Maiden Voyage

Standing on the bridge wings in the wee hours of the morning, moon a beautiful bright crescent in the inky blue sky looming over my head with its one million trillion stars, the sound of the ocean beating against the big blue ship. Few things would compare to the peace around.

My days of sailing began with my marriage, an experience I shall cherish till the end.

I was 4 months heavy with baby when I was called to join my husband in a port called Ras-al-khaimah. I had no idea where the place was, except that I had to embark to Dubai. Then, I remembered, amidst all the fanfare of our marriage and our courting days, even in the dozens of letters we wrote each other i'd missed to ask about how a ship would be. My dreams were filled with ships from Alistair maclean novels, somehow always dark and dingy, slippery alleyways, would I have to climb up ropes? the thought was a bit scary so I always pushed it into the back of my head deciding to resolve it when the situation arose.

Thus arrived the day I was to fly, no dark dingy ships or fear of flying or the misgivings of a first time expecting mom would dim my happiness. I was to meet my love very soon.

I had a whole day to while away in Dubai before we drove down to Ras al khaimah in the evening.

All I could do was stay in my hotel room and stare at the clock. It was the first time I was outside the country and the whole process seemed to engulf my senses. Come evening and iI was taken to a huge car, considering there were only ambis, padminis and marutis in India those days. The driver is a young guy from Bangladesh , he plays romantic songs on the radio and my head starts ringing with warning sirens. Gosh, it was just him and me and the long lonely barren stretch of road with brown hills on the sides, he could just throw me away someplace and not a soul would know. Very soon he pulled into a town and returned with a cup of hot steaming tea which I held on to till it got cold and useless to throw on his face in case he tried something funny.

By the time we got to ras al khaiamh it was a good 3+ hours and we were on talking terms. Suddenly I had a friend in this dry arid land of strangers. Time was somewhere past midnight as we waited at the jetty for the boat that would take me to mid-sea where I would be joining my husband on-board his ship. They seated me next to the boat capt. who was a Phillipino singing away to glory. The sea was a long stretch of silver and I felt myself drawn to its beauty. Then I begin to see this huge ship rocking slowly to the gentle sways of the silver waters. As we got closer and touched base my happiness knew no bounds to see that I would be walking up steps and not hanging by ropes and there above the gangway on the topmost step was the face most dear to me.