The power of words and wishes
All the bad weather couldn’t make my days gloomy as it usually does; I was looking forward to arriving Baltimore, USA. This will be the first time I will step in the United States of America, a dreamland, a land where freedom to live is a moto.
The closer we were to USA, I had my thoughts bringing me back to school at thirteen; when we were in our first year of secondary school. My father was a Tamil School teacher but he had always wanted his children to be educated in English medium school. Probably, he would have thought that by letting the school teach his children in English, he could complement for the Tamil language since we already spoke Tamil at home. Anyway, it didn’t work out as he thought. All the children were fluent in English but not in Tamil.
I was continuing my school days in “St.George’s Institution”, that was the name of the school I went to. Today, it is known as Sekolah Menengah St.George. Students who are in form one will attend school in the afternoon. Imagine the afternoon heat with only two fans for 40 students in a class. It was during the short 30 minutes tea-break that my best friend at that time, Mohd Sirhan was telling me stories about his uncle who had settled down in USA.
We were just kids, the influence of Hollywood movies, dramas, sitcoms screened on tv was tremendous. So, the discussion turned to be exciting with imaginations running wild and we started dreaming of USA. He was so into it, that he had this idea of running away and work to earn money before flying away to the dreamland. He wanted to settle down with his uncle. A couple of months later, he didn’t come to school anymore and there was no news at all. I don’t think he ran away, maybe his uncle came and brought him along. I couldn’t go to his house to find him as the only means of transport is by school bus and I did not have a bicycle either. Even if I did have a transportation, I didn’t know where he stayed. Sirhan mooted the idea of settling down in USA, it was not my dream but I had made a wish that someday I can go there.
Neptune Sheraton was a bulk carrier and we had a full load of Alumina from Australia to be discharged in Baltimore. The ship was docked alongside the designated discharge wharf. It was my duty to swing out all the crane away from the wharf and make way for the shore crane to discharge the cargo. My fellow deck cadets prepared the removed the hatch cover cleats and kept it ready for opening. The cargo surveyor came onboard to carry out his job and after a couple of hours, the shore crane started to unload the cargo of wheat.
My duty was over, I rushed to take shower and get ready to go ashore. I was all alone with so much excitement to see the first town in the USA. Waiting at the guard house for the taxi to arrive, almost 45 minutes had passed and there was no taxi. Suddenly, my 2nd Officer opened the guard house door and looked surprise to see me. “Everyone is looking for you on the ship and you are here for what?”, his exact words. I wanted to say that I am waiting for the taxi, before I could say it, he said, “You’re shore leave is cut, go back to the ship”. I knew my shore leave was cut but I became rebellious after the 46 days sea passage from Australia to Baltimore.
With a heavy heart and disappointment, I walked back to the ship. My first time in USA and I can’t go out to see it. On the ship, I went to see my Chief Officer to report that I was at the guard house just making friends, but he clarified, “No shore leave means, you cannot step on the wharf at all, understand”. I shook my head acknowledging my understanding and went to the smoke room for a cigarette. One of my senior deck cadet consoled me. He went to his cabin and brought a 2 litre wine which we drank and it became a celebration. What a first day in USA.
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