The Bills of LadingThe Bills of LadingA sailors truthful account of the things these weird landlubbers are upto. Articles
India smoke map
2009-04-14 14:37:00 A few posts back, I had mentioned a Nasa picture showing smoke from wood and dung chip fires hanging over north India . I finally got around to it and dug it up from thr NASA website. You can see the smoke stretching from Punjab to bihar in the picture.The red dots are actual fires. These are the fires lit up in Punjab after harvest to clear the fields. An amazing picture to put things in perspective. More About: Smoke
Ice cream at india gate
2009-04-13 11:02:00 Over the last couple of months, I have become a Delhi-wala. One of thethings that you just have to do to earn this distinction is to eaticecream at the India gate at midnight.It used to be a grand sight a couple of years ago, with the India gatelit up at one end and the grand rashtrapati bhavan on the other end.It's probably a good thing that they have stopped lighting up Themonuments these days, but it definitely does take away a bit of charmfrom the whole exercise.Yet, not to be denied their pound of fun, people still flock to theice cream wala's . It Was the begining of the long weekend so wholefamilies with children in tow were walking in the grass along therajpath.Great fun it was till cops came along and shooed off all the icecream wala's at midnight. A most recommended activity - eating icecream at the India gate. More About: Gate , Ice Cream , Cream
Chandni chowk
2009-04-12 18:06:00 .In the lanes that join or leave chandni Chowk in Delhi , lies a whole another world. As you enter these lanes, thew buildings close in on you and mostly illegal wiring closes in a net on your head. Yet inspite of this, you can still see the original latticed work on th balconies and grills - an indication of possibly better dyas in the years gone by..
The red fort
2009-04-06 03:59:00 Had gone to chandni chowk at Delhi a couple of days back with Jayati . The atmosphere out in that part of the town is amazing. Gorges ourselves on the food out there like 'Dahi wada' and jalebi etc and even has boondi is ladoo at a shop that's been around since the early 1700's.Great fun it was except for the fact thatHad gone there on a very distracting work. I think I'll have to go there again one of these days again. Atleast to take a somewhat decent picture of the red fort. More About: Fort
The roadside shop
2009-04-04 10:15:00 This is a picture of the part of the shop where I bought the glass thingy yesterday. There so Many amazing picture frames being sold there for less than a dollar each, that I Couldn't resist a few days back and picked up about half a dozen of them..I have now been put under restraining orders by puja not to approach within twenty feet of another frame selling shop.. More About: Shop
Today's buy
2009-04-03 18:04:00 Bought this piece in a flea shop on mehrauli- Gurgaon road. They were asking for 300 Rupees for it, but I managed to haggle it down to 100 rupees ( a little more than 2 USD) .I'm still not sure what practical use it might be put to, but i'm sure we'll think of something!
Nizamuddin railway station
2009-03-29 05:06:00 Reached Delhi pretty much on time to complete the trip.This grafiti was painted near the car park. More About: Station
Good morning
2009-03-29 03:32:00 The train crossed bhopal and Jhansi in the night and we Passed mathura about 0630 hrs. The train is still about half an hour late, so I should be reaching about eight.As I stood in the doorway I could smell the smoke off the wood fires and the cowdung chips. I remember seeing a NASA picture showing the whole of the north India covered in the smoke off these fires. More About: Morning , Good , Good Morning
Ghodadongri
2009-03-28 13:56:00 The train barely stopped here at the small station of ghodadongri..Sitting in an airconditioned compartment distances you from whatever is going on outside and I miss the feel of the smells and the shouts of porters at the way stations and the hasty negotiations on the cost of poha or a plate of samosas purchased through the Window. And I miss the rush or wind in the face from the endless Indian plains and the metal shutters that had to be dropped down when it rained in the middle of the night..I remember that a train journey used to be accompanied with a strong iron smell that would permeate every cloth that you wore. I just don't get it anymore. Must be all those years of sailing on rustbuckets that killed my iron smell..
Free kick on the train
2009-03-28 10:36:00 I wouldn't have believed it unless I saw a picture. :).Has anyone ever heard I this brand? Apparently it is made by the premanchal breweies in distt. Raisen (MP) More About: Free , Train , Kick
iPhone app tryout- the writepad
2009-03-28 10:21:00 Travelling by train does give me enough time to waste and I was not going to let the opportunity go to waste .I had uploaded the writepad APP from Prasad on my iPhone and was determined to See how it would work . I must declare right away that I have nothing against the keyboard of the iphone . Its just that using the finger to do the writing Seemed to be a neat alternate to have at my fingertip :)As Such I have used it to type this Post and must Say that I am rather impressed with the result. Though I have taken the better Part of an hour to get these words out , the Progress toward the end was Much faster , with me belting out upto three small words at a time .The hand gestures Such as for return or for space are easy to remember and once you get used to the app, rather fun. Getting the long words out is still a challa nge , but Somet{in g I will hopefully get better at :]-- This message was composed with PhatWare WritePad 1.6.Sent from my iPhone More About: Iphone
Train trip
2009-03-28 08:11:00 Off on another train trip. This time on the gondwana express (2409), from nagpur to Delhi .Have armed myself with a tiffin box, and collection of hemmingway and laxman stories and some optimism.Happy travelling! More About: Train , Trip
iPhone 3.0 vs android
2009-03-27 04:10:00 .A few days back Ajeet sent me the comparative table of the iPhone firmware versions and the android..I'm not sure where he got it from so can't give proper credit for it. But 3.0 does promise to be a pretty neat jump ahead. And once the apps around the 3.0 come out in iTunes, the iphone should be an all new playing ground. :). More About: Iphone , Android
nagpur Rickshaw
2009-03-25 14:22:00 Thanks for the wishes on the last post. Now that I am posting from my phone, hopefully the posting will be more regular. But the downside is that most likely, my blog will involve non - ship related subjects, and the posts will also be shorter.Was out at the gokulpeth market in Nagpur and snapped this rickshaw driver in thought as he waited for his next ride in the dusk.
Peekaboo
2009-03-24 07:49:00 I do apologize to anyone who has noticed the lack of posting on my blog. But I am home these days , and asYou all might have guessed from the above picture, our priorities have been undergoing some dramatic changes.Cheers all!!
Flocculated in the Mississippi
2009-01-25 00:42:00 After a few pleasant days at anchor in Venezuela and an uneventful voyage upthe Caribbean, I find myself again going up my favorite river, theMississippi . There was a possibility that I might have been heading off homefrom the vessel, and it would have been great to spend a couple of days outin New Orleans. But as it turns out, I still have a few turns of the log todo out here.As we came up the South west pass, it was dusk and the banks of theMississippi were actually steaming. I kid you not. There is a wicked coldfront out in New Orleans and the whole day a moist southerly wind wastrickling up the shore. As it came in contact with the cold waters of theriver, I could see the vapors forming on the surface. The effect was great.Sadly it was quite dark to take a good picture. Going up the Mississippi inthe night is such a pity. Dawns and dusks are brilliant out in the river andhopefully I'll catch another one going out of here. A new thing I learnt on the river today is "Floc...
Marlboro Economics
2009-01-16 13:18:00 We have been spending the last few days at anchorage off Venezuela. It is a welcome change as the crew had a lot to do in the days preceding that. The days begin beautifully, but by the time the people ashore get ready to bring us in, the wind picks up and the berthing gets cancelled. Acts of god, we call it out at sea. J A long time back, my elder brother told me about “Burger Economics ”. It seemed that with the rapid spread of Capitalism, a whole new branch of economics was coming up dealing with the pricing mechanism of McDonald’s Chicken burgers. You see, as McDonald opened new stores in new countries, it used local ingredients at local prices and then had to charge a price for its burgers which normal people would pay. Hence though it might charge 1.99 USD for a chicken burger in the US, it would charge only 0.85 cents in India and maybe actually pay the customers 0.20 cents in Rawanda! So by simply glancing at a list of prices of Big Macs around the world, we could get a... More About: Marlboro
The Singapore Smiley
2009-01-11 22:34:00 Location : VenezuelaI have been working for some time of Singapore flagged vessels, but I wasstruck by it for the first time today. Is there any one else here who thinksthat the Singapore flag looks like a smiley of an alien with five eyes?Say now that I am on that thought process, wouldn't the American flag look like a humorless multi-eyed alien? :)In the background is the small town of Aransas pass on the Corpus ChristiShip Channel. More About: Smiley
X-mas, the new year and the year ahead
2009-01-09 12:23:00 Location : The Caribbean If you have ever heard me complaining of how busy I've been, all that pales into insignificance as compared to how busy I've been this last fortnight. I kid you not. The last sane day we had was the 30th of Dec, when we wished the best of new year to the Corpus Christi Pilots, Speaking of Pilots, A couple of posts back one of the Houston pilots had dropped a kind comment. He has a great flikr stream, which you really must see. I think I have put a link to his stream on the left of this blog, but as I'm not on the internet, I can't be too sure. Picture above is the San Jacinto park on the Houston Ship Channel. The warship moored here is the USS Texas, that has been converted into a Museum. On the way out of Houston, the fog cam down so bad that I couldn't see the bridge of that ship. It was one spooky ride out of the city and I am really impressed with the guys who take ships like ours every day up an ... More About: New Year , Year , Ahead
Happy Birthday Dada
2009-01-09 11:44:00 A few days ago my brother surprised me by saying that he actually checks outthis blog sometimes. It was by all accounts a big surprise. :) So just incase you do drop by here, A very happy birthday.Cheers!-- Internal Virus Database is out-of-date.Checked by AVG Anti-Virus.Version: 7.0.308 / Virus Database: 266.5.7 - Release Date: 01/Mar/2005 More About: Happy , Birthday , Happy Birthday
The prognosis
2008-12-27 11:10:00 The last few days haven't been good to us. Apart from the way things haveturned out on the ship, the weather's been doing its bit keeping us in agloomy mood. Todays weather report shows another cold front (the curvedlines with spikes) swooping down on the Texas coast, bringing with it,another spell of fog, cold, showers and squally weather. I guess the only thing to do is to batten down the hatches, turn into thewind and ride out the winds. More About: Prognosis
Seabulk energy at Gaveston anchorage
2008-12-20 13:46:00 Things are looking up today. The sun has come out and the fog seems to be dissipating. I can now actually see the mast and funnel of “Seabulk Energy ” a mile off as the sun works on this fog from the top down. As I came down from the bridge, the pilots were opening up the Houston Ship channel and taking in the ships in. I would be lying if I said that we weren’t enjoying the anchorage. But the problem with anchorages is that you can’t make fresh water and your provisions start running out. So it will be great if things start moving up in the channel and we can get some fresh veggies on our plates. More About: Anchorage
Cold, foggy and spanky in Houston !!
2008-12-19 14:07:00 As might have been guessed, I am back on the ship and back in the same partof the world, the US gulf. It's a part of the world that I am beginning tolike. The US gulf is a rather dull place. And dull things are something thatI am beginning to relish these days as a Captain. I go to ports I've beento, I meet pilots I've met, I dock at berths I've docked at and even the CBP(Customs and border patrol) personnel have begun to recognize me (heavenforbid!). So all in all it was a rude surprise when I came in to Galveston fairwayanchorage and met a wall of fog that everything more then 20 meters intoblankness. Fog is something god made strictly so that like minded peoplecould frolic in it over sloping hills and unending meadows. It was not madeto roll over into the sea and terrify you with fog horns blaring out at youfrom all seeming directions. And it most certainly was not meant to berolling out over the US Gulf. Everyone seemed to be as disoriented as thissupply boat by ... More About: Cold , Houston
Party time
2008-10-16 06:02:00 Its an occasion for celebration and joy. I have signed off from my ship and its back to home for me. Years back, when contracts were longer and booze available, it would have been a pretty good excuse for a party like the above. Typically the mate would raise the topic of a farewell get-together with the old man over breakfast and instructions would be given to the catering department to get things ready. The crew would then meet in orderly groups at the pre-assigned time and talk urbanely about wide ranging pertinent topics such as the changing cup sizes of Pamela Anderson. The "get-together", would then steadily go downhill till the old man left for his cabin, after which people would be often be spotted in poses like the above, gyrating to lyrics of some pubescent girl , claiming to be a "Barbie Girl". This would go on till enough people were escorted to their cabins drunk, or the scene looked too gay for even seamen like us!I'm not sure if I'm actually sad that these parties... More About: Party , Time
Two balls and a diamond in between
2008-10-09 00:15:00 We mariners have a nasty reputation of being perverts. Now we of coures have worked hard at deserving it so its not be be thrown away lightly. Which is why we keep hanging our balls out for all to see. Hanging from the halyards we see something called very imaginatively as "shapes". These shapes are used as required by the collision regulations to indicate that the vessel is "Restricted in her ability to Manouver" or "RAM". As I have been spending most of my evenings in the US gulf doing lightering operations. As a master, it feels inherently bad to wear these shapes on my halyards, because it means that I can't take my ships anyway I want to. Adn when your 200 meters plus vessel is manouvering at distances of 20 meters from a 300 meters long ship, the last this you want to do is go any closer. I find the manouvering for this fascinating because the dynamics of working such large vessels is amazing to watch unfold. Maybe we'll have beer one day and I'll explain the&n... More About: Balls , Diamond
Sunset on the ship
2008-10-08 13:50:00 Now that its time to go back home, US Gulf seems to be saying goodbyes, by offering me stunning views. As I was doing my last lightering operation, we had a stunning display of colors on the horizon spread over the vista of smouldering oil rigs and installations. And a great good bye surprise - I shall be going up the beautiful Mississippi forone last time and signing off at New orleans. I haven't been to that city in a few years, so it'll be good to walk those streets. More About: Sunset , Ship
Last of the bad guys - Marco
2008-10-07 13:17:00 Tropical depression 13, has been thought worthy of a name and has been upgraded to Tropical storm "Marco ". Its been a tough year for the people of this part of the world, and even caused a few ulcers and sleepless nights to me and my pretty ship. After being banged around by both Gustav and Ike, I am glad that the season is drawing to a close and hopefully Marco will be the last of the bad guys we see this year. I should anyway be out of this area and back home, but I hope you all stay safe here. More About: Tropical Storm , Guys
Birds on a wire
2008-10-07 05:45:00 A short post today. The picture above was taken at Pascagoula. Sights like these are quite common, but they always remind me of home where you'd see birds sitting on an electirc wire. Included in the picuture from the bottom to top, is our ships crane, with the Markings SWL 15T, which refers to the safe works load, a smaller fendering davit, light post air pipes and bollards. More About: Birds , Wire
The Dredger - Glenn Edwards
More articles from this author:2008-10-04 14:45:00 The type of support vessels that come next in line to the Tugs in my "List if favotrite vessels" are the Dredgers. Pictured above is the Dredger Glenn Edwards , pictured above at the mouth of the Pascagouls Ship Channel in the Mississippi state. The Glenn Edwards was waiting for us to pass so that they could continue with their dredging works. Glenn Edwards is a relatively new ship, floated in 2006 near here in Mobile Alabama. You can see a very informative article about it here at the workboat.com website. In it we are told of the extremely high standards of specifications that the vessel is built to. The method of operation of dredgers like the Glenn Edwards are simple in principle. The boom that you see on the sides lower to the sea bed and act like a gaint Vaccume Cleaner, sucking in all manners of mud, small rocks and debries. These are deposited in the middle of the ship in their hold, from where the water is simply drained out. The dredger then makes its way to the dumping... 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 |
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