestation had spread among the whole crew, which in an zombie inspired
orgy of blood and trailing entrails, had hacked each other to bits. I felt
deep sympathy for my young valiant mess man as he bravely tried to warn me
on phone as the zombie oiler nibbled on his feet. Rookie mistake. Aliens
always use phone lines to spread and as he would have held the phone to his
ears, the small ant aliens would go into his ears and all that would have
remained of Eddie would have been an agonizingly silent cry of blinding pain
as his brain imploded. I sincerely grieved for Eddie. Or it was equally
possible that nothing of great importance had occurred. Either way, it
didn't look like I would be required to do anything, so I decided that it
was safe to venture out of my cabin.

As it turned out, the light and its refraction through my dual layered
porthole had played tricks on my mind. It was actually a small bosun who had
caught a big Lobster. And as big lobsters go, this was huge. Minus its
antennae, which were longer then it, this chap was about half a meter in
length. Lobsters apparently don't die when you take them out of the water.
But it certainly looks out of sort when placed on a steel platter surrounded
by the ships crew who were excitedly pointing out which part they would eat.
As I looked at its majestic sweep lying on the galley table, Eddie happily
showed me where he would cut along the back to put in the masala and let me
stew. I have honestly not seen such a big lobster in my life. There
definitely can't be too many of this size out there in the world. It seemed
crazy that a bunch of sailors eat this chap in the middle of the sea. The
guy deserved to be in some aquarium looking out at the passing gaggle of
school kids with its unblinking eyes. If this was a couple of hundred years
back, this chap would probably land up on the table of the local ruler to
get his favours. As I looked up, I saw the faces of the Excited crew staring
back at me.

With a deep sigh, mustering up all of my Captains demeanour, I pointed to
the sea creature and declared,

"I want to eat this part."

Sea, sofa, so good

2010-02-28T10:20:00.000+05:30

The last few days have been hectic. The fog from the last post did give us a
night off at Houston, but the night blew in a nasty cold wind from the north
that killed the fog and made me hate the cold again with a new intensity.

Another problem with cold fronts, ( apart from the aforementioned basic
problem that they are bloody cold), is that they bring bad weather with
them. The above picture of the houston channel, was the last day of good
weather that we had for the past week and by the time we had dropped anchor
in the Mexican oil fields two days out of Houston, the northerly swell has
started to roll in. It ended up dragging our anchor and forcing us out into
the Gulf of Campeche to fight it out with the sea. I don't think you ever
win with the sea, and we came back battered a couple of days later when she
calmed down a bit.

The problem with the hands on bigger ships like ours, is that we really
are a bit spoilt. So when the sea does get rough enough to make us
uncomfortable, we get really uncomfortable. I had thought that my cabin
furniture was firmly bolted to the deck, but a bout of particularly bad
rolling woke me up to a crash in my day-room in the middle of the night. As
I rushed in there in my boxers, my sofa, which is usually a rather inert
object, hurtled itself from the other end of the room right into my nuts. I
think its for the best that I'm already a dad.

Next morning did see the sea in a better if still disgruntled mood, a
dazed bunch of crew and a rather sheepish sofa.

Boxed in at houston

2010-02-21T22:32:00.000+05:30

Woke up today morning with a thick fog blanketing the Houston ship channel.
We will be done with the cargo in a few hours & if this doesn't lift, we
should have a few hours to ourselves. Its sunday out here and it really
looks like a sunday sent by god to eat a few hot pakorahs and samosas with a
cup of steaming tea.

My latest joke

2010-02-19T12:17:00.000+05:30

What did Mao say when Dalai Lama shouted "Free Tibet!" ?

"OK I'll take it."

Good riddance to bad wires

2010-02-18T09:02:00.003+05:30

Anyone sailing on oil tankers has grappled with fire wires. Fire wires, also referred to as (ETOPS- emergency tow-off pennants system) must have seemed to be a swell thing to the guy who came up with the idea. The concept is that if there is a fire onboard an oil tanker or the terminal when a tanker is tied alongside, the oil tanker is to keep wires ready hanging overside on the sea side. Shore tugs will simply tie up to these wires and pull the ship off the jetty to safety. Thus in an emergency, there would be no confusion such as tying up the tugs and all that.

Well apparently it worked out well only in theory. Firewires (38mm in dia and about 120 m in length) are the crappiest piece of gear that is found on modern oil tankers. And we have our share of crappy gears. Everything about the fire wire from stowing, to deploying to adjusting it is a pain. All we ever got out of the fire wire was trips, bruises and a filthy mouth.

Apparently, word does get around. In 2007, OCIMF asked LR to carry out a risk assessment for fire wires in the industry and the results surprised even me. Apparently, fire wires have been deployed on tankers since 1967. And in that time they have not been used even once. Not once. On the other hand, fire wires have caused about seventeen hundred minor or major injuries in that period.

Thanks to this study by LR, OCIMF has finally stopped recommending the deployment of fire wires. Also they have amended the SIRE VIQ accordingly. This is great news. 1967 was a long time back so by the time the terminals and loading masters decide that its allright not to rig the wire, it might be a fair amount of time. But still, it is a beginning and hopefully soon we'll have one less thing to swear about at sea.

If you are interested, you can read the Risk assessment by Lloyds out here. Its an interesting read.

I'm sorry Mama

2010-02-16T09:17:00.003+05:30

For the last few days, the people of Texas were focused on the case of a teenager who shot a police man in the stomach when the cop tried to break up the burglary. Eventually after a chase when the kid was caught, he had three words to say to the TV cameras, "I'm sorry mama."

Eminem said in his song with the same title,

"I'm sorry mama

I never meant to hurt you
I never meant make you cry
But tonight, I'm cleaning out my closet."

It really is a privilege to sail on ships and de-facto be parts of the lives of people in different corners of the world. But the more you look at the differences, the more you are reminded of the universality of emotions and the crushing weight of a mothers sorrow. And how we all need to apologise to it.

Vincent the patchy-white-skinned Pimp

2010-02-14T10:40:00.001+05:30

Vincent is a pimp. He really is. Its not like the time I got drunk and
called Mr Verma, my social studies teacher a pimp. Vincent really is a pimp
and gets distressed at the thought that people might mistake him for someone
facilitating sex out of the goodness of his heart. I met Vincent in a
crowded bar in Mexico. Crowded bars are a great place to meet men. Some of
them are pimps. A few of our crew were having drinks there and someone
pointed me out as the captain. I'm not sure what Motion picture or TV series
they show in Pimp school, but Vincent has a very high regard for captains.
Vincent has in his head a vague plan involving a flotilla of ships filled
with Mexican prostitutes sailing to the farthest corners of the worlds
engaging in debauched acts in international waters. I think he has that in
his mind because he told it to me over his second drink. Its hard to
understand what Vincent is really thinking because you can barely see him.
He unfortunately suffers from that disease in which your skin gets those
white patches that then spread all over your body till you become all white
and stuff. That thing. It is unfortunate because Vincent tries to cover it
all up with wearing full sleeves in a sweltering heat and by hiding his face
behind all sorts of hand gestures. Infact he is so uncomfortable that at
those rare moments that he is shaking someones hand and flicking the ash
from
his cigarette at the same time, everyone respectfully looks at their drinks
till one of his hands is in place.

Vincent explains that he is a freelance pimp. That means that he simply
makes a profit from references, and doesn't need to maintain an exclusive
clientele, or girls or hit around any women. He says that is a very
convenient. Principally because it is very difficult to hit around Mexican
women.

Every company is required to have core policies that guide them in
everything that they do. I have diligently looked through all the policies
onboard and have not come across any policy that requires me to tell pimps
that I cannot let my ship be used as launchpad for boatloads of sex crazed
low cost prostitutes in nations with favourable forex conversion rates. I
have thus maintained silence on this issue. In all honesty, if Vincent ever
does give me a written request, I promise to forward it to the HQ. But in
the meanwhile, Vincent is a friend.

Vincent meets you at the boat jetty and takes you shopping. He haggles with
the cab drivers and the shopkeepers and takes you to quaint eating sea side
joints where he then translates the menu and orders the most awesome sea
food such as shrimps Diabla and the local cocktails such as the "Torito" .
All while describing in most vivid details how he could get you in bed with
women whose current loss of virginity might be actually doubtful. I am not
sure if you have ever shopped or had dinner with a similar topic being
spoken, but it sure beats watching seagulls fight over a fish thrashing
around in its dying throes. Vincent also has stories to match any
situation. You might get into a taxi with him and he would resume his
conversation with, "One time, I was in the taxi with another captain and
three of my friends, ..." and other such stories, too outrageous to be
anything but true. Taxi rides in Mexico are disappointingly short.

If you do ever feel indebted to him for these services and hesitatingly ask,
"Vincent, would you mind of I gave you some money."
Hiding his face behind a set of complicated hand gestures Vincent replies,
"If it makes you happy."

When things make people happy, Vincent becomes very happy.

Post pirates movie marathon

2010-01-31T20:01:00.000+05:30

The heartlands of India were rather untouched by the salt of the sea until
the "Pirates of the Caribbean" came to be released. I ofcourse raise no
claims regarding the accuracy, or the lack thereof, of
this classic feature presentation, but looking at Capt. Jack Sparrow, it is
possible to reach certain assumptions regarding seafarers which may be
erroneous.

I am given to understand that these days one of the first question a father
asks of his prospective
seafarer son-in-law, is if he has been to the pirate port of Tortuga. My own
father-in-law ofcourse realised that at this point of time, it was probably
better that he did not know of the fact but being a doctor, couldn't resist
asking me one rather unremarkable evening,

"So how frequently do you guys take a bath on ships?"

AIS - Internet interfacing - dangers further explored

2010-01-23T11:22:00.000+05:30

A couple of posts back, I tried to give examples regarding the
indiscriminate proliferation of internet AIS feeds, as seen from a
landlubbers perspective. Now I'm hoping to wade into the practical dangers
of this as faced by seamen.

Honestly, I have seen very less resistance from people regarding this trend,
but whenever something along this line does get raised, there are four basic
responses that crop up.
1. The info is already out there. The logic is that the feeds are already
out there if we like it or not. So might as well use them for whatever
benefit that we can get out of them. This is like justifying buying fur
because its already there in the store. Let me explain. The people who have
set up the AIS antennae on the shore are in it for the money. They are not
doing it because they want to see their dad sail into the harbour. John from
gCaptain explained the economics of the iphone Apps. His iPhone app for the
AIS (gTrax) sells for about five dollars on iTunes. Plus for every port that
you require a feed to, you need to pay ten dollars every month. Out of all
the revenue generated, about 50 percent goes to the people providing the
feed. Do the maths.

2. The threat is too improbable for any actual danger to ships. In forum
discussions I gave an example of sailing into an US port on a ship named
"Allah Laden" and how that might be targeted by college students with
iphones. Laughable right? Sitting in a US city, it certainly seems so. But
try sailing into the middle east with a ship named " Jesus H Christ" and are
you still that comfortable? You see, this is not something local to US
Coast. This is happening all over the world and personally as a guy who
might be sailing anywhere, it worries me. And the Americans should worry
too. The ISPS regulation was pushed through the IMO by the Americans mainly
as an response to 9/11. So the whole point of a regulation, in which you put
equipment on ships for better monitoring, is lost when you make it available
to the very people you want to keep out. Small boats and yachts are common
sights in US ports. Probably most of contributors of gCaptain have a couple
of boats themselves. If a bunch of Somalians can climb fast moving ships in
the middle of the sea while fighting resistance, there is not much stopping
an Al Quida cell from boarding slow moving LNG tankers in the miles of
inland US waters. Americans should worry. 9/11 was a local incident.

3. Just switch off the AIS. Sounds very simple. Infact, readers from a
non-sea background are probably going to ask at this point, "So if you
switch off the AIS, the transmission stops? Then what was all this bitching
about?"
Well its not so simple. Making the master responsible for switching off the
AIS is a very convenient ploy. He is anyway the guy who gets screwed
whenever there's a cock up, so why can't he be the fall guy for this as
well? The AIS is not to be switched off unless the master has good reasons
for switching it off. Who decides these good reasons? Sailing in the
Somalian coast is a very clear example. Even my company orders state that I
should switch off the AIS. But what about Sailing off the Benin, Nigerian
and the west African coast? Statistics prove that there are more piracy
incidents on West coast Africa then off Somalia. They are just low key. Can
I switch it off there? Suppose I'm an Indian Ship coasting Pakistani
waters, or an American ship coasting Iranian waters, then what? If some
incident does happen, the first thing that is going to be said is that the
Captain should have known better. So is the captain now supposed to read the
news daily and make threat assessments, that the whole Obama administration
routinely misses?
.
Take another case. I read the news. Diligently. And I arrive off Houston in
my assumed ship "Allah Laden" a day after the Fort Hood incident. A Muslim
has killed more than a dozen chaps and Obama issues a warning fearing for
reprisal attacks on Muslim targets. Hearing this, I immediately switch off
my AIS. Houston pilots have an intricate AIS system and our good friend
oneeighteen, boards and refuses to take in the ship unless I switch it back
on. What then?

I have been accused of making silly connections, but to me, passing the
onus, on switching off the AIS on the master, seems like an old western
movie, in which the local goons insist that they will shoot in the main
street and people who don't want to get shot can simply sit in their houses.

4. Lets just do it in America. The US is an awesome country. idea's born
here are going to take flight and go everywhere. AIS iphone apps for china
are not far and are probably already out there. There is nothing stopping it
from replicating anywhere. God knows that the Somalian pirates have enough
money to start off a system that they can use within their own network if
they put their mind to it. Give me a couple of million dollars and I will
set up an awesome system that will stream live info to only my core group.

And AIS is not the end. LRIT is just being started. An Antennae off Scotland
could pick up a ship off Somalia and feed it live on the internet. Is
something in place to stop that?

The tragedy of this whole thing is that the people feeding this whole
movement are the shipping fraternity. Joe, who goes online from his mom's
basement when not in college is not the one paying these AIS stations for
live feeds. Its the yatchmen, pilots, tugsters, shipping companies and
seagoing folks who are paying this and jeopardising themselves and their
fellow mates. People are taking any mention of stopping this as invasion of
their personal rights. Guys, this is a new technology and just because there
are no laws against it doesn't make it right. Just because god gave you a
big dick doesn't mean you have to fuck yourself in the arse with it. Another
silly connection, but there it is.

PS: As I am posting this by email, I couldn't put any links to the above. Am
writing this as a reminder to myself & to you if you need me in the future
to give you the links :
01. gTrax's business model
02. IMB's Piracy statistics.
03. Fort Hood incident
04. LRIT details

Safety First !

2010-01-23T02:30:00.004+05:30

Photo courtsey : gCaptain Forum

We might be scurvy-ridden-pirate-scum, but we also have ISM Checklists.

AIS - right information in the wrong hands

2010-01-21T23:02:00.006+05:30

In the mid 1990's when I visited the Indian port of Karwar, Trucks full of villagers came over to visit the ship for sightseeing. The same would happen when we went to Calcutta. Yet once on Gangway duty, when I asked one visitor to put down her address and phone number on the Gangway log, she hesitated. I reasoned with her, that since she had come over to visit my ship, I might also take it into my mind to visit her house to look around and to maybe have Dinner.

All I got was an earful from the captain who apparently already had her address.

Yet the incident has stuck with me as a reminder of the fact that the landlubbers often take the privacy of seafarers for granted. It would be a tough fact to forget, given that I am reminded of it often enough. We seafarers take it for granted that any port official with a badge can enter a crew members cabin with sniffer dogs. Yet that same official would demand a search warrant for the cops to check his apartment.

I view the proliferation of the Ships AIS information on the Internet as yet another example of the same syndrome. Today, anyone with an Internet connection can spot in real time the location, course , speed , destination, draft etc of a ship in a huge chunk of coastal area.

For the kind reader who is not from a ship background, let me explain. Under the ISPS regulations, every ship is fitted with an Automatic Identification System (AIS) which transmits the above information on VHF frequencies to the world in general. The purpose envisaged for this was two-fold. Primarily, this would give the coast state information on all the ships lurking around its waters (ensuring better traffic management, SAR etc) and as a bonus, other ships could also use this information for safety of navigation and in collision avoidance. What has happened now is that private individuals / companies have set up AIS receiver antennae on the coast and are putting feeds of all the vessel information live on the Internet. This is an example of such a site. Now developers are putting up applications on even the iPhone that lets you access this information. GCaptain has an excellent such app. Pictured above is a screenshot from another such app. Ryan at his neat website 59 56 N suggests that we can further make it better by adding machinery data, and as he says, "Better yet, shippers could also provide information about the owner, charterer, insurer, the works. And all of these, equipment supplier, owner and everyone else, could include a news feed, for the latest on the companies involved and their products/services."

Tracking blue whales is cool. Tracking emperor Penguins as they do their half yearly mating march is cool. Tracking Sputnik while it passes overhead is cool. Tracking ships is not. Granted I am being a bigot because I am not a whale, penguin or Sputnik. But here is the thing. This is my house. Unlike an airline pilot, I don't park this thing in an hanger for the night and go for the Mandatory 24 hour rest in a 5 star hotel. I sleep here. I eat here. And I miss my wife and daughter from here. And I do that for six months in a year. And when I am not doing that, some other chap is doing exactly that in this same chair.

Let me illustrate with another example. Suppose you lived in a neighborhood where the police feared that crime might rise in the near future. To preempt this rise in crime, the police chief decided to take a complete inventory of all the members and all the appliances of all the houses in the neighborhood. Now some of you agreed to it because you were good chaps and the rest of you did it because it was the law. Plus if you all had inventories ready, you could readily exchange it with your friends inventory and realize, say that John, three houses down had a nice lawnmower which you could use. A win-win situation for all.

Now in the middle of this, the teenage son of the Police Sergeant, who happened to take lunch to his dads office came across the inventories on his dad's desk and took copies of them. He then proceeded to stick all the inventories on all the street corners, the local pubs, motels, Biker gang dens and near the parole counter of all police stations. As they were pasting the last set near the out gate of the local correction facility, the teenagers friend turns around to him and says,

"Dude, you know what would be cool? If we could identify which of these guys had daughters over twelve years old. And to make it like really really cool, we should make those guys come over here and update their daughters age every six months. With their blood reports. "

Just pray that you live in a nice neighborhood.

LORAN - Nice knowing you. RIP

2010-01-21T12:14:00.004+05:30

The Loran system shuts down for good on the 8th of Feb 2010. That is in about 15 days. The US coastguard, which is primarily the organization responsible for the upkeep of the system, claims that it is no longer required. I believe they are right. Those guys have been getting a lot of flak on the net since they announced the closure in Nov last year, and I am writing this so that at least they have one blog post they can show to the next congressman that bangs on their door.

I find myself being the devils advocate in this particular argument. I hate it when new kids become too reliant on one technology. I hate it when duty officers don't even know where the sextant is kept. I hate it that when I ask the chap to tell me the range to a ship, he checks the AIS instead of the RADAR. I hate it all. But here's the thing. Even if I hate it, it is still going to happen.

People have not used the Loran for a long time. And they are not going to start anytime soon. Hell, honestly, with feeds of GPS going into the ECDIS and Radars, no one even looks at the GPS anymore except when plotting positions on the chart.

Let us look at a few arguments raised against the shutting down of the Loran.

Firstly, About the reliability of the GPS. Guys, satellite navigation is here to stay. Sure GLONASS and the Galileo are having a rough time, but there is no doubt that they will be up and running. As per Wiki, the satellites launched by the GPS system from 2010 will no longer have the ability to implement Selective Ability (SA). So this means, after a few years, even if the US government did want to apply SA, it couldn't.

My biggest worry with the GPS is that it is controlled by the US. As a non-US citizen, I don't like it that a foreign government can cut off my principle aid to navigation at anytime. But if that did happen, how in heavens name would LORAN help me? Uncle Sam isn't going to forget to pull the plug on that system. I would rather prefer that the US Govt took all the money they spend on Loran and put in into making the GPS even better.

Even if I were a US Citizen, I might be concerned that the Al-Quida might knock off the GPS Satellites using American supplied missiles. But couldn't they also attack the Loran stations with their exploding underwear? After all the Locations of the Loran Stations is no longer the great secret that it was back in the second world war.

Also, very few vessels out at sea are even equipped with a LORAN Receiver. I put up a picture of a Loran receiver on the top of the post here because most of the newer generation wouldn't have even seen one. Hell, the last time I sailed on a vessel with a LORAN on board was way back in 1996. So today, even if the GPS went on a blink and we all were floundering around in mid ocean, we wouldn't have a Loran to go back to. Remember the madness that happened when all ships were asked to install the AIS at the same time? By the time all ships are going to be equipped with an LORAN, its going to be another couple of years. Why wouldn't somebody switch over to the Russian or European system in the meanwhile?

A little while back (I think it was in early 2000's), I was trading in the Australia region and there was a huge hue and cry by the usual small section of people, when the Aussie govt decided to stop transmitting weather faxes. Even I admitted that it was a pity. But the fact is that not enough people use it to make worthwhile. Change is inevitable and you sometimes have to let things go in dignity when it feel that it is no longer needed. The Loran system has long since gone past its dignified state. Just let it go.

Spanky - One year on and still at it

2010-01-21T08:44:00.010+05:30

Do you remember "Jaws" in which this crazy shark gets into its head to bite a piece of the Hero's arse? Around this time last year, I had put up a post on "Spanky" who was doing crazy things at Galveston Anchorage. It was Deja Vu during my last call there as we came in to anchor.

The Duty officer reported," Sir vessel coming up from behind. Some ship called Spanky."

My blood ran cold and I almost spilled my coffee. It is a really good coffee.

I have no idea how Spanky knew I was around, but I was taking no chances, I hightailed it out of there and anchored well away from where I had initially planned.

Spanky gave up its chase after a while and went off to trouble some troubled Filipino third mate, who was last heard plaintively calling out on the radio,

" But why? Why are you coming so near me?"

The spooky thing is, the only time Spanky is seen is at night. If Louis hadn't assured me otherwise and actually taken a picture of it in daylight, it would be spooky indeed!

Publish Post

Pictured above is the Radar picture of Spankys run along with the AIS information.

The US Navy

2010-01-18T09:09:00.000+05:30

Location : Texas

Came across this picture on one of the Forums on Gcaptain.com , obviously
based on the Maersk Alabama incident.

God is a Man

2010-01-16T19:37:00.000+05:30

I just realised why most administrators are men. The word "Administrator" is
derived from the word "Admin". And "Admin" in Hindi means "Man".

These things just come to me. I can't help it.

From Egyptian Ship Chandler with love

2010-01-13T20:16:00.000+05:30

Location : Mexico

Receiving emails from ship chandlers of Egypt is as common as getting emails
from widows of rich Nigerian government officials. I am convinced that both
types of emails are true. You only have to go to Nigeria to see that there
is obviously no government official left alive (plus even their President is
in some sort of coma in Saudi). And a visit to Egypt will
resolve any doubts regarding the earnestness of the Egyptian ship Chandlers.

The most recent one I got starts off like this,

"Fm: Winner Supply Co, Egypt
Kind Att: Master
Date: 11th Jan 2010

Dear Sir,
Good Day Capt, ( Happy New Year )

Wish this day to be a great day for, you, your family, and
all the great crew under your wise command..."

I like this guy already. To everybody out there, if you do visit Egypt,
please take supplies from the Winner Supply Co.

Note to self # 243

2010-01-12T22:45:00.001+05:30

w.r.t Mexican restaurants :-

PERRO = DOG,

POLLO = CHICKEN

Also remember for - Street fights, insulting someones mother etc.

Cold Cold Texas

2010-01-10T00:49:00.000+05:30

I hate the cold. I think I can trace it back to the time when my whore of a
captain had made me keep lookout on the monkey Island when the ship was in
the winter Baltic. There is absolutely nothing about the cold I like. And if
anything insists in associating itself with the cold, even if it is the
snow, fluffy bunnies or Santa, then I don't like them either.

Which is why I like the gulf of Mexico and Carrib region. Its a mellow
region and save for a few hurricanes a year, you would be forgiven to assume
that you were lounging about next to your pool in the backyard on a sunny
day. This trip proved otherwise. The arctic chill, also called "The Canadian
Express" made its way from up north and the temperatures reached record lows
in 27 years. Why they had to wait 27 years only till I reached the port is
something I have yet to figure out. But Water was freezing, decks were
icing, people were slipping, extremities were hurting and there was a lot
and lot of swearing.

It just wasn't Texas week as the Texas Longhorns lost to Alabama in the
finals of College football at Rosebowl at Pasadena. Over the last couple of
years, I've been trying to follow the sport and watching the movies, you
pretty much get the idea what the game is about. This particular game wasn't
so bad, and the 'bama team had to deal with a pretty decent fight-back from
the longhorns in the third quarter. These might just college kids pushing
around each other on a grass field, but they are huge in the US. When you
listen to them giving interviews at the post game celebrations, I was
reminded of Tendulkar when he was hitting Quadir for sixes. There is
something about the raw passionate power of excellence that brings tears in
my eyes at times. Van Gogh paintings, Tendulkar sixes and the broken elbow
of quarterback Cole McGraw.

Those and the cold bloody wind.

Preamble to the constitution

2010-01-08T01:17:00.004+05:30

Going through the recently issued US visa's onboard, I realized that the Preamble to the US constitution is written on the background of the newly issued US visa's.

The Declaration if Independence hogs so much attention that one often forgets that America actually has an Constitution. Actually it didn't have one for about 10 years after declaring themselves free, when there used to be something called the "Articles of Confederation".

The Preamble, as I understand basically states the objects, which the Constitution seeks to establish and promote.

The Preamble to the US Constitution, goes like so :

"We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."

The fact that Indians were "inspired" by other things than Hollywood movies is evident when you see the Indian Preamble,

"WE, THE PEOPLE OF INDIA, having solemnly resolved to constitute India into a SOVEREIGN SOCIALIST SECULAR DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC and to secure to all its citizens:

JUSTICE, social, economic and political;

LIBERTY of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship;

EQUALITY of status and of opportunity;

and to promote among them all

FRATERNITY assuring the dignity of the individual and the unity and integrity of the Nation;

IN OUR CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY this twenty-sixth day of November, 1949, do HEREBY ADOPT, ENACT AND GIVE TO OURSELVES THIS CONSTITUTION. "

Actually the the words "socialist", "secular" and "integrity" and to promote among them all "Fraternity"; were added to the definition in 1976 by constitutional amendment. So the original preamble echoed the US preamble to a greater degree.

Now if only I had been as fascinated by these things when I was in school!

Fun Fact : The Indian Constitution is the longest in the World!

Links : Indian Preamble on Wiki , History of the US Constitution (Wiki)

Life and love

2010-01-04T16:14:00.000+05:30

Location : Gulf of Mexico

Discussing life with kids is always interesting. As a kid, life is
agonisingly slow, unbelieveably clear, enviably unending and yet inevitably
unsatisfying.

So this kid is getting married at the end of the year. As I absorbed his
vision of how his married life and parenthood would be, I was particularly
struck by a statement of his. He said, " Sir, I love my nephew like my own
(future) son. Tomorrow even if something goes wrong between myself and my
brother, I will still love my nephew like my own son."

Yeah Well. About that...

Leave your child in the middle of the night for half a year and be
surprised to find yourself crying. and then shed those tears for another
kid.

Then we'll talk some more.

The next year

2010-01-03T08:10:00.000+05:30

Location : Gulf of Mexico

I hope the new year has brought good tidings to all of you. We were busy
preparing for cargo ops, when a cold front passed over us and the operations
were suspended as the weather turned sour. So the boys had a good couple of
days off, while I spent a restless night as the ship got tossed around a
bit. Ah the trade-offs in life!

Personally the last year went super. If we could have every year like the
last one - minus having babies that is - that would be awesome.

Loading in the oil fields

2009-12-31T06:46:00.000+05:30

Location : Oil fields off Mexico

This isn't really an ideal sight a captain likes to wake up to. But what we
have up here is my ship loading oil from an floating/storage oil tanker in
one of the oilfields off Mexico. Most places, ships like us tie up at Single
Buoy moorings (or SBM's) and load oil through flexible hoses, but quite
often, we tie up right behind these FPSO's and recv oil directly from them.
To be honest, this way gives me the creeps every time look at it. SBM's are
sturdy stuff. They are designed so that even if the ship rides up to it and
bangs it around a bit, it just moves away. Plus swinging around an SBM as
the tide changes is also a relatively simple matter, much akin to swinging
around on your anchor.

But FPSO's are bigger then your ship. And I don't like getting close to
things bigger then my ship. I find that things bigger then my ship rarely
make way for my ship. So I am always glad to cast off from the bloody thing
and put as much distance as possible between my ship and it.

one eighteen

2009-12-29T06:34:00.000+05:30

Location : The gulf of Mexico

I met one-eighteen. Now I have been coming into the Houston ship channel for
more than two years, so it was just a matter of time before I met him, but
the fact that I actually met him just a day after I wrote about him on my
blog did startle me. Since I'm again posting my email, you'll have to go to
my last post to get a link to his pictures (or down on the left to the links
section), but he sure does have some of the best pictures on the Houston
ship channel. Now that I analyze it, there are a couple of reasons why I
thought of one-eighteen in the last post. Firstly I have been thinking of
buying a DSLR these last few weeks and being stuck with an iphone for
photography is weighing heavy on my mind. Secondly, 118 likes Bow waves. If
you go on his flikr pictures, you'll see a whole section on the different
pictures of bow waves. Whereas, me being stuck on the bridge, am a forced
fan of the stern wakes. and writing on the "skid marks", just made me
realize the difference and brought him to mind.

So it was a pleasant surprise when I saw that it was him who had caught the
shift of taking my ship out of Houston. From where we were moored, it takes
about five hours to get out to the breakwater, so it was sufficient time for
me to catch up with him. He remembered my blog. Now there are so few
visitors to my blog that it seems a statistical impossibility that you would
actually meet someone who has not only been on your blog, but actually
remembers it. Next thing you know, I will be taking bunkers from the pirate
or meeting Ken on shore leave!

We turned out to be kindred spirits. Turns out he also has daughters.
Ofcourse his elder is almost as old as me, but I'm sure she burps, doesn't
listen to him and probably keeps him awake in the middle of the night as
well. So we talked of daughters, blogs and photography. The funny thing is,
all this happened in the middle of the night. So I doubt if he'll recognize
me if he meets me the next time. Well, nice meeting you 118. And Happy new
year.

Pictured above is the Bayou city. It is 118's ride.

Skid Marks

2009-12-28T05:26:00.002+05:30

Location - Houston

I love the wake that a ship leaves behind her as she swings. An area like
Galveston is anyway shallow enough to churn up the ground and throw up the
mud. We were anchored over in the western anchorage and this snap was taken
as we crossed the fairway and lined up for the channel and the pilot
boarding.

People who also frequent Gcaptain would remember houston Pilot oneeighteen who takes
some great pictures in the Houston Ship channel. I was hoping to bump into
him this time around, but I met another pilot with a camera who was his good
friend. I sent my regards. Hope you got them 118.

The Fred Hartman Bridge

2009-12-27T02:01:00.000+05:30

Location : Houston

Came into Houston today. The last couple of days weather settled down as the
cold front passed over the Gulf of Mexico and we had better weather today.
The sun shone for a couple of hours and if it wasn't for the chilly wind, I
would have called it fine weather.

Took a snap of the Fred Hartman Bridge as we were passing underneath it. The
bridge named after the Editor of Baytown Sun, is the longest Cable Stayed
bridge in Texas. I am a fan of Bridges and love to take snaps of them
spanning across the ships bows. And cable Stayed bridges are just so modern
and neat looking that it makes it all the better.

You can find more info about the Fred Hartman Bridge at Wiki (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Hartman_Bridge ).

Safe & Happy Christmas!

2009-12-25T07:41:00.000+05:30

Location : Gulf of Mexico

A low passing over the Gulf of Mexico is tossing us around a bit and I guess
trying to remind us how thankful we should ordinarily be of god.

Well if God is listening, as god inevitably does, I assure you that I am.

I wish you all and your families boundless joy and impeccable health for the
Christmas and new year.

Mind you this wish runs for the whole of the next year. To recv wishes for
the year 2011, please drop by next year.

Finally as Ken commented on the last post, to all shippy's, " I wish you
secure anchorage with good
holding ground, plenty of room to swing and light breezes. " Thank you Ken
for your great comment and wishes.

Happy Holidays

2009-12-21T10:23:00.000+05:30

Location : Gulf Of mexico

Well the winter holidays are finally here, though we'll be lucky to even get
an anchorage over here so that we can relax a bit. Still, I hope you all
have a great and safe holiday.

Best Wishes!

a picture for you

2009-12-20T22:03:00.000+05:30

Location : Gulf Of Mexico

Finally we managed to leave the port of Houston and get out to sea. Even
though I don't mind a couple of days at anchor, all that fog and cold fronts
had put a damper on the whole anchorage. So its good to be out sailing
towards (hopefully) sunny Mexico.

The fog lifts

2009-12-16T22:36:00.000+05:30

Location : Off Houston

Finally, a cold front came down and blew away the fog. It is almost a
surprise for the air to clear up and see the anchorage filled up to its
gills. Of course the cold front did bring about its chilly winds, but after
so many days of fog, pretty much anything seems welcome.

And we can always look back at warm sunny days. This is us leaving the
Mexican port of Pajaritos. Faintly in the distance you can make out the
breakwater entrance (exit in this case), and about two points on the port
bow, is the very same Channel Buoy that featured in this blog a few posts
back.

Hopefully with the fog lifed, we should finish off with deary houston and be
on the sunny shores of Mexico soon!

AIS Feed into the RADAR or the ECDIS

2009-12-15T09:54:00.000+05:30

Of all the crappy equipments that I have seen on the ships over the years,
the AIS by far has to be the uniformly crappiest of all equipment. Its not
crappy because of its purpose - Which nobody clearly understands. Is it
supposed to be for ship security? How is is supposed to achieve that if it
keeps broadcasting your position to everybody? Or is it for collision
avoidance? Does it come under Rule 5 of Colreg? Its not a hotly debated
topic as one might assume it to be. The reason is - crappy equipment. Give
the ships crew a 0.50 Calibre Remington Sniper rifle and they will discuss
the purpose of it late into the night - From Anti piracy to settling
interdepartmental disputes. But give the men an AIS and they will use it as
paperweight. The AIS has to be the most unfriendly equipment to operate
on the bridge. With dull black & white screens sometimes smaller then an
iphones, you are left to make sense of various ships in assorted azimuth,
range and sub-menu selections.

Which is why if any practical sense of AIS information is needed, you need
to give its feed into another equipment. A Radar or an ECDIS.
On this ship, the feed for the AIS goes into the ECDIS and not into the
Radar. This has been bugging me during my hours on the bridge. I know its
probably just me sulking at change, but the ECDIS and the radar are placed
right next to one another and it certainly wouldn't have been difficult for
the chap giving the feed to put in another wire. So someone must have taken
a decision to give only one feed. And that one feed was decided to go into
the ECDIS and not into the Radar. Now that is what is bugging me.

Having an AIS input into the Radar does allow the operator to make better
sense of the Radar picture. Also the ARPA and AIS information when provided
side by side gives better comparison and cross check of Data. For example
Radar Limitations such as Range or bearing discrimination can be better
resolved by an AIS when looking at a crowded anchorage, and ARPA limitations
such as an target swap or time delay in accurate CPA/TCPA can be cross
checked by the adjacent AIS information.

Putting AIS information on the ECDIS is similar to getting a cadet to plot
other ships on
the BA paper charts. While it may give more information to the navigator,
his ability to use the data to full advantage will suffer.

In my opinion, the ECDIS is primararily a Navigation tool, whereas the Radar
is primararily a collision avoidance tool. Whereas I have always used the
Radar also for navigation purposes, it is probably the first time that I am
seeing an tendency to use the ECDIS for collision avoidance. There always
has been a danger of overreliance of the bridge team on the ECDIS, and
giving the AIS feed into the ECDIS and not the Radar simply reinforces that.

I do agree that the solution to over- reliance on an equipment can not be to
reduce the information provided on it, but instead has to be somewhere in
the better training of the operators to deal with understanding the
limitations and proper utilization of that information. But if given a
choice between the two, I would prefer the AIS feed into the Radar rather
then the ECDIS.

A few years back, one of the nightmares of the ships master was that of the
duty officer wouldn't even look outside because of the Radar. Now because of
AIS feeds into the ECDIS, the chap isn't even going to look into the Radar!

Graffiti in Amsterdam

2009-12-15T01:36:00.000+05:30

Location : Off Houston

Still engulfed by fog at anchorage, I came across an picture I had taken of
an interesting wall in Amsterdam when I had gone there in summer for a ship
inspection.

Letters to Santa

2009-12-13T23:34:00.000+05:30

Location : Off Houston

The fog set in again yesterday and it just might mean another extra day out
here at the anchorage. But the Telly is working here, so not much to
complain. The season to be merry seems to have set in on the Americans, and
crazy sales ads are the only things that seem to be on.

The whole nation seems to be firmly in the grip of the Christmas season,
though nobody seems to be sure of what role Christ had to play in the whole
event. I think this has firmly become an Santa event, with gifts becoming
the main focus. The last time I was in Macy's in Beaumont, TX, they had a
table set up for kids to write postcards to Santa.

I loved the concept. The Kids could write postcards to Santa, and mail them
right there in the Macy post-box. macy promised to donate 1 dollar for every
card that was dropped in their box up to a million dollars. Apart from the
fact of the donation of money, I love the concept of mails being written to
Santa. I need connection to the net to get more figures / fact on this, but
the USPS actually has a process for dealing with Santa mails that land up in
its post-boxes. If you register with the USPS, you can even get the Santa
mail delivered to you so that you can take action on mails that you want.
And be the defacto Santa.

I think its also a neat way to get children to write atleast a couple of
postcards a year. :)

I picked up a couple of cards myself and maybe I'll post one myself. I just
don't know how much postage its going to take to the Northpole!

The Pajaritos channel

2009-12-11T23:35:00.000+05:30

Location : Off Houston

I like this picture. To go from the Tanker terminal to the city, you have to
take a boat ride for about 10 minutes which takes you across the ship
channel. The boat ride costs five dollars if you are alone, and ten dollars
if you are any number greater then one. It is a calculation that I have
never been able to understand.

And its great to argue over this with the boat man because neither of you
understand each other. Ofcourse that doesn't make a difference because I
guess its the same with any person you argue with even at home. During this
boat ride, the argument we even fiercer because the boat chap was insisting
on charging me ten dollars for the solo trip. In his baseball cap and two
day old stubble, he looked like a character in "Desperado" - the kind that
gets shot in the first two seconds - while he bemoaned the rising gas prices
and the effect of carbon emmission cuts on the Mexican fiscal deficit.

As the couple of Modello beers buzzed around in my head and the cool breeze
whizzed around my ears, I squinted my eyes against the sun and took the
picture of this buoy as it whizzed past. The sun had pretty much blinded me
and in the glare I couldn't even see what the iPhone had clicked. So I put
the phone back in my pocket and gave his great diatribe with the only
sensible retort that came to mind. The first words of Spanish I had picked
up - "Uno cerveza Porfavor!" - " One beer please!". He still charged me ten
dollars.

I like this picture.

A day by the water

2009-12-11T02:48:00.000+05:30

Location : Off Houston

The nothern winds have blown the fog away, but nothern winds being what they
are, these nothern winds are cold as an Penguins crap. Makes you almost wish
for the fog to come back in.

But then on cold days you can always remember the warmer days. The picture
is of my lunch appetiser down south in the sunny town of Pajaritos, Mexico.
It was a beautiful sunny day and I had taken up a seat in a quaint
reataurant by the water. They brought around the fare without me having said
a word. I liked that. The day when we can give a stranger a beer without a
word being spoken, will be a day when we will all smile much more.

Fogged in

2009-12-10T11:29:00.000+05:30

Location : Off Houston

Its that time of the year again. No - No holidays for the evil. But the time
of the year, when captains all over the world lie huddled with fear on their
ships engulfed in the evil fog.

Dropped anchor in the night and this anchorage is going to get packed like
sardines with ships if the fog doesn't lift in a day or so.

Mexican Graffiti - 2

2009-12-09T02:14:00.000+05:30

Location : Off Houston

Here's another example of the Graffiti which is probably from the same
artist, who signed himself as Francisco Gali. I'm not sure what
"Ayuntamiento" means in Spanish, but Coatza is the name of the town.

Mexican Graffiti - Jar 8

2009-12-07T23:54:00.000+05:30

Location : Gulf of Mexico

I have always liked to take pictures of Graffiti in different places, as I
believe that its a unrefined portrayal of the thoughts of people. Got a few
samples of the Mexican Graffitti during the visit to Pajaritos.

Loved the way the way the women have an almost Jamican look with the Mexican
guy is in an actual Sombrero. Wonder why he's named "jar-8"?

Gulf coast lighthouses

2009-12-07T10:25:00.000+05:30

It is always a pleasure when your hobby intersects with your job. So I
though it an amazing coincidence when I found this sheet of the "Gulf Coast
lighthouses in the USPS store - especially when I am going to be on the US
Gulf coast for the next few months.

The lighthouses shown here are the (from L to R) - Matagorda Island - Texas
, Sabine pass- Louisiana , Biloxi - Mississippi , Sand Island - Alabama and
Fort Jefferson - Florida. As you can see, they pretty much seem to have
picked one light house from each state on the Gulf coast. I had not
known till last year that there was also a state called Mississippi.

As luck would have it, the very next port we went over to was Beaumont, TX,
for
which we had to go over the Sabine River. Which ofcourse mandated that we
pass within hailing distance of our Lighthouse No 2. The description behind
the stamp described the lighthouse as follows:

"Erected on soft, marshy ground in Louisiana, Sabine pass light house
features eight buttresses that stabilize the heavy brick structure and give
it a distinct missile like shape. Completed in 1856, the light house was
deactivated in 1952 and is currently closed to public. "

I do like the American method or giving a slight detail behind the stamp. It
is an example that should be followed more by the other countries.

I just had my Iphone to take the picture with, but there certainly was no
brilliant Mississippi sunset in the background or Herons prancing around in
the foreground as in the stamp sheet.

The pilot claimed that someone from Houston had bought the lighthouse for
18,000 dollars. When asked why, he said that he had never owned a light
house before. As per the pilot, " In Texas, that's as good a reason as any."

Another view of Coatzacoalcos

2009-12-06T09:13:00.000+05:30

This is pretty much what the same breakwater looked like this time when we
came in the port. We couldn't see the breakwater from a mile away and the
pilot got delayed by some time. Drifting towards the shore in the strong
northerly winds, trying to maintain her position till the pilot boarded - A
few uncomfortable moments back there.

Coatzacoalcos

2009-12-05T20:04:00.000+05:30

Location : Coatzacoalcos

The last I had come to this port town was back in the 90's and it certainly
doesn't seem to have changed that much since then. Coatzacoalcos or
Pajaritos as the town is called, is still very much the laid back coastal
town that epitomises Mexico.

The above picture shows the town in the background, while you can see the
breakwater to the port in the foreground with a tiny fishing boat next to
it. The picture though is from last week. This time around, the place looks
depressed with 10 feet waves crashing over the breakwater and rains lashing
the town. Infact, we're having a bit of a holiday seeing as to the kind
harbour master having closed the port for the day.

Back at sea

2009-12-04T07:06:00.000+05:30

After a long long time, I am back doing what I do best. Write blogs and
transport a million barrels of oil from one place to the other. From my last
post, you must have realized that coming out wasn't easy this time around.
The picture up there is the last I saw of my daughter sleeping as I left in
the middle of the night.

Still, on the upside, I am back in the part of the world that I have grown
to love working in over the last few years - the US Gulf and the Mississippi
river. Infact I joined the vessel in New Orleans and make a quick run to the
Mexico coast and it does feel good to be out at sea with the slaty wind on
your lips.

But it doesn't compare. Not by a long shot.

Children sure have a silly knack of tossing your priorities all over the
place.

Kaya tells a story

2009-08-16T15:53:00.000+05:30

Girl Child - Hooray !!

2009-05-26T15:41:00.002+05:30

Hi All

Thanks for the wonderful poke from Vins for making me realize that I have been neglecting this space for the past few days. But some great news. I am now a father. Of a baby girl. :) Mean people insist that she looks like me, but I insist that she is perfectly lovely.

For something to develope from spikes on a scree up there to a live thing struggling in your arms is a huge journey. And when you hold that thing in your arms, is when you realize that the journey has just begun. This is huge for us first-time parents and a bit, no very scary in most respects. So I will take time allocating proper resources to the various parts of my life including this blog.

So while I neglect this space indiscriminately, please don't do the same yourselves. Love, cry, dance and laugh. Especially dance.

Hope you have the most magical year ahead and the best of health to you and your family.

Cheers,
Velu

Woman - Fiction 55

2009-05-19T13:02:00.001+05:30

Born a child and celebrated as Goddess, she was a woman. Clad in pink, frills and bows, she was a woman. Taking care of brothers and sisters, she was a woman. Crawling, crying, caring, bleeding, and with glass ceilings, she was a woman. Exhausted, her newborn child in her arms, she was again a woman.

The empty room - fiction55

2009-05-15T11:34:00.003+05:30

The hospital intercom rang.

The pediatric ward had promised to return her baby next day after the infections were removed. Why would they call now? It was obviously a Wrong number.

She let it ring for eight times before it fell silent.

Then she sat on the corner of her bed and listened for footsteps.

The look - fiction 55

2009-05-14T10:37:00.002+05:30

Across the room, he saw her, wildly, as if seeing her for the last
time. Startled, she looked back at him, as if for the first time. Then
they wheeled her to the operation theater. As the glass doors shut, he
turned away from his reflection, violently, as if never wanting to see
himself again.

Life of birth

2009-05-11T23:57:00.001+05:30

Sitting down wasn't as easy for her anymore. Her huge stomach made demands on her body that made it easy for her to either keep standing or sitting. She would have kept standing if wasn't for that insane throbbing at the base of her spine. As she lowered her weight, she let out a sigh of relief. It was a long day and she would be glad once it was over.

The end of the day would simply mean that it would bring the day of the birth closer by that one day. Absently she rubbed her fingers over the stretched skin of her stomach. The skin seemed to be stretched to an limit that seemed impossible. It had seemed impossibly stretched two months before, and now even though it seemed physically impossible, it had got yet more stretched. Ruefully her fingers trailed to the side of her stomach, Bunched there were the hateful stretch lines that seemed horrendously disfiguring in a mirror. At least to herself. She knew that the marks would be visible once the child came out, but at present nothing else mattered to her other then this thing in her stomach.

As her fingers traced the counters of her stomach, the baby responded from within. The movements were stronger then they had been a couple of weeks back and though sometimes it hurt, the possiblility of an alternative was too scary for her to contemplate. It never ceased to amaze her that an actual living entity was in her stomach. She didn't bother herself with the modalities of whether the entity had been called in there or if the entity had entered on its own free will. But one thing that was for certain was that once it came out in a few days time, it would be permanently linked to her by an indelible link that could never be erased.

As ever the fact of this indelible link scared her. The doubt inside her seemed to grow at a rate faster then her stomach. Would she do justice to her child? How would this entity kicking inside her now look at the world from her arms. As the entity left her arms and wanted to take steps into the world, where would she lead him? All the tears that she would have to wipe and all the tears that she would have to ignore - would she be able to choose these tears wisely? And what about her tears? the tears that she had already shed for this entity and the ones that it would inevitably demand - would it do justice to them?

But right now none of that mattered. All that mattered to her was the movement seperated by a tautly stretched skin. She shared everything with that movement. Her blood, her food and that desire to scream and kick her way out of its confines so that she could hold it at a distance much closer then it already was.

That day would come soon. In the meanwhile there were things to be done. Painfully she got up twisting and then pulling herself to her legs. The signal had changed and the cars were already starting to pile up. As she approached the first car, the woman behind the wheel saw her approaching and rolled up her window.

It was going to be a long day and she would be happy once it was over.

Indian Truck graffiti

2009-05-07T23:19:00.004+05:30

The people driving trucks never let go of an opportunity to convey a message. Much like adding a signature in forums.

This one says,

" may god bless the person who made the vehicle. He has made homeless, all the drivers."

I wonder why this trend of putting messages on vehicle doesn't spread to private vehicles. All we put up are these stickers that are printed by the millions.

A hand for Henna

2009-05-07T01:45:00.001+05:30

"Come Sir, sit on the stool while I apply henna to Didi. After all, it will take some time and we can't have you standing on your first visit to my humble stall.

Well it is difficult for me to remember with men sir, but for Ladies, I remember them by their hands. Sir, it is my boast that I can remember a woman's hand even ten years after I have applied Henna to it. Why only last month an Didi came here from Mumbai and I remembered her even though it was more then two years. Even Didi here has not come here after her Marriage to you. Have you taken her away from us? Ah Delhi! yes yes, like that other Didi, people come to my shop from all parts of the country.

What to say sir, about my quality of work, I can only let you be the judge. Like you see these turns that I am making here on Didi's hand now? And this one? these are so delicate that hardly ten people in the whole of Maharashtra can make it. But other then that, it is the other things. I refuse to put any chemicals in my Henna. The oil I rubbed on Didi's hand, it is a secret mixture of five oils I mixed with real Eucalyptus oil so that the Henna catches beautiful color. Though with you as husband, I am sure Didi's henna will color just as well. See how Didi is blushing, I am afraid that the henna will color before even I apply it fully.

Do you know sir, that Henna is used only on happy occasions? Any happy occasion like marriages, celebrations and festivities, henna is the ideal thing. Every part of Henna application is filled with its own Joy. Women get together with their friend and gossip with other, exchanging stories while the henna is applied one after the other. And what to say of the teasing that happens between brothers and sisters and husbands and wives after the henna is applied? Did you know that even lord Krishna would tease Radha with food while she would be unable to eat herself due to henna on her hands? While Henna dries, it cools the hand and even protects it from infections. And once it dries, it makes the woman so beautiful.

Sir if we men even try to dance, it looks like we are swatting mosquitoes, but every movement of the henna applied hand is a dance. If you take my word sir, the Henna is the best jewelery for the Indian Women hand.

There Didi, your hands are finished. Make sure you let them dry for at least thirty minutes or else they will smudge.

You can give the money to my daughter. She likes to use her hand now that we bought her a new one. It is made in Jaipur. Her last hand, i would make nice designs, but since this is new, she refuses to let me near it. That is the way children are.

Please bring Didi again sir. Here only I will be."

Tea of life - Fiction 55

2009-05-05T11:58:00.002+05:30

Why couldn't life be like drinking tea, he wondered. Relaxing , Simple and without any complications. People could be like Marie biscuit, he thought - there to add taste and substance to life. Why couldn't ... He muttered an oath as the soggy buscuit broke off and disappeared into his hot tea, splashing his fingers.
'
PS : previous fiction55 here.

iPhone Life - From Dada

2009-05-04T19:06:00.003+05:30

As I was making all sort of shameless efforts to collect sympathy after my Gall bladder operation, (Still accepting sympathies !) , I got this magazine from my elder brother in the mail. He had picked it up during his last trip to the US as he knew how smitten I was with my iPhone.

The iPhone Life is a new publication and this was the second issue that they have come out with. You can also find them on the net at their website. If you interested, you can get the soft copy of this very magazine for free at their website.

The magazine itself is excellent if you have an iPhone, and has tips for people who are just starting off with their iPhones and also some for people who have theirs for much longer. Apart from these, there are ofcourse many in-depth reviews of various App's and accessories.

For example, one of the tips was that you can now get some great blog or website such as the "Bills of Lading" on your iPhone. To do that, simply open the website in your safari web-browser. Now, zoom in to the website till you get something that you like on the screen. Then click on "+" and the "Add to home scree

n" .

Thats it and now you can view the "Bills of lading" right from your home screen at any time of the day without even going into the web-browser. :)

So thanks Dada!

The Dog Saint of Nagpur

2009-05-02T21:47:00.003+05:30

Nagpur is still a city of small bylanes and rustic bunglows. I had taken a stroll around Dharam peth area and came upon this statue in one of the bylanes. I an not sure who/what this is supposed to represent, but going by the vermellion marks on the image, evidently it is held in great affection or esteem.

There is ofcourse precedence for dog saints as this website explains, so I don't see why we in Nagpur can't have one for ourselves.

View Larger Map

Giripeth Post office - Nagpur

2009-05-02T15:15:00.002+05:30

Below post also included in my Philatelic blog.

.

As I have put up in the title bar, I have a weakness of taking my pictures with post offices or post boxes. I got an opportunity to do it yesterday and I wasn't going to pass up on it. The Giripeth post office in Nagpur has a very rustic look to it, like it might have existed in this state for more then 50 years. And it really might have had. My wife is form the locality and she claims to have seen the post office in the same state since memory serves her. That would put the age of the post office anywhere from five years to twentyfive - depending on who is telling my wifes age!

The Post box outside actually looks like it had fallen in one of the stronger monsoon winds and is now firmly propped up in place with a cement base. But nothing much seems to be holding up the building, with its beautiful tiled roof and wooden latticed front. It is really hot in Nagpur, with temperatures reaching up to 47 Deg C yesterday. But because of the construction of these older houses, it was rather pleasant inside the structure.

The well and the Post office in the background

Another neat part about the post office is that it has an serviceable well of its own! Most houses built in this region had a well if their own dug because there was no piped water, but today, you either have bore well dug or even if you dig it at a side or behind your house. This post office was evidently built during a time and place, where the well was a focal point of the house and was considered important enough to accord a place right in front.

Sadly there were no records or information available in the post office about when it was established. The post master, a helpful man in his forties did chat with me for a bit. This post office doee not really handle the home delivery of the letters for the locality. That is taken care of by the post office at Shankar nagar - A heartless three storied buliding, and the area North of the road is taken care of by the GPO.

The General Post office is an nice building from the British era and you can find it towards the north east of map down below, also I had posted about it a long time back here.

If you have been following my regular blog, you'll know that I am working on Geotagging these days and the map below is from another result of a new application called "Here I am".

I was also able to glean the information that the land is not governments and is leased from the "society" and now it seems that they want it back. Since its the government, we can at least be assured that they will take another five to ten years to vacate the building, but it will be a real tragedy to lose such a quaint post office in the middle of the city.

View Larger Map

The map with the Post office location (GPO on top right)

Mr Gorbachev - Tear down this wall

2009-04-28T14:45:00.004+05:30

Yesterday I was trying out another GPS based application on my iphone - the GPSLite from motionX. I liked the app from its description because apparently you could mark waypoints on it, simply by clicking photo's on the way, and the iphone would geotag the pictures and save it on your track. Later, when you share your track by email, or on facebook, your whole track would be visible along with the pictures of what you saw along the way.

I did take a short trip across nagpur with the app to try it out, but evidently things didn't work out as expected as the pictures just didn't come up on the map. I'll have to work a bit more on the app, because this is another application that opens new levels on the integration of our everyday devices. Also geo-tagging of pictures is something which I have been wanting to do for some time.

The above picture is somewhere near the end of the track and the writing on the wall says that the wall is about to fall and requests that no one sit below the wall. This writing has been on the wall (pun intended) for the last year or more, but the bloody wall refuses to fall. Also since it not really a park, but the side of the road, its most likely that people who do sit there are most likely going to be backpacking foreigners of destitute people, neither of whole will be able to understand what is written there. Can't we imagine a French backpacker, sitting under the wall, with his lonely planet guide trying to decipher what is written above his head.

PS : Regarding the "tear down this wall "reference, a very nice wiki entry on the subject can be found here.

GPS tracking on the iphone

2009-04-27T14:27:00.003+05:30

I have been checking out the amazing applications available on the Iphone for some time, and these days, I am trying out a couple of apps that deal with GPS and other navigation based applications.

One of the applications has been released by the people at Instamapper, whose blog can be seen here , and is called the "GPS Tracker". A very neat application that allows you to share your position or track live to the audience on your website or even on your blog. Not only that, you could even embed the map on your facebook profile.

One of the neat examples for the practical uses of this app can be found on the "Team twitchy blog of its Rickshaw run." Its their blog of an amazing journey from Shillong to Goa in a Auto Rickshaw. These guys have just completed their journey on the 25th of April and are probably getting some well deserved beers on the beaches of Goa.

I'm not planning to venture off on a cross country auto rickshaw journey anytime soon, but the possibilities unravelled are simply too delicious to not salivate over

Celebrating Shit

2009-04-20T21:33:00.004+05:30

Today was day 2 after my gall bladder was removed and the pain is much better. I got it removed because of a huge stone that had gotten itself lodged there, "allegedly" due to my unhealthy lifestyle and eating habits.

One of the things I learned from this episode was that they remove the whole Gall bladder when you ask them politely to remove the stone. Another thing was that when you celebrate the ability to shit, it makes you realize that there really are a lot more reasons to celebrate in life.

Fiction 55 - The cobbler

2009-04-15T22:50:00.006+05:30

He slipped on the shoe that the cobbler gave back.

"It will break?" She asked

"No madam, my guarantee." Said the cobbler.

"How much?"

"What you feel sir."

"No you tell."

"I can say twenty-five, but you give what you think is right."

"Okay take ten."

walking away, she said, "... should have given only five."

PS : My first attempt at Fiction 55 , inspired by Vinnie.

India smoke map

2009-04-14T18:07:00.003+05:30

A few posts back, I had mentioned a Nasa picture showing smoke from wood and dung chip fires hanging over north India. I finally got around to it and dug it up from thr NASA website. You can see the smoke stretching from Punjab to bihar in the picture.

The red dots are actual fires. These are the fires lit up in Punjab after harvest to clear the fields. An amazing picture to put things in perspective.

Ice cream at india gate

2009-04-13T14:32:00.001+05:30

Over the last couple of months, I have become a Delhi-wala. One of the
things that you just have to do to earn this distinction is to eat
icecream at the India gate at midnight.

It used to be a grand sight a couple of years ago, with the India gate
lit up at one end and the grand rashtrapati bhavan on the other end.
It's probably a good thing that they have stopped lighting up The
monuments these days, but it definitely does take away a bit of charm
from the whole exercise.

Yet, not to be denied their pound of fun, people still flock to the
ice cream wala's . It Was the begining of the long weekend so whole
families with children in tow were walking in the grass along the
rajpath.

Great fun it was till cops came along and shooed off all the icecream wala's at midnight. A most recommended activity - eating icecream at the India gate.

Chandni chowk

2009-04-12T21:36:00.002+05:30

In the lanes that join or leave chandni Chowk in Delhi, lies a whole another world. As you enter these lanes, thew buildings close in on you and mostly illegal wiring closes in a net on your head. Yet inspite of this, you can still see the original latticed work on th balconies and grills - an indication of possibly better dyas in the years gone by.

The red fort

2009-04-06T07:29:00.000+05:30

Had gone to chandni chowk at Delhi a couple of days back with Jayati .
The atmosphere out in that part of the town is amazing. Gorges
ourselves on the food out there like 'Dahi wada' and jalebi etc and
even has boondi is ladoo at a shop that's been around since the early
1700's.

Great fun it was except for the fact that
Had gone there on a very distracting work. I think I'll have to go
there again one of these days again. Atleast to take a somewhat decent
picture of the red fort.

The roadside shop

2009-04-04T13:45:00.000+05:30

This is a picture of the part of the shop where I bought the glass
thingy yesterday. There so Many amazing picture frames being sold
there for less than a dollar each, that I Couldn't resist a few days
back and picked up about half a dozen of them.
.
I have now been put under restraining orders by puja not to approach
within twenty feet of another frame selling shop.
.

Today's buy

2009-04-03T21:34:00.001+05:30

Bought this piece in a flea shop on mehrauli- Gurgaon road. They were
asking for 300 Rupees for it, but I managed to haggle it down to 100
rupees ( a little more than 2 USD) .

I'm still not sure what practical use it might be put to, but i'm sure
we'll think of something!

Nizamuddin railway station

2009-03-29T08:36:00.001+05:30

Reached Delhi pretty much on time to complete the trip.

This grafiti was painted near the car park.

Good morning

2009-03-29T07:02:00.000+05:30

The train crossed bhopal and Jhansi in the night and we Passed mathura
about 0630 hrs. The train is still about half an hour late, so I
should be reaching about eight.

As I stood in the doorway I could smell the smoke off the wood fires
and the cowdung chips. I remember seeing a NASA picture showing the
whole of the north India covered in the smoke off these fires.

Ghodadongri

2009-03-28T18:26:00.000+05:30

The train barely stopped here at the small station of ghodadongri.
.
Sitting in an airconditioned compartment distances you from whatever
is going on outside and I miss the feel of the smells and the shouts
of porters at the way stations and the hasty negotiations on the cost
of poha or a plate of samosas purchased through the Window. And I miss
the rush or wind in the face from the endless Indian plains and the
metal shutters that had to be dropped down when it rained in the
middle of the night.
.
I remember that a train journey used to be accompanied with a strong
iron smell that would permeate every cloth that you wore. I just don't
get it anymore. Must be all those years of sailing on rustbuckets that
killed my iron smell.
.

Amla station

2009-03-28T18:09:00.000+05:30

Free kick on the train

2009-03-28T15:06:00.001+05:30

I wouldn't have believed it unless I saw a picture. :).

Has anyone ever heard I this brand? Apparently it is made by the
premanchal breweies in distt. Raisen (MP)

iPhone app tryout- the writepad

2009-03-28T14:51:00.000+05:30

Travelling by train does give me enough time to waste and I was not
going to let the opportunity go to waste .

I had uploaded the writepad APP from Prasad on my iPhone and was
determined to See how it would work . I must declare right away that I
have nothing against the keyboard of the iphone . Its just that using
the finger to do the writing Seemed to be a neat alternate to have at
my fingertip :)

As Such I have used it to type this Post and must Say that I am rather
impressed with the result. Though I have taken the better Part of an
hour to get these words out , the Progress toward the end was Much
faster , with me belting out upto three small words at a time .

The hand gestures Such as for return or for space are easy to remember
and once you get used to the app, rather fun. Getting the long words
out is still a challa nge , but Somet{in g I will hopefully get
better at :]

-- This message was composed with PhatWare WritePad 1.6.

Sent from my iPhone

Train trip

2009-03-28T12:41:00.001+05:30

Off on another train trip. This time on the gondwana express (2409),
from nagpur to Delhi .

Have armed myself with a tiffin box, and collection of hemmingway and
laxman stories and some optimism.

Happy travelling!

Happy gudi padwa

2009-03-27T10:08:00.003+05:30

Happy new year to all.
.

iPhone 3.0 vs android

2009-03-27T08:40:00.001+05:30

.
A few days back Ajeet sent me the comparative table of the iPhone
firmware versions and the android.
.

I'm not sure where he got it from so can't give proper credit for it.
But 3.0 does promise to be a pretty neat jump ahead. And once the apps
around the 3.0 come out in iTunes, the iphone should be an all new
playing ground. :)

nagpur Rickshaw

2009-03-25T18:52:00.002+05:30

Thanks for the wishes on the last post. Now that I am posting from my
phone, hopefully the posting will be more regular. But the downside is
that most likely, my blog will involve non - ship related subjects,
and the posts will also be shorter.
.

Was out at the gokulpeth market in Nagpur and snapped this rickshaw
driver in thought as he waited for his next ride in the dusk.

Peekaboo

2009-03-24T12:19:00.001+05:30

I do apologize to anyone who has noticed the lack of posting on my
blog. But I am home these days , and as
You all might have guessed from the above picture, our priorities have
been undergoing some dramatic changes.

Cheers all!!

Flocculated in the Mississippi

2009-01-25T05:12:00.000+05:30

After a few pleasant days at anchor in Venezuela and an uneventful voyage up
the Caribbean, I find myself again going up my favorite river, the
Mississippi. There was a possibility that I might have been heading off home
from the vessel, and it would have been great to spend a couple of days out
in New Orleans. But as it turns out, I still have a few turns of the log to
do out here.

As we came up the South west pass, it was dusk and the banks of the
Mississippi were actually steaming. I kid you not. There is a wicked cold
front out in New Orleans and the whole day a moist southerly wind was
trickling up the shore. As it came in contact with the cold waters of the
river, I could see the vapors forming on the surface. The effect was great.
Sadly it was quite dark to take a good picture. Going up the Mississippi in
the night is such a pity. Dawns and dusks are brilliant out in the river and
hopefully I'll catch another one going out of here.

A new thing I learnt on the river today is "Flocculation". Its called
locally as "Slush", primararily I suspect because Flocculation sounds so
indecent. The US Coast pilot Volume 5, Chapter 8, describes Flocculation as,

" ... A living mass of jellied material or muck, deposited in the lower part
of the Mississippi, during low stages of the river. It consists of the
suspended material which after being carried downstream by the current,
comes into contact with the relatively still water which breaks into the
passes. This muck has been observed to be as much as 10 to 15 feet deep. It
remains where deposited untill flushed out during high water stages of the
river. Although slowed down by this muck, deep draft vessels are able to
pass through it. Accordingly and because it will be flushed out eventually,
the corps of Engineers do not consider it necessary to remove the material
during low stages."

What the US Coast pilot Volume 5, Chapter 8 does not mention is how the
master of a deep draft vessel feels when his ship is Flocculated (I do like
this word :) ). The effect is very much like running aground. Your ship, one
moment humming its way up the muddy river is suddenly straining and
shuddering as if its stuck in jelly. The speed drops from a nice 10 knots to
something like two knots. The pilot was telling me that once they managed
to move only about 300 meters in four hours through this muck. Its not a
nice thing to experience and I'm not really keen to repeat the experience.

It seems that this happens only in Amazon other then this river, so even if
I can't say I enjoyed it, at least I can say that I was Flocculated!

(Since I couldn't take any pictures of the river tonight, Have put in a
picture of the chaps greasing the crane wire back in Venezuela. I am
personally afraid of heights and now as a Captain, I feel scared when even
others go up those chairs and stages!)

--
Internal Virus Database is out-of-date.
Checked by AVG Anti-Virus.
Version: 7.0.308 / Virus Database: 266.5.7 - Release Date: 01/Mar/2005

Marlboro Economics

2009-01-16T17:48:00.001+05:30

We have been spending the last few days at anchorage off Venezuela. It is a welcome change as the crew had a lot to do in the days preceding that. The days begin beautifully, but by the time the people ashore get ready to bring us in, the wind picks up and the berthing gets cancelled. Acts of god, we call it out at sea. J

A long time back, my elder brother told me about “Burger Economics”. It seemed that with the rapid spread of Capitalism, a whole new branch of economics was coming up dealing with the pricing mechanism of McDonald’s Chicken burgers. You see, as McDonald opened new stores in new countries, it used local ingredients at local prices and then had to charge a price for its burgers which normal people would pay. Hence though it might charge 1.99 USD for a chicken burger in the US, it would charge only 0.85 cents in India and maybe actually pay the customers 0.20 cents in Rawanda! So by simply glancing at a list of prices of Big Macs around the world, we could get a reasonably good idea about the standards of living and pricing around the world. I realize over time that one should not take everything an elder brother says at face value, but you do realize the immense potential of at least one research paper on the subject.

We seamen have been around for some time. Being in the second oldest profession and constantly discovering new worlds meant that the ship masters over time have had to have an astute and forgiving grasp of the bending laws of economics. Often, captains would land up on an island where the natives had no concept of money. To trade with these people posed daunting challenges that were faced very admirably by our past compatriots. Captain Cook apparently traded a bushel of cucumbers for twelve virgins in the Samoa Islands. A trade which has regrettably declined over the years. Primararily due to lack of fresh cucumbers. I have a theory that this is due to all cucumber farmers being fathers of Virginal daughters. But we shall come to that on a later post.

What we are going to touch now is the complex trade in Cigarettes being done by captains all over the world. When the crowd of port, environment, security, safety and security inspectors board the ship, it is understood that their strenuous efforts at ensuring that their national laws are obeyed, have to be rewarded with Cartons of Cigarettes. I don’t care what the Surgeon general might have to say about them, but I think that Marlboros are an amazingly versatile tool. In the 90’s, when Liquor was allowed on ships, Cigarettes were a largely ignored tool of trade. The immigration officer was hardly going to be tempted to a dead taste in the mouth when Johnny Walker was winking at him from the racks of the bond store. It is since the 2000’s that Marlboro has truly become the global tender among authorities worldwide.

I believe a progressive shipping company should actually promulgate among the whole fleet, the average number of Marlboros dispensed out in the ports worldwide. This would give the master of the ship arriving at a port for the first time, a pretty fair idea about what faces him when the gangway touches the Jetty. For example over the last couple of years, I have had experiences ranging from a couple of cartons in the US to a personal record of 58 Cartons in Ukraine. Of course that is exempting the revered continent of Africa, which is governed by a different set of economic laws of its own. The last time I was in Togo, the agent offered to sell back to me my own cartons of Marlboros for 10 USD so that I could again give it back to him, a second time. The economics for this are a bit tedious and disinterested parties might want to skip the next paragraph.

You see, I had purchased these particular bunch of Marlboro reds, from an unscrupulous (are there any other kind) ship chandler in Panama for 15.75 USD, per carton. Thus a crate of 50 Cartons, cost me 787.5 USD. Now, I need to give this agent a 100 Cartons. So if I give him 50 Cartons at 15.75 USD per carton, then buy them back at 10 USD per carton, I am spending only 500 USD for the second crate of Marlboros. So when I give him back this second crate (which is actually the first crate) I am actually saving the company 287.5 USD. Plus of course, since the first crate (which is also the second crate) never left the ship, it means that agent graciously offers to exempt us the transportation and port dues for supplying the second crate of Marlboro’s (which is also the first crate). Of course I could have offered to buy back the crate of 50 Marlboro’s back a second time and saved us a further 287.5 USD, but under that company regulations, I couldn’t pick up bonded stores from any unscrupulous supplier other then their approved list of unscrupulous suppliers.

Usually the rules of polite Marlboro transaction dictate that one Marlboro carton be given to each person boarding. This law sometimes has to be stretched into the probability sector. Let me give an example. When we arrived at this port, the weather was a bit choppy, so the port authorities send across the Agent to take care of the formalities. Now I am informed that if the weather had been all right, it is probable that five officers would have boarded. So that makes five cartons for those fine gentlemen. Plus it is probable that if the five authorities had boarded, the agent would have probably helped me out with the documentation, so that is a sixth carton for the agent. Now there was a crew change scheduled for this port. So that would entail intervention from the boss of the Authority Since he’s the boss, he of course needs to be given two cartons.

I am currently doing my Extra masters and at the end of it, I am required to submit a research paper dealing with pertinent maritime topics. I think the theories of Marlboro economics might have just enough juice to squeeze out one research paper.

On a parting note, I am often struck by an image of a hot and humid room with the windows open and a fan swriling overhead in a futile gesture. There are six men sitting around a table. All of them smoking, with the person at the head of the table smoking two cigarettes – because he’s the boss.

The Singapore Smiley

2009-01-12T03:04:00.000+05:30

Location : Venezuela

I have been working for some time of Singapore flagged vessels, but I was
struck by it for the first time today. Is there any one else here who thinks
that the Singapore flag looks like a smiley of an alien with five eyes?

Say now that I am on that thought process, wouldn't the American flag look like a humorless multi-eyed alien? :)

In the background is the small town of Aransas pass on the Corpus Christi
Ship Channel.

2009-01-10T07:36:00.000+05:30

After a duration of many years I have resumed making weather reports out at
sea. We installed the "AMVER SEAS" software on new years and though we're
not catching every synoptic hour, we do manage to send a couple of reports
every day.

For people not in the know, AMVER stands for "Automated - Mutual VEssel
Rescue system" a voluntary ship reporting system operated by the USCG.

During my last contract in the US gulf, as we were tossed around by Gustav,
Hannah and Ike I developed an abiding respect for the USCG and the NOAA. The
NOAA has an amazing website where we could get practically all the info that
I could ever need out at sea. It really is a pity that I don't have accesses
to the net this trip. But anyway, end of last year, we were contact by the
committed people at NOAA and they sent across the software along with a
couple of Hygrometers. The software is easy to use and using it, we can send
both AMVER position reports and NOAA weather reports. For people at sea who
don't have it, you can get it by downloading it from the NOAA website, or by
sending your next port details to the NOAA.

I had stopped sending weather reports because it was a pain to figure out
how many oktas of Cb clouds were between the height range of 800 to 1200
meters. And if they had been increasing or decreasing over the last
specified time interval. Though I might never seem to have much to do, I
always did feel like I had better things lined up then looking for Cb
clouds. The SEAS software rather makes it all easy by giving me 10 pictures
to choose from. For some reason, I always seem to be choosing the same
pictures for the last many days. I think I'm being followed by some clouds.

The second reason I had stopped weather reporting was simply because I
didn't think thy were relevant. I mean, who is going to look at data sent by
someone on a ship when you have weather radars, satellites and buoys giving
you live information. It simply seemed a colossal waste of time. But then it
does seem important to those good fellows at NOAA, so who am I to argue. I
just try to get these reports to them in good time. Also, I'm paying off
those two hygrometers one weather report at a time.

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X-mas, the new year and the year ahead

2009-01-09T16:53:00.000+05:30

Location : The Caribbean

If you have ever heard me complaining of how busy I've been, all that pales into insignificance as compared to how busy I've been this last fortnight. I kid you not. The last sane day we had was the 30th of Dec, when we wished the best of new year to the Corpus Christi Pilots, Speaking of Pilots, A couple of posts back one of the Houston pilots had dropped a kind comment. He has a great flikr stream, which you really must see. I think I have put a link to his stream on the left of this blog, but as I'm not on the internet, I can't be too sure.

Picture above is the San Jacinto park on the Houston Ship Channel. The warship moored here is the USS Texas, that has been converted into a Museum. On the way out of Houston, the fog cam down so bad that I couldn't see the bridge of that ship. It was one spooky ride out of the city and I am really impressed with the guys who take ships like ours every day up an down what water body.

Another reason I'm rather happy with Houston pilots is because of Christmas. I'm not sure if they had anything to be with the birth of Christ, but they sure did give away gifts on the occasion. We spent the Christmas at Houston, and the kind people from the Seaman's centre came over with gifts for the ships crew and brought along with them a lot of cheer that was sorely needed that day. Also as we were leaving, the Houston pilots gave us some neat pens that actually glow when you click them. Very neat if you have to write something on bridge at night. Not only do you not have to look for a torch, but it assures that every one will stop doing anything on bridge and start looking at you. Of course it also means that while writing you have to shout at people to steer the ship, keep lookout, plot the positions etc, but a really cool gizmo.

So thank you all, and a very sincere wish to you all for a safe and happy year ahead.

Happy Birthday Dada

2009-01-09T16:14:00.000+05:30

A few days ago my brother surprised me by saying that he actually checks out
this blog sometimes. It was by all accounts a big surprise. :)

So just incase you do drop by here, A very happy birthday.

Cheers!

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The prognosis

2008-12-27T15:40:00.000+05:30

The last few days haven't been good to us. Apart from the way things have
turned out on the ship, the weather's been doing its bit keeping us in a
gloomy mood. Todays weather report shows another cold front (the curved
lines with spikes) swooping down on the Texas coast, bringing with it,
another spell of fog, cold, showers and squally weather.

I guess the only thing to do is to batten down the hatches, turn into the
wind and ride out the winds.

Seabulk energy at Gaveston anchorage

2008-12-20T18:16:00.000+05:30

Things are looking up today. The sun has come out and the fog seems to be dissipating. I can now actually see the mast and funnel of “Seabulk Energy” a mile off as the sun works on this fog from the top down. As I came down from the bridge, the pilots were opening up the Houston Ship channel and taking in the ships in.

I would be lying if I said that we weren’t enjoying the anchorage. But the problem with anchorages is that you can’t make fresh water and your provisions start running out. So it will be great if things start moving up in the channel and we can get some fresh veggies on our plates.

Cold, foggy and spanky in Houston !!

2008-12-19T18:37:00.000+05:30

As might have been guessed, I am back on the ship and back in the same part
of the world, the US gulf. It's a part of the world that I am beginning to
like. The US gulf is a rather dull place. And dull things are something that
I am beginning to relish these days as a Captain. I go to ports I've been
to, I meet pilots I've met, I dock at berths I've docked at and even the CBP
(Customs and border patrol) personnel have begun to recognize me (heaven
forbid!).

So all in all it was a rude surprise when I came in to Galveston fairway
anchorage and met a wall of fog that everything more then 20 meters into
blankness. Fog is something god made strictly so that like minded people
could frolic in it over sloping hills and unending meadows. It was not made
to roll over into the sea and terrify you with fog horns blaring out at you
from all seeming directions. And it most certainly was not meant to be
rolling out over the US Gulf. Everyone seemed to be as disoriented as this
supply boat by the name of "Spanky" was going up and down the anchorage till
panicked duty officers would call out to it and warn of impending
collisions. Undetered, Sapnky would simply alter her course and go headlong
into the next ship that came up. Keeping as large an discance as I could
from that fellow and another madcap fishing vessel called Sea Angle, I
dropped anchor as early as I legally could.

The local weather reports are actually forcasting a worse cold front coming
down and freezing water pipes around the Houston greater area.

I do not like cold. I don't like fog and I don't think I like Spanky much
either.

Party time

2008-10-16T09:32:00.003+05:30

Its an occasion for celebration and joy. I have signed off from my ship and its back to home for me. Years back, when contracts were longer and booze available, it would have been a pretty good excuse for a party like the above. Typically the mate would raise the topic of a farewell get-together with the old man over breakfast and instructions would be given to the catering department to get things ready. The crew would then meet in orderly groups at the pre-assigned time and talk urbanely about wide ranging pertinent topics such as the changing cup sizes of Pamela Anderson. The "get-together", would then steadily go downhill till the old man left for his cabin, after which people would be often be spotted in poses like the above, gyrating to lyrics of some pubescent girl , claiming to be a "Barbie Girl". This would go on till enough people were escorted to their cabins drunk, or the scene looked too gay for even seamen like us!

I'm not sure if I'm actually sad that these parties don't happen any longer. Now that I'm the old man, I realize that the poor sod might have been going off to his cabin, probably to offer a long prayer and prop himself at the porthole to keep a lookout for the rest of the night.

What I feet sad about is that I no longer have a twinge of sadness leaving behind friends with whom I have shared my life with so intensely for such long months. Instead there is only a sense of relief that the contract went off safely and without incidents / detentions / observations / accidents. What I feel sad is that the chap seeing me off at the Gangway isn't really thinking of me as he says his byes, but is probably offering a prayer that his contract goes off the same way.

Two balls and a diamond in between

2008-10-09T03:45:00.000+05:30

We mariners have a nasty reputation of being perverts. Now we of coures have worked hard at deserving it so its not be be thrown away lightly. Which is why we keep hanging our balls out for all to see. Hanging from the halyards we see something called very imaginatively as "shapes".

These shapes are used as required by the collision regulations to indicate that the vessel is "Restricted in her ability to Manouver" or "RAM". As I have been spending most of my evenings in the US gulf doing lightering operations. As a master, it feels inherently bad to wear these shapes on my halyards, because it means that I can't take my ships anyway I want to. Adn when your 200 meters plus vessel is manouvering at distances of 20 meters from a 300 meters long ship, the last this you want to do is go any closer. I find the manouvering for this fascinating because the dynamics of working such large vessels is amazing to watch unfold. Maybe we'll have beer one day and I'll explain the hydrodynamics on paper napkins.

In the meanwhile, observe the balls.

Sunset on the ship

2008-10-08T17:20:00.004+05:30

Now that its time to go back home, US Gulf seems to be saying goodbyes, by offering me stunning views. As I was doing my last lightering operation, we had a stunning display of colors on the horizon spread over the vista of smouldering oil rigs and installations.

And a great good bye surprise - I shall be going up the beautiful Mississippi forone last time and signing off at New orleans. I haven't been to that city in a few years, so it'll be good to walk those streets.

Last of the bad guys - Marco

2008-10-07T16:47:00.000+05:30

Tropical depression 13, has been thought worthy of a name and has been upgraded to Tropical storm "Marco ". Its been a tough year for the people of this part of the world, and even caused a few ulcers and sleepless nights to me and my pretty ship.

After being banged around by both Gustav and Ike, I am glad that the season is drawing to a close and hopefully Marco will be the last of the bad guys we see this year.

I should anyway be out of this area and back home, but I hope you all stay safe here.

Birds on a wire

2008-10-07T09:15:00.000+05:30

A short post today. The picture above was taken at Pascagoula. Sights like these are quite common, but they always remind me of home where you'd see birds sitting on an electirc wire.

Included in the picuture from the bottom to top, is our ships crane, with the Markings SWL 15T, which refers to the safe works load, a smaller fendering davit, light post air pipes and bollards.

The Dredger - Glenn Edwards

2008-10-04T18:15:00.004+05:30

The type of support vessels that come next in line to the Tugs in my "List if favotrite vessels" are the Dredgers. Pictured above is the Dredger Glenn Edwards, pictured above at the mouth of the Pascagouls Ship Channel in the Mississippi state. The Glenn Edwards was waiting for us to pass so that they could continue with their dredging works.

Glenn Edwards is a relatively new ship, floated in 2006 near here in Mobile Alabama. You can see a very informative article about it here at the workboat.com website. In it we are told of the extremely high standards of specifications that the vessel is built to.

The method of operation of dredgers like the Glenn Edwards are simple in principle. The boom that you see on the sides lower to the sea bed and act like a gaint Vaccume Cleaner, sucking in all manners of mud, small rocks and debries. These are deposited in the middle of the ship in their hold, from where the water is simply drained out. The dredger then makes its way to the dumping ground, where the bottom of the hold simply opens out, letting the whole of the load simply drop down.

Because the US coast is blessed with deep rivers and waterways, it is hard to spot too many of these vessels around here, but at the mouth of the Mississippi and in the channels of the US Gulf coast, these chaps keep digging away to allow people like us transit without too much heartburn.