The Cloudscape

The ever evolving clouds in the sky have fascinated me since my early days. Watching clouds change shapes can be very absorbing on a lazy winter afternoon. It’s like watching Mother Nature’s Kaleidoscope. The abstracts sometimes amazingly take form of things which are very close to living and nonliving forms in real life.
During earlier part of my sea life, we had to watch them closely and make observations, to send weather reports from sea when the satellites were still in their infancy. It was then I learned the various types, like the cumulus (my favorite) which takes its name from the cauliflower. These are the cauliflower shaped clouds that fill the sky often and can be of a large vertical extent. Then there are the cirrus which resemble the cotton flakes and the earlier generation of seamen used the direction they aligned themselves to tell the centre of a storm. The stratus, which as the name indicates, are the layer type clouds and can be of the dark threatening variety that end up giving heavy downpour. These basic types are categorized further by their height above the earth’s surface. The Cirrostratus are the higher altitude stratus whereas the Altostratus are the medium altitude stratus.
At sea, as a first mate and incharge of getting daily maintenance done on board, I used to get the vessel alter course just to avoid getting drenched under a passing shower, especially if some painting job on deck was planned for the day.

Once on a cloudy day, to my query on picking him up from school, as to what he was doing in the class, my son responded, “I was watching clouds”. Like father like son, I thought. I couldn’t identify more with my son, at that point in time.
I was reading one of my reader’s blogs when the lady in one of her posts described having gone up to the mountain top and wished she could jump to touch the clouds. What an idea! On a trip to Mussourie, a neighborhood tourist attracting hill, I once overheard a local, that clouds often float through their living room. Hey, ain’t that romantic? The family having an after lunch chat and a cloud appears through an open window making things foggy for a few moments. I bet it is.

Humor 360
One day, while in the dry dock at Piraeus, Greece, the local workshop supervisor asked the British Chief engineer to get the bunker tank cleaned for some repairs in the adjacent compartment. Due to heavy work schedule of the Chief , it got overlooked.
The Supervisor when told by his people that the job by the ship staff was not started till late afternoon, came fuming on the ship.
He went straight to Chief Engineer’s cabin and asked “Chief, Do you understand English?”
This from a man who spoke a heavily accented form and requiring much grammatical help to a person whose forefathers gave the world the language.

It is from the time when the cell phones had just become popular and people hadn’t got quite used to the new way of getting call, anyplace. A husband gets a call, from his wife, while shopping at a supermarket. His first response, “How did you know I was here”?

I had been to sea for a couple of months and am back home for a brief holiday. Things haven’t been going quite as planned, I am not incharge of the vessel yet but accepting what comes naturally has been a direction He has been giving me in these recent years. And I am enjoying every bit of that direction. The acceptance preempts any disappointment within.

Today's picture is from the neighborhood of my mother's home.

The Weaver and The Weave

The Humble Path

Humility, a term widely used but hardly followed. As the years go by the term is getting further and further away from its true meaning.
Here, I am not referring to the kind shown by the celebrities in their interviews or in the award ceremonies or the one shown by us in our day to day conversations, when we don’t mean what we are saying. We do it so as to be politically correct and it doesn’t require much effort.
True humility can not be achieved by our efforts alone, however hard we may try. One needs His help and to be eligible for that one got to be the member of the “Total Surrender” club.
A humble person, like other virtuous person doesn’t have to carry a placard about how humble he is but it shows in the way he goes about living his life. As you go further in the path of life, holding His finger, like a child holding his father’s when he has just begun to walk, He tells you stuff that only He can tell. The trouble begins when you let go of the finger and think you are big enough to take a walk by yourself. Though you may succeed on a scale in which the world measures success, but deep within, there is always an emptiness which no amount of money can fill. One may be the richest person on the planet but he is vulnerable and can be easily shaken by other people’s remarks. His wealth doesn’t help him to absorb that shock.
The journey to humility can be started at any point in time, though it’s hard to be humble when you are young and not so experienced with the ways of life, which are harsh but just.
As I said the first step to living a life worth living would be to surrender to Him, unconditionally and then make a conscious effort to achieve your goal. A daily discussion with self at the wrapping up part of the day, can be very useful in assessing what all went wrong during the day, when you weren’t humble enough or when the ego in you beat you in your resolve.
There is so much joy in being humble which the ego in us can never even imagine, is possible. Always place others, including inanimate objects, before you and the humility will start manifesting itself, like the hint of the sapling out of the Mother Earth of a seed sown.
These hints by no means are easy to follow nor the results achieved in one lifetime. These are things we must sincerely strive for, for our own good. The sensual pleasures last no more than a few moments but these pleasures out of humility are eternal and count in improving the quality of life, which has nothing to do with materialism.
I am on the path now. I am, by no means, a big achiever but because of “Total Surrender”, I at least see where I have to go. I am trying and it’s such a beautiful journey.
Here in Doon the “Cuckoo Fest” has begun and you can hear them singing all day long. The butterflies are fluttering, the dragonflies are jetting and Mother Earth has changed to her garb of green during this season of rains.







Today I bring you a recent sundown as viewed from our home.

Mother Nature's Canvas

My First Voyage

After completing my training at T. S. Rajendra at Mumbai (formerly known as Bombay), I joined as an apprentice in Shipping Corporation of India in the winter of 1982. I remember there were four of us from that class of '82, who had joined M.V. Kalidas, berthed at Indira Docks in Mumbai. It was around nine in the evening. We were asked to go on deck the moment we boarded, so as to get the hang of things. It was a container vessel. None of us had a clue regarding the nature of operations being carried out. We were complete stangers in these new surroundings. It was quite a while before we were allowed into our cabins.
The next day we were to set sail for the ocean. After completion of loading, we secured the vessel for sea, and cast off to start my maiden voyage. Aquaba, Jordan was destined to be my first foreign port. For the first few days I could barely make out if she was moving because of "sea like mirror" conditions. Gradually, though vibrations from the main engines made me aware of her making headway.
This vessel was at that time a "cadet ship" with only a few old seamen in the deck side. There were fourteen of us cadets who did everything that is required of a seaman on board. It was a great learning experience. We made our usual newbie mistakes and the seniors had all the fun.
From Aquaba, it was Baltimore, my first port in the US of A. On the way we faced a severe storm in the Atlantic which gave us the first first hand experience of turbulance at sea. It was amusing at times to see everything moving uncontrollably from one side to the other as the vessel rolled. Some boys got sick. The working conditions became tough especially with huge waves pounding the main deck. We had to occasionally go and check the securing arrangement of containers lest they get washed away with the waves. It was pretty scary to be on deck with the angry ocean showing no signs of mercy. It was exciting at the same time, as such things are, at that age. Finally, we cleared the storm and berthed at Baltimore. It was the breathtaking Great lakes, with US on one side and Canada on the other, next in our voyage. We went right up to Duluth, Minnesota. It was great transiting the lakes even though we had to work round the clock while passing the locks.
That was my first ocean voyage and today many years later, I would soon be sailing another first as the person in command. A long voyage, I guess for the boy of eighteen then who will be meeting more boys of eighteen now, on their first voyage. I haven’t been sailing as much as I should have so as to be with the family, especially during the growing up years of our son. Now that he is a big boy, I guess I would be going to sea more often then I had been lately.
I was in Delhi late last month to fix my next employment. I would be leaving soon for my next assignment. Though it is going to be pretty hectic as a first time Captain, I am sure I would get some time to do a post once in a while.
The weather had been freaky this time here with “The Monsoons” arriving way too early and May being the new July this year.

On one of my brisk walking sessions while in Delhi, along the perimeter of a natural lake, I found this lucky bird in her front yard enjoying the sundown.

The Lake View Nest

Memories from Childhood

The memories of childhood linger on with us however far we have traveled on the path of life. It appears as if everything happened just yesterday.
As a young kid I used to love the rainy season, which we call ‘The Monsoons”. I still love the rains. It is the time when the frogs from the neighborhood pond, used to have a field day. I used to love the croaking sound, in the dark nights while slowly sliding into the realms of sleep. It used to be a kind of lullaby, I loved. The ponds have eversince disappeared and it is only occasionally that one hears the croaking.
Another thing about the monsoons was the paper boats. I was fascinated by the way it traveled on the stream of water flowing after a heavy shower. The view was almost like real, only downscaled.
A glimpse of responsibility at age, ummm 10, I think. On a day when we were let off from school way too early from the regular timing, I , my younger brother and the still younger sister who usually were picked up, didn’t know what to do. It was when the school had almost a deserted look that I decided that we could walk our way home, though I had never done it before. I clearly remember, having our sister in between, holding hands, the three of us making headway in the adult world. Though we got picked up midway, I am still proud to have a go, my first, I guess, as the big brother then.
The weekly watering of our garden and vegetable patch by canal water in our childhood home was something I used to look forward to. It used to be so much fun directing the water from one place in the compound to the other. The sight of the water running over parched land and quenching the thirst of mother earth was just awesome. I used to be fascinated with all the twigs and assorted flotsam being carried with the stream and often wondered from where it must have traveled to our land. Walking over the morning dew in our large front lawn was another of my favorites, leaving the marks of my footsteps which would soon disappear as the dew would turn into vapor as the sun would progress on its daily path.
Cycling to and from school, too is a part of my fond memories. It used to take us about twenty minutes from home. The path was along a canal and through the compound of, one of its kind, Forest Research Institute. The winters used to be very chilly. The road to school was full of slopes in stretches, generally favoring us while on our way to school and against us when coming back. We used to ride our bicycles till we were in the final year. While going to school, it used to be mostly solitary and introspective, with meeting friends on the way, coming back was a whole lot of fun with everyone together and in an animated mood.

Life goes on, memories keep following.

The spectacular FRI at Dehradun.

Forest Research Institue

Humor 360 - Part 2

The grin that follows, the funny side of life, is always a welcome break from the supposedly serious matters which we pursue on a daily basis.
I remember a time when I was training on board T.S. Rajendra at Mumbai. An instructor had this peculiar habit of talking in plurals, so much so that we started calling him Mr. Sharma(s). He was great in his subject which was seamanship but not so much in English. One night some boys played a prank and hid bathroom slippers of a few cadets.
When it was reported to the duty instructor which happened to be Mr. Sharma(s), he mustered everyone, close to midnight and started his speech.
"It has been reported that some cadets have lost their left pairs of slippers and some have lost their right pairs. I request you to return both the pairs."
Everyone was grinning under their breath.
Once, three persons, a chemical engineer, a mechanical engineer and a Microsoft engineer were traveling together when their car broke down.
The chemical engineer suggested may be it is the impurities in the gasoline that has caused the problem. The mechanical engineer suspected overheating of the engine.
The Microsoft (Windows) engineer didn’t have a clue. He suggested, “Why don’t we close all Windows and open them back and may be it will work”.
Like it happens in the Windows OS.
A Dennis the menace cartoon quip I read lately, in which Dennis asks his mother aboard a jet. “Would it be alright to go to the bathroom while we are flying over the cities?”
Heard at the home of a Supreme Court judge.
The wife was scolding her husband over some petty matter. “Do you have any brains?”
The man who spent his whole life deciding the fate of many a lives was being questioned about his abilities at his own backyard.
A miser in an Indian small town, decided to fly kite on occasion of a festival. He went to the rooftop of his two storied house and while he was busy concentrating on the kite his feet slipped off the roof and he started falling down.
The miser that he was, during his free fall, while passing in front of the kitchen window, shouted to his wife, who was preparing the afternoon meal, not to make food for him as he would not need it now.
He was worried about unnecessary expenditure rather than his life even in these last moments.







Todays pick is the vegetable flowers.

The Onion Flowers