Monday, 13 April 2020

Recalling my first experience on joining a ship.

 Had to start of this blog by digging into the past and going back to the day when my life was about to change.
                                                           
Date                 : 07 Dec 2007
Company         : Wilhelmsen Ship Management
Port of Joining : Kobe, Japan


Having completed my 1 year shore training , i returned home with enthusiasm and excitement to my family to enjoy my holidays with them before i set sail to the high seas.

High seas ? , a term that i had been listening for over a year and had absolutely no clue what it actually meant. My life was about to change completely and i had no clue about it. All i knew 
was that i am one step closer to living a life that i had only read about or seen in the movies.
And one fine day , my landline rang and it was my joining call . All the excitement suddenly 
turned into nervousness and the fear of leaving my family away and going onboard started to 
sink in.

Reached the office to learn about my first training assignment. It was 'M.V.TOURCOING'(car carrier)
 that i was supposed to join in Kobe, Japan. Signed my first ever contract , and trust me the 
only thing i read was my stipend - 400 USD !

Walked out of the office to head home with all my documents carefully secured in my bag.
(after all i was doing all this ALONE for the first time ). Excited i was for sure but also the 
scared and nervous feeling was killing me every moment. I was asking my self again and again,
will i be able to do it ? alone ? no family ? 9 months ! huh , it all seemed like a joke and i told myself-
what have you got yourself in into ? With the burden of all these thoughts i reached home and showed my documents to my parents . Everyone had a smiling face but behind all the smiles was the fear of 
not being able to see my for so many months.

With a lot of courage i started to pack my luggage for 9 months. Not knowing what i would be facing in the coming months , i did not let my confidence shatter. We all left in the cab for the airport . Pin drop silence in the cab , none of us knew what to talk and time kept slipping away . It was a feeling which simply cant be put in words. Reached the airport well in time, (after all it was my first international flight) , put my luggage on the trolley and realised '' this is the moment where i have to leave my mom and dad and move ahead to pursue my careers '' and it wasn't easy.

I hugged them both tightly trying hard to control my emotions. But then as i turned , i saw my mother sad and shedding tears from her eyes. This moment of separation made me realise how much i would miss them . Not easy ! 
After completing the formalities , i called my parents . Without any surprises , the call was taken in the first ring -
 is everything ok ? 
are you fine ?
 and lastly they said - '' take care , we will miss you a lot, don't worry about us but do take good care of yourself and hope to see you soon.

Leave your comments guys sharing your first experiences.


1 comment:

  1. Yaar very true I think most of us had the same feeling .... After reading this my first joining just flashed before my eyes

    ReplyDelete

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