Spotting signs of other life beyond this ecosystem here…

So far, the timezone has changed 3 times. I will no longer manage to come up when it is still dark. When I woke up this morning, light was already trying to escape the curtains. We are now in Pakistani timezone (yesterday we were in Bangladesh timezone – we skipped India). If you had drawn a straightline this morning, you would have found us way south of Kochi, still trying to come closer to Maldives and not managing it quite yet. Yesterday, we were zooming out on the navigation map and saw Lakshadweep sea and Somalia basin.

We were searching for Maldives. 4 birds had made their appearance – we were wondering from which land they might have flown. Perhaps they came with the ship – stowaways. In any case, we, the passengers, are all very excited seeing the birds – it is an out of ordinary event. If not dolphins and whales, at least birds. A – the lights man tells us that this will not be the season for Dolphins and Whales in this route ☹.

This morning, I am surrounded by 360° of grey clouds, all different shades of grey – trust me, there are more than 50 shades of grey here and much more calming. As a result, the sea is grey as well and there is no sunrise. It looked like it rained last night. R, one of the crew confirmed. I see rain clouds further in the ocean behind me.

Ocean has a very very distracting personality. I come up to the deck to read the book and before long, I am gazing at the ocean, the different formations of the water, the different colours of the ocean but mainly different formations of the cloud. While we see cloud everywhere, it is surreal to see clouds all around you, with no interruption. Some of them hang over the ocean, some of them form a layer a bit above, some of them form a mushroom with rain falling and creating a connection to the ocean. I, then, take out my camera and click a couple of pictures. Please note, it is only a couple of pictures each time. At the end of the day, I look at the pictures, trying to make a decision on what to send you. I struggle – the pictures are only so so. I need a lesson on how to make ocean photography more interesting.

Yesterday, M saw a rain cloud pass over the ship. There was a very short burst of rain on the ship – as the crew said, just to wash the ship. I could only catch the rain cloud as it left the ship as I was sleeping in the cabin below. I am including pictures I stole from M 😉. In those picture, you can see how the rain cloud part is completely grey while the side without the rain cloud it sunny still!!!

Later, I look out to the back of the ship and see that the water is grey on the left of the ship and blue on the right. More rain clouds on the left towards the land than on the right. Will post this panorama picture once I have connectivity on the mobile again. Perhaps while we cross Madagascar.

Last evening, I watched the sea more closely and saw a kind of waterfall effect. It was like one of those artificial waterfalls that you see (for e.g. in Dubai airport) against the walls. It looked like water was flowing down a navy-blue wall and incessantly flowing. The rock hard wall was very stable and immobile – just a very thin layer of water flowing on top on it – the texture and the flow was very interesting to see. I have taken a video that M cannot watch due to the motion in it and I cannot post until I have connectivity.

The ship went up and down perceptibly yesterday. The wave height was going between 1 and 2 m. A bit higher. You can see the ship going a bit up and then a big down, a bit up and then a bit down. Still ok for me.

Sundays are very special on the ship. The crew and passengers get steak for lunch and Pizza for dinner. Vegetarians got veg tempuras instead of steak. We saw the Chief Engineer cooking in the morning. He is quite a serious old man (oldest on the ship born in late 50s) and he is supposed to be a good cook. Yesterday, the captain decided to take a group picture at 3 pm on the bridge. So, one of the crew came up to clean the rain water to make place for everyone to sit. After this, we took some pictures with them too.The captain decided to take the photo before they play basketball – the players were all in their basketball uniform. One of them lent his T-shirt to M for a special picture with them.

I finally finished the Wild by Nature book. It is ok… I mean going through that experience might be monumental – however, reading it, it seems repetitive. However, there are some interesting passages that she herself writes: “All around me, there are lots of “Long Noses” with white skin, and no Asians. No one gives me judgmental or questioning looks. I breathe deeply; I’m among my own people. For the first time in twenty years, I intimately understand my belonging to the ethnic group known as Caucasian”. The book is punctured with several negative encounters she has in Mongolia and China. It almost seems like those are the only type of encounters she has had – I wonder how much this feeling she has mentioned above has contributed to her focus on the challenging interactions. Going forward in Australia, it is much more balanced. I find this a bit difficult to digest. I must ask XC who travelled in Mongolia whether he encountered anything similar. At the same time, it makes me wonder how I will feel without this curiousity when I get back to India. I have lived with these curious glances for almost half my life now.

As I sit on the bridge writing my email to my family, an announcement comes over the telephone. G answers it, confirms that we are CMA CGM Rodolphe. They confirm who they are. I am sooo excited – there was a telephone call. I ask G, who was that. He points out to a ship in the horizon – this is soo exciting – it is the first one I have seen for 24 hours. I wait for it to cross us. I see the birds of yesterday flying around, diving into the ocean in between. The world outside is still there.

I, at that point of time, just notice that I am wearing my shirt upside down. As I get ready to come to the bridge every morning, without disturbing M, I do change my clothes in the dark. I was wondering why the handles to hold the sleeve up was outside. Anyway, it is time for breakfast. M is there to pick me up as I am already 30 minutes late. Breakfast is at 7 am. Today, 7 am is later but I still do not feel hungry. We are really fed very well. I anyway walk down, to change, have breakfast and then hopefully, by the time I come up, the ship will be closer. We get engaged in a great discussion with A&R at our table.

By the time we come up, there is no sign of the other ship. Later I realize that it had just gone behind the clouds. I see it later from the starboard side, still at the horizon, crossing our ship.