Mortal as I am, I know that I am born for a day. But when I follow at my pleasure the serried multitude of the stars in their circular course, my feet no longer touch the earth.

I guess every man has this dream as a child about defining his life...what he wants to do...his purpose for existance and what he builds for himself.
As a little boy I still remember sitting together with friends and discussing what we wanted to do with our lives..and an interesting bunch we were.
1) I wanna be a police officer and catch thieves and become famous...his mom heard that spanked him and today he is an Investment Banker in THE STATES!!!!
2)I wanna be a Astronaut.....his mom heard that spanked him and told him to be grounded and today he is an Investment Banker in the STATES!!!!
3)I wanna be a doctor so i can see naked girls :-)
His parents were super happy not knowing the reason why and his wish got granted(thank god not another Investment Banker) and today he is a urologist in Max...I dont know how many naked women he saw on his way there..lol!!!

For me...none of these things excited me!!!
I was a movie buff through out and lived in my romanticised world where adventure was the key to life.Being the fickle headed bloke I was each day had me in a different profession depending on what Mr AB was in his movies and I made sure i saw all of them...sadly he was a misfit in most...The Great Gambler,Zanjeer,Don...the list is endless and my friend number one and me would have many a wars in our little dreamland where at times he saved the woman whilst in others she did not want to get saved and ran away with me.
Lucky for me my parents never found out else I would have been an Investment Banker in THE STATES!!!!
ANYWAYS
School got over and I topped...a 39% and my parents disowning me where was I to go??
Landed up in the city of oppurtunity..........Bombay!!!
Read an advertisement in the paper for the Merchant Navy...n my mind said this was it for me!!
I would earn in 6 figures,get to travel the world and anyway SINBAD was my favourite(by the way Namak Halal had just released and there was that song Raat Baaki on a ship) and i would soon be known as Capt Vik...and a girl in every port!!!
Now that was more like it...
I applied...got through(since only 39%ers and similar IQ levels would apply)...got recruited...got trained and on my 18th birthday as a gift from the gods i got my first ship as a cadet...it was more like a big boat,but in my heart i was already captain of the ship with many a adventures planned.We were told in our training that we were CADET OFFICERS enroute to becoming Captains and that we had a certain authority and respect onboard.
I reached the ship which was docked on a small little jetty in Calcutta harbour and sailing to Singapore the next day. It was a dark and weary night and i was tired not used to staying up hours beyond 10 pm..so I reached and asked the Quartermaster to carry my bags up the gangway and show me to my cabin...BIG MISTAKE!!!! He disappeared only to arrive a little later with this big burly unshaven man with a toothpick in his mouth n scratching his ass and looking like he hadnt bathed in a week.
My miniscule brain thought that my stuff was a plenty and the quartermaster only one and he had brought help...so i yelled again and told him to come and take my stuff.
That was my second BIG MISTAKE.
The two of them came to the jetty and picked up my bags and started trotting up the gangway and I followed very proud of myself for my achievement...i was eventually a CADET OFFICER...lil did I know that the burly man was the chief mate and the most dreaded chief mate of the entire fleet...one even th captains stayed away from.
Anyway I was taken to my cabin and like a chicken being fed before the slaughter given a meal...the last supper!!!
Leonardo Da Vinci might as well have painted me.
Sooner than later the QUARTERMASTER was back telling me that the chief mate had called for me.
I put on my uniform and marched down in full flow to the mates cabin...n the moment i entered i knew i was slaughtered.
Saw that darned monster sitting on a sofa...
he turned me around n kicked my butt and from then for 24 hours i was chipping on the deck..no food..no water!!!!
The ship finally sailed and thats when i got my respite and a bit of sleep.
On awaking i walked to the deck..n my eyes and heart were pounding with a sight only seen in your imagination.
The ship had sailed and was transitting the hugli river and there was light rain falling.
A rainbow with the clarity I had never seen before was right ahead of us and on both sides were thick mangrove forests and a flock of gulls was flying next to us...and i walked to the side...river dolphins racing the ship...i was mesmerised...a cool wind blowing and i knew what heaven was...it had been totally worth it.
That was my first day of seeing the world...THE TRAVELS OF CAPT VIK THE SAILOR!!!

LITTLE DID I KNOW THAT THIS QUOTE WOULD SOON TAKE OVER....
"Much has been said of the sun-rise at sea; but it will not compare with the sun-rise on shore. It wants the accompaniments of the songs of birds, the awakening hum of men, and the glancing of the first beams upon trees, hills, spires, and house-tops, to give it life and spirit. But though the actual rise of the sun at sea is not so beautiful, yet nothing will compare with the early breaking of day upon the wide ocean. There is something in the first grey streaks stretching along the eastern horizon and throwing an indistinct light upon the face of the deep, which combines with the boundlessness and unknown depth of the sea around you, and gives one a feeling of loneliness, of dread, and of melancholy foreboding, which nothing else in nature can give. This gradually passes away as the light grows brighter, and when the sun comes up, the ordinary monotonous sea day begins."
N IT DID..........