Its been an year at the new 'workplace'. I can very confidently say that now i have transformed in to a true landlubber. The history of a sea-life has become what i just said, "history". The transition has been fast, breakneck at times, but it has been largely the way i had wanted.
During the transition, i encountered numerous people and their varying degrees of dismissive attitudes:
"OMG!!! you are going to quit sea!!!! what will you do? Can you do anything else" (As if i was destined to be a sailor from the womb itself)
"You wont be able to do it, it is not as easy as it sounds!" (As if they were paying me to sit on my a** on the ship)
"Please dont quit sea, you have responsibilities!!!" (My God! as if they would have welcomed my quitting if i was in a parallel universe)
...and so on and so forth
Had i heard or paid heed to any/all of them, i may have still been sailing and thinking about why i am doing what i am doing? i realized on the first sail itself that i need my support group of friends and family within easy reach. Its not convenient when you have to pay $24 for a 20 min phone-call through satellite in which there's a voice delay of a few seconds.
Internet, what's that?? Till a few years ago it was considered an unnecessary luxury and additional cost to have a VSAT system on board. The companies have only now extended the facility on board and that is also not all pervasive, so i needed to be somewhere stable. A place from where i could connect easily, network, call, drive, meet, greet, play, laugh and all that with all those around me.
I wanted a routine. Routine is boring but then it is better than the unknown alarm waking you up every night and being on your toes throughout. Some are wired that way, i was not.
Yes, the life has become more routine now. I wake up, eat, go to office, slog the day in a chair, the waistline has moved north by a couple of inches, i come back home, watch tv, sleep...but there is the assurance that i am there for those who need me and vice versa.
Living/settling in a new city is not easy, that has become the latest challenge, life has become different but i have successfully passed an year of it.
The challenges are still there and would always be till the last day, only their classification has changed.
The 'me' is still the same as i was before but happy.
Happy to have proved my detractors wrong.
Happy to have been able to achieve what i have.
Happy to be me.
During the transition, i encountered numerous people and their varying degrees of dismissive attitudes:
"OMG!!! you are going to quit sea!!!! what will you do? Can you do anything else" (As if i was destined to be a sailor from the womb itself)
"You wont be able to do it, it is not as easy as it sounds!" (As if they were paying me to sit on my a** on the ship)
"Please dont quit sea, you have responsibilities!!!" (My God! as if they would have welcomed my quitting if i was in a parallel universe)
...and so on and so forth
Had i heard or paid heed to any/all of them, i may have still been sailing and thinking about why i am doing what i am doing? i realized on the first sail itself that i need my support group of friends and family within easy reach. Its not convenient when you have to pay $24 for a 20 min phone-call through satellite in which there's a voice delay of a few seconds.
Internet, what's that?? Till a few years ago it was considered an unnecessary luxury and additional cost to have a VSAT system on board. The companies have only now extended the facility on board and that is also not all pervasive, so i needed to be somewhere stable. A place from where i could connect easily, network, call, drive, meet, greet, play, laugh and all that with all those around me.
I wanted a routine. Routine is boring but then it is better than the unknown alarm waking you up every night and being on your toes throughout. Some are wired that way, i was not.
Yes, the life has become more routine now. I wake up, eat, go to office, slog the day in a chair, the waistline has moved north by a couple of inches, i come back home, watch tv, sleep...but there is the assurance that i am there for those who need me and vice versa.
Living/settling in a new city is not easy, that has become the latest challenge, life has become different but i have successfully passed an year of it.
The challenges are still there and would always be till the last day, only their classification has changed.
The 'me' is still the same as i was before but happy.
Happy to have proved my detractors wrong.
Happy to have been able to achieve what i have.
Happy to be me.
Good to know you're doing well, whether on land or on sea, or, as the case may be, in the desert.
ReplyDeleteIts so good to feel the confidence coming out of these words...sounds like someone speaking after proving his point...
ReplyDeleteGood work Sailor and maybe you keep crossing all those milestones that you set for yourself...no matter how tough others think they are...
Thanks for the encouragement and the kind words PJ. Appreciate it! :)
ReplyDelete