Fly Away My Little Birdie

As I see my little darling being packed off -my little baby, a woman
As she dances herself into her happiness - her beau
As her life takes another turn - her journey
My heart cries out to her- our separation
Cries out of happiness - their togetherness
Cries out of a happy pain - tears
And I dance her away into her happiness - my dream

My little baby, A Woman
Her Beau
Her Journey
Our Separation
Their Togetherness
Tears
My Dream

A want to have been able to spend more time with her

Wonder how I'd be able to choose my colors without her nod or her nay;
The trial rooms will seem alien to me and the mirrors willl not understand my language;
Our room will keep wondering where is my other half;
My sight will search for her all over...

Will she ever come back as the same naughty girl who will make me search her up and down all around the house, until I will finally find her waiting for me in my own almirah replete with a bhaoooo and then hugs and kisses

Will I ever get a chance to keep little notes and a chocolate or two in her almirah

Will I ever open the gate for her at 12 in the night? just like each time her set of keys was forgotten at home?

As my vision blurs with pain streaming down my cheek

I also wonder who would I hug, my silent partner
Who will understand yet feign no understanding, my baby sister
Who will trudge up to me saying di, coffee? because i love coffe while she does not take a sip even
Who will pull to a stop in front of the vendor and say di, icecream? oh how she guages my urge

Who will pull out all the stops by standing up for me whenever, wherever

Who will balance it all...how on god's patch of this earth will the space ever fill up?
How in my heart will this space ever fill up

Now that you are taking her away, do treasure her the way I do, you will won't you?

Fly away my little birdie with your beau
Let the nest you build strengthen, protect, blossom and chirp with a forever togetherness

He Came; We Met; He Conquered...

He came
flashed

He spoke
unabashed

He felt
Pure

Love
Let it endure

We met
Melody

We;Our Souls
We; Our Thoughts
We; Our Hearts
We; Our Tastes
We; Our Sight
We; Us

He Conquered....................

Whale of a time!! Off to Singapore - II

2nd mar 2005 (0414hrs Indonesia Time)

1st mar 2005 (lost count of IST!)

I planned to wake up early in the morning today, but slept very late last night due to the rains. So when I did get up in the morning (very late :-!) the clock had been put forward by an hour already. and it was very smoky.

We are passing the Sumatra region...Sumatra is very hot and dry which leads to lot of forest fires. The air smelt of wood smoke in the morning and the visibility was very poor. have been seeing fishing boats throughout the day today. What a contrast to the rains last night. It was just awesome...with nothing but water around you...Force 6 wind blowing in your face...raindrops were falling on my head...lalalala :-)

Also this was one of the more affected areas due to the earthquake and tsunami...Crew here says that they saw bodies floating all over during that voyage of theirs. PONL Colombo had just sailed from Colombo when tsunami had started, but the impact of tsunami is least felt by those in the middle of the sea than those close to the shores.

In fact also got to know that the vessel I am on actually killed a whale on one of its voyages. The whale got stuck in Bulbao's Bow. The crew could not understand why her speed was not as it should be. They checked out all over the place until, they realised that there was something stuck at the bow!! They tried to free the poor creature, but couldn't manage in time enough. These are indeed hazards of misusing nature in nature's context.

Coming to food :-)

vegetarian food? well the cook here is sweet and tries to make separate veg food, but I end up having soups, brown bread, salads, nutella ummmm...fruit icecreams, mayonnaise, thousand island dressing over everything, wine...if you notice..hehehehe...all things fatty save the wine :-P

Other than that you only have lots of beef, ham, sausages, fish etc etc etc....

Anyhow...i cooked in the galley today! They only had hamburger for lunch, so me went ahead and told them that i wanna make aloo ki tikki to make veg hamburger ;-)

Those people had no idea what a veg hamburger is :-o!!!

Preparing aloo ki tikki in the galley

Am sure have gained atleast 2 kilos here with cheese/mayonnaise/nutella over everything/icecreams with less ice more cream..or so it seems after i have had my fill ;-)

It 0930 pm Malaysian time. We are nearing Port Kelang now. the coast is glittering with lights all over...gotta go up on the bridge as do not want to miss anything.

In about half an hour, the pilot will berth the vessel. Am excited about the operations that take place right from the time the pilot comes on board till the time of berthing, so for now am off

Bye and take care

Lots of love

Me!

Ahoy PONL Colombo!! Off to Singapore - I

1st mar 2005 (01:37 hrs IST)

1st mar 2005 (03:57 hrs Somewhere in the middle of Indian Ocean Time!)

Port of Singapore Authority

Boy oh Boy!

35 berths!!

Dear Mummy,

Hope you had a great birthday. heard that Nunu had baked a delicious cake for you, which I missed on :-(. But it was lovely to have been able to wish you over phone from the middle of Indian Ocean. Its been really great fun and miss you all.

I am writing this from on the ship "PONL Colombo". To just give you a brief on what's it been like this past week:

Left Kolkata on the 24th. Reached Mumbai and was there till 25th. Flew for Colombo at 0345 hrs (what an ungodly hour! why can't airlines have better flying hours!). Reached Colombo at 0645 hrs Colombo is 20 min ahead of us. (Just to give you an idea of how time literally flies :-) we have already put forward our watches twice, by one hour each, since we sailed! And now we are 2 hours 20 min ahead of IST)

My colleague, Garima, who is the other management trainee on board with me, reached Colombo later than I did. We had just about 2 hours to go around Colombo. So we decided to board a local bus and went out for Sri Lankan supper/dinner at a local restaurant- Crescat. Enjoyed the meal and the music. Was extremely spicy!!

From the time we started sailing to now, its been 3 days on board the ship. She is 23 years old but has been sailing pretty good except for a hitch here and a hitch there.. (pssst...we were adrift for an hour in the middle of nowhere because of engine problems!!!) But overall has been a smoooth and reeeeally eggciting sailing...

Peek preview ??

dolphins...flying fish...
beautiful sunsets... amazing early mornings...

clear night skies...full of innumerable stars....absolutely clear..feels like heaven at times...milky way streaking across the sky...bright and white as milk, so appropriately named..

can stand on the sides forever, feeling the wind in my face...

looking at l'il white horses being formed out of small frothy waves...

see her cutting clean and clear through the waters...smoooooooth
Swanky and swift passenger liners...

Huge and Slow tankers...

Just like us cargo ships...and car carriers..

and yesss a YATCH right in the middle of the sea some 100s of nautical miles away from land!!

Bridge watch, plotting positions, setting course, using the sextant to find your latitudinal position, the gyrometer to get the Azimuth and even steering the ship :-)...
Engine room (hot and sweaty!), to the fore and the aft, portside and starboard side,

some 70 feet above water level on the bridge....and 15 feet below water level next to Ballast tanks and steering gear, propellers...

even sewage tanks eeeyuck!

logging reefers (refrigerated containers-they bring us a lot of money),under the deck, over the deck, hatch covers,
repair works...lot more.

Dutch officers ;-) and Indonesian crew
Baywatch :-P Bar, movies, free drinks and farewell parties...phew!

Using Gyrometer for measuring Azimuth

Johan-My Dutch Crush

But obviously not as swanky as cruises, after all this is a container cargo ship. . not a joyride aboard..but its fun to be right in the middle of nowhere for so many days (though can't imagine how the sailors manage for so many days like this. Must be quite boring if the trip is extended or a more frequented one)

Will berth at our first port of call after sailing from Colombo- Port Kelang, 3rd mar 0000hrs and reach Singapore on 4th 0100 hrs.

At Sea Me!

*********************************************************************************

Don't have much to do

My second day in the new company
And don't have much to do
They say, "Its the honeymoon period baby,
Enjoy while it lasts till there is not much ado!"

Standing at the head of a new career
Yet don't have much to do
Its nice but just too quiet around here
Starting afresh anew

At times I wonder why this peace
As don't have much to do
Wonder when this quiet will cease
I want to be busy too!

Seems like the calm before the storm
Still don't have much to do
They say it is a much welcome norm
Later you won't have time as you report to all those who's who!!

On second thoughts this break is welcome
Am glad don't have much to do
I can blog right now while all is mum
Later may not have time to type a word or two!!

So here I am completing my drafts
And posting them while this quiet lasts
With so many thoughts coming my way
Wonder if I can still say
Don't have much to do!!!

hehehe! an empty mind is a kid's workshop :)
I enjoyed writing this seeming nonsense and thanks for bearing it!!