The First Trip at Sea

It was june of 2000 when my first trip at sea materialised, I had stopped going to college, actually my college being what it was, St. Stephen's asked too many questions as to my long absences (for training) and I decided to take the moral high ground and write to the principal explaining my desire to sail the seven seas and yet keep a connect with the college - he obviously promptly worte back, "F...k Off" so I officially withdrew from the college and spent the entire summer doing nothing much - well I did join some sort of graduation with an open university which required a hundred assignments a month and I delligently did them all till June came around and I was told, "You're joining, WH Blount in America, it's a tough ship best of luck". Fresh out of school when you tell someone, tough ship, he thinks, "I've been handpicked!!", so with a lot of eletaion and sense of pride I embarked on my firt long haul international flight - great flight - first flights always are I suppose and on the way I met an Officer joining the same ship, having grown up on defence bases (my dad was in the Air Force then) I was very respectful and hanging onto every word he said - later on (very soon actually) I realised much it was hogwash and he was not as smart as he thought but anyway joined ship in Port Arthur, Texas was initiated into the life onboard in a rather harsh manner and I realised why this was a "tough ship" - the first day was 12 hours of non stop work - all sorts of work from fetching coffee to cleaning out the holds to hammering with all my strength to try and shake off cargo that was stuck to the ship's hold - but again innocent days those, I was so happy working that it didn't occur to me that I should be tired and was more than eager to help everyone with everything. Time on that ship used to pass very quickly as we used to do only 2 day runs and soon we were arriving in Mexico - ofcourse two days were enough to have my interest piqued with all the stories I had been told about the nude beaches and strip clubs that awaited in Playa Del Carmen - alas! it was also the first time that I made a mistake on board - dropped paint or some such (can't remember) but it was enough for me to be told, "Shore Leave is banned for you" so my first reprimand and a bit harsh in my mind (being a senior officer my self now) but I got on with it and made do with stories from the other cadet who went ashore. Next time though there was no stopping me and a fresh faced boy of 18 from Delhi (Delhi 10 years back though - we are a generation behind todays teenagers) stepped on the sandy beaches of MEHICO with bulging eyes and jaw that was stuck open - the round of beach ended up in a strip club and trust me there are very few things in life that can duplicate the high of your first time in a strip club especially so at 18. The girls there couldn't stop gushing over "the kid" or "Bambino" as they called me and I was on cloud 9 - still to pay for sex seemed immoral and desperate and even though I was drunk for the very firt time in life I decided not to go down that route - a decision that I am quite proud of till date. Ofcourse I got the usual ribbing, "You're scared, you're kid etc etc" from all on board but I stuck to my ground (to be honest the ribbing was getting the better of me and I was tempted to given in). The decision was taken away from me by Ebon, a beautiful mexican girl in her early twenties who was the sister of the Loading Supervisor. Ebon came on board the next day to see a ship(apparently people like seeing ships - i don't get it really) and I was asked to escort her around - a job I agreed to with much joy - the tour over I asked her for her number as we used to come to same port every four days - she readily gave it to me and there started a great relationship that lasted for my stay on board (10 months) it was great while it lasted but ofcourse neither of us saw it going anywhere - the one thing it did do was change the jokes from "kid" to "ladies man" - a rather welcome change. Even though it was my first relationship it wasn't first love and to this day I am sure that if I bump into her somewhere there will be no malice - a perfect amicable end - I guess that happens once in a lifetime too.