A day in the trades

Croc n Gator dosa

All is well that ends well. One more day ends with an awesome dinner (we call it Croc and Gator Dosa, Croc=Jammy, Gator=Aish) made by the masterchefs of Mhadei. The idea of having dosa cropped up after Croc and Gator broke the record of watching back to back South Indian movies! As I write, all the sleepy heads have gotten up for some food testing! Puko often gets diplomatic while commenting and says "Acha hai! Coconut powder would have made it tastier though"..Well yes Puko, get us some coconut powder now!

 

smiles

After regular rendezvous with dolphins, yesterday gave us a surprise when we  spotted something else at a distance. What it was, none of us are aware, but to make you fill with envy, we are naming it 'SHARK'.. he he ha

Good morning

Today was a beautiful morning as the sunrays reflected upon the waves making them shine like gold. Couldnt help myself but to try capture it a bit. The day followed with an extensive Shramdan (cleanship) of our lady love Mhadei. She has protected us all this while and its strange she doesn't ask much in return except for a bit of affection. Over a period of time this certainly has grown into a deep love for the boat and many times we have confessed it too! It is said that "The relationship between a man and his boat is often as intimate as that between a husband and a wife". Quite true I must say!

Day 19- Are these the south easterlies??

Chan and Lee (Aish and Jammy)

Some fine chopping

Well it seems Mhadei has been finally bestowed the trade winds by the sea Gods today (people cross fingers and touch wood as this is said) of course this came after it conquered doldrums in the day.

Hidden talents were discovered on board when swatcat gave a swanky haircut to skippy looked quite professional and much recommended over any other hairstylist.

Shou took a shower at leisure and let the south easterlies dry her hair

Ceased to Siege

Puko however seems to have switched her choices quite swiftly from reading “One Indian Girl” she has shifted to “The Siege”

Jammy had movie marathon day and probably finished 5 movies in a row (Wow!) whereas Aish finished a quirky novel and caught up on some sleep.

Signing off as we merrily move forward in a shimmery starry night

Direction – towards destination

Speed-As fast as we please (not more than 8kn)

Day 17: Relishing Southern Beauty

THE BLUE HUE

Life changes a bit, whenever you cross any line, for us on Mhadei it’s no different ,the stars are not the same the birds are new and the clouds tell a different story all together. Southern hemisphere surprises you every day sometimes that bright orange star watching over us sometimes the birds (don’t ask which) chasing us and sometimes the winds sweeping the clouds off their feet (literally), yeah though they are not taking us anywhere (just saying).            

Rain drops are falling on my hatch

     

 Though you don’t get to see any sun, but the rain drops on the top of the hatch isn’t a bad sight to wake up to either (Oh! How can we forget Shou sleeping in watch with  her eyes half open). 


    

s(h)e(a) smiles

Mhadei seems to be very upset these days, can’t say it’s the windless nights or the fear that beautiful journey with her six best friends might end soon ,hence Aish and Jammy decided to sweet talk her and to convince her (seems it worked ,ever since doing 4kn).

 Last but not the least, three cheers to the skipper (and some volini), who came down all black and blue after a successful mast climb (you know the lazy jacks are really lazy) .

Super Skipper

As we speak the stars started coming out of the clouds, we don’t want to miss this sight, so keep shining bright (what a reference!!) till next time

Nov 24

Godfather sent us a message today asking that we should not be giving withdrawl pangs to our readers, so here we are back again, busy blogging. Did we leave everyone wondering over our sudden disappearance? To be honest, we were in a meditative mode! no further explaining..

Topic for the day.. HYDROPHOBIA

Majority of us sailing on Mhadei have been hydrophobic some time or the other in our lives. Here are some details:-

Aish used to wail everytime her dad took her to the beach or mom took her for a shower.

Jammy remembers her fear of water as a kid and the innumerable times her ponytail being pulled by her mom everytime she
tried venturing into the waters.

VJ preferred dryswimming as a kid when her father would take her to bathe in the river Alaknanda and would scare her by hiding underwater for a long time.

Puko never saw a water body as a kid hence had an inherent fear for water

Shou would feel giddy whenever the water rose above knee level.

It is strange to see how fear and ones the way it is dealt with shapes the lives of individuals. And those who accept their fears get to board Mhadei!:D

..On a lighter note, you know now what keeps her sailing:)

Signing off with the Dufferin Anthem that may suit those set on a journey.

We are on the road

evening sunshine

colours

On the road to anywhere

With never a heartache

And never a care.

Got no homes, got no friends

Thankful for everything

The Good Lord sends

We are on the road....

And every mile stone

Seems to say, that

The road to anywhere

The road to anywhere

Will lead to somewhere

Some day

 

Day 12- Gliding down the globe





Warm welcome by the southern hemisphere

It already feels like we are hanging upside down. Things have started falling and look crazily opposite than before. Theres a sudden rush of blood into our heads. Yes we are talking about entering the southern hemisphere. For the readers, please do not be scared we are kidding. Ha ha ha

00 00 000

"We crossed the line and we were free,



we went to other side on a blissful spree"

200400 Three miles to equator. By now everybody would have been up and gearing up for some  selfies. But except for the morning watch, everyone is busy sleeping away to glory! Perhaps this is an effect of frequenting the equator more than once, the pollywogs are pollywogs no more and have now grown into mature sailors.

sleepy head

200440 Here we are, on the other side of the line. What line, you ask? It is  the equator, crossing of which is considered to be significant to the lives of seafarers, especially to those who cross it for the first time and more special to the ones who cross under sails. Well for Mhadei, this is the thirteenth crossing.in seven years and for the six of us, a third in six months time. Everytime we do this, we pay homage to the lord of the seas and offer them something. This time it happened to be  'Haldirams mathri:D' in a bid to please Lord Neptune. The sea Gods were not too happy with the fact that Aish didnt wake up to greet them, so they decided to take away her 'chappals' (She says they are not chappals, they are 'Puma Flip Flops!).

Crossing all lines

By the afternoon, there came another surprise when we sighted a landmass (surprise was not the landmass, but the mobile network:D). This small atoll is the southernmost island of the Maldives and is named as the 'Addoo Atoll'. The wind here began to swing us in all directions like we sitting on a giant wheel, the day passed dodging around the island. Finally we managed to leave it 5 nautical miles on our starboard (to the right that is). Evening was a peaceful affair and we celebrated it with some popcorn and tea and a cool breeze that followed soon after.

202100 A strange noise was heard like someone hitting the underhull with a hammer. We ignored it for a while but the noise grew in intensity as time passed. All of us ran down
to open the floorboards to check the source of this unusual sound and we were aghast to see the sea water outlet line vibrating heavily on its own. Well no points for guessing why it happened!
But after half an hour of trying to figure out, we burst out with laughter!

Day 10- Deep into the Blue

Have you ever wondered how it feels to be at sea?
Skippy says  she feels light (for obvious reasons) and relieved (so predictable !) 
Jammy says its the time before the first light  the mixed colors of sky clad with clouds over the horizon seems like strokes of an artists paint brush just the sight is so soothing that you just wish the time stops(side effects of morning watch) when you see the vast expanse of the sea around ,you realize how small and insignificant you are 
Shou feels very peaceful and  closer to nature.she loves night lit-up with stars and moon "feels like thousands of lanterns hanging from the sky"
Swatcat says its crazy it seems like home away from home
for Puko Sea provides her the actual thrill of being in the Navy like a Dream come true only for a lucky few
Aish has stopped wishing since she lost the count of number of shooting stars at night the shimmer of the moon on the sea on a moonlight night is what she cherishes the most
We consider ourselves fortunate to be here... now ...the sky is our roof the sea is our cradle and the rain nurtures us and we have our protector MHADEI with us 
Signing off on a philosophical note 
Adios!

Day 9- Action station

Finally we got to see (do)some action at sea today when clouds surrounded us..VJ ma'am was well aware of the upcoming weather and told us "Gora baadal jee behlave, kaala baadal paani lave"
remembering what her mother told her once, but aish reassured her telling the cloud was Grey. So we thought we can ignore it but Alas! it poured down and six peacocks merrily spread their feathers
it poured down so much that our lone surviving crane realized its potential and finally took a flight,
we also had another bird visiting us today(probably baby albatross) which soon took the cranes place on board. It was quite friendly and interacted with the watchkeepers. 







The evening was quite relaxing as we sat back and enjoyed the weather and shou's lemon tea with frimes and some romantic music playing in the background 
Unfortunately every time it pours it leaves behind a windless void.
We are all now waiting for the void to pass.
signing off with an extract from our great Godfather's mail today
Shano Varuna! Shano Indra! Shano Brihaspati!

Day 8- Why does everything comes down to food?

Do you often run out of topics for discussion? If yes, perhaps somewhere in your mind you're sailing too. Like today, the only topic of discussion amongst us was 'Hey what is going to be there in today's blog. How about writing about the crazy things we used to eat as a child'..:D..
Before I get to the sailing happenings of the day, lemme do some justice to the only topic that was discussed today.

Says Jammy- " Gems was my fav filler between the meals"
Says Aish- " Pop pop Poppins!"
Says Swatcat- " At one time I started having a lot of sugarcane"
Says Shou- " I started having Paan at a very early age in my life:D"
Says Puko- " I used to have orange candies after every class during school days"
Says VJ-   " Chalks, Guru chela, Phantom "

Genie the genneker

Right! So enough of food talks. The day surprised us with a pleasant breeze and we wasted no time in setting our
sails right and making some long yearned headway. Flew our genie the Genneker which did help us quite a bit this time.
For those who may not know what m referring to, have a look at the image. Its a sail that helps us sail downwind.
And it is a genie! Last evening a squall greeted us with 30 knots of breeze that gave us a quick fresh water shower.Thats a benefit of a squall, for those who like surprises. It showers upon you when you may not expect it:D On a serious note, if you do not take it seriously, you will also remember it for lifetime.

Tangerine-that's what u call it!

some serious reading

looking for handmade bags,baskets,etc? Place ur requisition here

This afternoon people onboard got back to their all time fav hobbies. Shou was quite involved in knitting a bag out of wool. India's definitely got talent!
She has already gifted one to Puko coz may be she ran out of space for keeping things. Jammy painted her nails orange. Ah she says " Not orange. Its called
Tangerine".. I see!:D.. Swatcat made a dream chaser and its hanging nicely from our roof right now. Aish has gotten into a philosophical mode today after she
started reading "The Alexander's Secret' on her kindle:D Puko was busy with something on her laptop we havent figured out yet. VJ was feeding water to the last crane standing on the boat. Rest of the bird sanctuary have flown back except this one. Surprisingly it doesnt cease to drink water. I wonder if its that thirsty.

Hide and seek

Pouring heavily right now! The moon showed up for a bit and then got blanketed by a thick layer of clouds. Looks like we are in for some action tonight! Shall sign off now and leave you with a glimpse of Day 8.

      

Day 7- Dolphin show ,Lazy Cranes and a crazy sparrow...are we in a zoo?

Dahine Dekh !

Well we thought we left one zoo behind but here we are again, amidst sea with some creatures gone bonkers and trust me THEY ARE BEARABLE.

Many Feathers on her cap

enough of the cranes now the little birdy decided to entertain us today morning by jumping all around the boat and on peoples head 
Though the winds ditched us yet again today still Lord Varuna made it up to us by sending some dolphins our way 
which jumped and played around the boat 

what are we doing amidst all this??

Ahoy! Dolphins the most regular neighbours

Skipper is just recovering from a crane attack this evening as one decided to inspect the interiors of the boat otherwise she is keeping herself busy reading a book called "Adrift"
Jammy and Aish are sitting with their eyes glued to Game of Thrones impact can be seen in the blog of-course
Wife of Marco (swatcat) is watching a TV series called Narco with Puko (kudos to my budding poetry skills)
Shou decided to give rest to jammy and took over duties of preparing breakfast and surprised everyone , she also rigorously finished her TV Series "Flash"

Home is where Happiness is

It was a Delight to receive a mail from Vice Admiral Awati (Retd,) a visionary, an inspiration and constant support (i always wonder where the old man gets his ideas from)
Signing off for now 
P.S we have a moonlit night awaiting us.....

Day-6 Rain Rain come again

We skipped Day 5 because we were entertaining and getting entertained by 5 guests onboard who have made mhadei their home for now..Two of them were shooed away this morning and 3 
are irritating aish to her wits end with their bad loo manners..on a positive note we didn't get our upper deck painted which is being done  NOW !!!
Well finally Day 6 proved to be of some worth not only did we cover some miles "under sails", Also took a fresh shower okay!! lets be honest it wasn't pouring 
but it drove us to take a shower anyway.
The day began with Delicious Gobi Paranthas made by jammy who seems to be in a good mood today i am sure her future in Laws will be pleased with her culinary skills
We Recieved a Raven from the main land saying the Ques in the banks are long again (how sad :(( ) and we are fortunate enough that "We dont need any money as long as we can feel the sea"
(Cheap Thrills)
P.S We did not bother puko today but just found her dreaming away to glory :P(wicked vibes)

Day 4 cook eat sleep watch repeat

122200 Inactivity persists. Today again offered us a windless day and waveless  sea. As I write this I see that that the boat has started to feel some breeze.May be the windgods are listening to Puko's prayers!? We havent made much visible progress with respect to the mileage achieved since we started.But we did make a lot of progress towards keeping us occupied with our hobbies that include cooking, reading, music, birdwatching, sleeping, doing nothing,, etc etc.

Pao Bhaji worth millions.. wanna try?

No wonder all of us have bloated since we sailed out. All Thanks to the incessant hard work of the crew towards the 'Khana Khazana' sessions. The cycle of who cooks and who doesn't is pretty well defined on the boat as we divided the entire day into a watch system wherein every watch prepares one meal a day. Over a period of time this has worked well and these days its actually getting competitive about which watch cooks the best meal Well in any case we are loving it, big time foodies that we are! But honestly at sea, this is something we tend to devote a good amount of time to.. pondering over food and what meal to cook next. No compromise on the nutrition part! Puko was bullied by Aish and Jammy for not preparing adequate amount of rice to which she tried to defend herself and only got bullied more:D

Villians of Puko's life

121700 apocalypse struck Mhadei as she had a stomach upset....any gusses?? the manual flush system had gone for a six and Jammy switched on the Exo mode starting a tantrum over poor maintenance by the crew, after few hours of dedicated attention by as many of us as could fit in there..our dear shitpot was fixed and it finally relieved us of all boundations we were holding on to. It  also held us throughout..and time just flew by smoothly without a hitch afterwhich we called it a day and slurped on some hot maggie.

Savdhan!

130200 As we pass close to the Lakhshwadeep islands, we get to witness some marine life too. Cranes and dolphins were the breaking news this afternoon. We thoroughly enjoy watching them glide around in the wake of the boat!
It is so calm and still back again that the cranes have also become passive and have found a perch at the bow of the boat. Not sure if its the stillness before or after a storm, all we can do right now is wait and enjoy the moonlit night!  

Day 3- Actively Inactive

Wondering what were upto today? Heres a look.

Not a whiff of air nor a ripple showed up at sea. Glassy calm, thats what we call it.
For sailboats, getting becalmed this is not quite a likeable situation because we obviously need breeze to move us. But hey, we dont let such days of go in vain. After a morning wake up by Hanuman Chalisa played by Payal(puko) followed by her praying to God for some wind, we all lied out on the deck to gather some sun tan and our standard sauna bath. I bet you wont find a better deal anywhere else! 

Yummy in the Tummy

Breakfast menu had paratha and mix veg prepared by Pratibha(jammy) that we thouroughly enjoyed the sea We will update the individual activities onboard  
jammy has tried out new outfit bought by her coursemate(aish) from delhi she's not getting  it off anytime soon 
Our woman at helm, we discovered last night is a woman of steel she lifted up the main sail two reefs all by herself as i took the wheel and watched in awe,i warn you she can beat the shit out of anyone shes just being patient
swathi(swatcat) overwhelmed us with a delicious lunch shes just come out of her solitude and beauty sleep and all charged up now
our chirpy bird vijaya(shou) seems to be quiet since we sailed out otherwise she always entertains us with classic english and hindi songs 
puko is learning the tricks and trades of south indian cooking shes considering if she should choose a south indian boy for her love of the food 

Good seamanship practices "The Naval Way"

Eagle?

last but not the least we had another visitor onboard today i believe its an eagle have a look

Day 2 at Sea-Guest apearance

What??-All women crews of Indian navy venture into international waters for the second time as a part of preparation for sagarparikrama(circumnavigation) slated next year
Who??- Lt Cdr Vartika Joshi(Skipper,Boss Busiest person on the boat Pasta Specialist-Tang Maker)
Lt Cdr Pratibha Jamwal(considered Exo of the boat she keeps us all on our toes)
Lt Aishwarya(self proclaimed creative blogger...under watchful eye of Exo)
Lt Swathi P(Masterchef..talking enthusiast...great laughter)
Lt Vijayadevi ( An Artist-Singer and Knitting Queen sleeping beauty official weather prediction system rate of words inversly propotional to bad weather)
Lt Payal Gupta( official food taster bears the burden of tolerating 5 seniors...or is it the other way around??)
Where??- Middle of the Arabian Sea Hoping to catch some wind
As we come to conclude our second day at sea i take upon myself this huge responsibility of making an entry to our blog and also make it more interesting and interactive. the readers are free to  share comment and ask questions 
i must tell you how much calm and at peace i am coming back to the sea and all of us infact agree that last night we had the most peaceful sleep that we could only dream of in the past few days/months after our return
trip from Mauritius. We had quite an interesting day yesterday to begin with for a short while that we were in the range of Mobile towers making last minute calls to loved ones.. as now we stay in communication with them 
only through Emails and probably this blog.We even had a little visitor onboard, a small sparrow whom we lovingly named Mr Pichku who stayed for the night with us before he jumped into the sea early today morning
After mourning his sudden absence,i decided to shift my attention to Yummy Burger made by pratibha and catch up on some movies and reading books which otherwise we were unable to get time for.As of now me and 
pratibha are wondering what to eat tomorrow morning and what we will get to shop in capetown-our destination readers are free to give ideas/recommedations.

hello from mr pichku