My annoyingly loud and repetitive phone bell rang continuously. It was only 10.45am, a full one hour ahead of when I normally get my wake up call. I had anticipated an early call when I hit the sack last night but I somehow couldn't sleep immediately. I watched my favorite videos for a while, listened to Michelle Obama's beautiful voice narrating her book 'Becoming' and finally fell asleep only around 5am (I get off duty at 4). I was still groggy when I reached the deck wearing my boiler suit which I somehow managed to have bought one size smaller (Thank God though, it still fits), I swear I even tried it on at the store before billing. I'm positive the shopkeeper mistakenly packed a smaller size without checking, when I asked him for a change in color. Now I have to spend 6 uncomfortable months in boiler suits that pull at my tummy and make it nearly impossible for me to squat? Great! Not only am I new here, I now also have to preemptively answer the question people really want to ask me but can't because they don't want to offend the fat lady officer - why is my boiler suit so tight? *eye roll*
The Captain announced on the walkie-talkie that it might take another 20 minutes for us to reach close to the berth. My chief officer (who is also a woman yaaay, #girlboss) told me I should do a quick run to the galley and find something to eat as it may be a while before I get free enough for a meal. I quickly changed into my sliders and went up to the mess hall, found a nice bowl and filled it up with cereal only to realise there was no milk for me to soak it in. The steward hadn't restocked the fridge yet, after the breakfast rush. I decided I was just going to eat the chocos dry. Without milk. Like an adult.
After the cargo loading had gone on for a few hours, I found some time to chat with one of the cargo surveyors who had come onboard. He was Mozambican and spoke very little English, but fluent Portuguese (it being their official state language here). I asked him for a currency bill, something very small in denomination, just to keep as a souvenir. I even brought along some Indian rupees in case he wanted some from me. He gave me a coin saying that's all he's got right now and I happily pocketed it. I asked him a lot of questions. Why is Portuguese your national language? Nearly 500 years worth of colonization. Don't you have any native African languages? We do. We have too many in fact, this province alone has 3 while the Central one has 2 and the South has atleast 6. And we have about 7 provinces. That's one of the reasons why we need Portuguese. It gives us all a common tongue. How many languages can you speak? English, Portuguese, little bits of 3 different native languages...so 5. Is the port city of Nacala a famous tourist spot? Yes it is, a lot of beaches here. There is even some scubadiving nowadays.
While he was talking to me, he scoured his bag to find me a bill and found a 20 folded away inside one of his pocket books. He gave it to me and said their currency was called Meticais. He took my Indian rupees and instantly recognised Gandhi and recollected how he stood for non-violence. I was delightfully surprised. I asked him about the man on their bill. He said it was an Ex-President, he was a freedom fighter too and lived to be the first president of free Mozambique. He was however assassinated shortly thereafter. I told him he looked like an intelligent and handsome man and he agreed. I asked him about the rhinoceros on the backside of his bill. He said there's plenty of them here in Mozambique and they have been attracting a lot of people, especially the Chinese. I assumed he was talking about tourists, but he told me they had a very serious poaching problem- Rhinos were getting hunted down for their horns. He was quite proud of the material his currency was printed on, shiny and plastic unlike ours. He said his currency could get washed accidentally in the laundry with his clothes and it would still come out unscathed. I told him I've seen similar looking notes in Australia, Singapore and Malaysia and he seemed a bit disappointed that they hadn't been the only smart ones with fancy plastic notes.
I met another guy who asked me how many years it had been since I came out to sea. I told him I joined my first ship in 2011, when I was 19 y.o and he was mighty impressed. He said "2nd, that's a loooooooong time now". He told me he has been a cargo surveyor for a few years yet this was the first time he saw girls working on a ship. He asked me how common this was back in India and I told him my company had quite a bunch of us and that we even had 4 lady Captains in SCI. He said sexism must be unheard of in a country where women are working on ships so commonly. I laughed and told him we're getting there and it is still a long climb uphill. He asked me if I will get to go home when I reach India (we were bringing the cargo back home to the East coast of India) and I explained to him how our country is so big that I could get to an Indian port and still be a 1000km from home. He said he vaguely remembers studying in school, how India was the 2nd most populous country in the world, he agreed it must be pretty huge if it accommodated so many of us. I also met another guy who offered to marry me but was promptly cut off by his friend who lifted his hand and showed me his wedding ring. His friend joked that the fellow already had a son in every one of Mozambique's 7 provinces.
Mozambicans, so far have turned out to be a great people. What really made my day though, happened when we were still approaching the berth in the morning. We were passing our first set of mooring lines. The entire time, all the guys on the shore were pointing and discussing among themselves how there seemed to be a lady officer onboard running the mooring station. They were all so eager and happy. I was acutely aware of the attention I was getting. This is not the first time this has happened, but attention hardly ever gets old amirite? While the last rope was getting tightened, I noticed someone on the jetty. It looked like a lady wearing the same uniform as the men, walking and discussing the cargo plan with a fellow foreman. She had bright orange hair and was a beautiful black woman. I kept looking at her in amazement because I have rarely ever come across a lady foreman (a forewoman?). It was now our turn, all the guys on my ship were pointing and being surprised at the only girl among the 20 men on the berth. I too must have been staring, because she turned around and looked at me. I could say, she was surprised to see me too- a lady ship's officer. She instantly smiled and waved at me like we were long lost friends and I cheerfully returned the favour showing all my teeth. There was an almost electric feeling that went through me in that moment. A tiny excitement in finding another girl breaking a glass ceiling at another workplace, who was now smiling at me in a knowing-solidarity. Even though we didn't understand each other's language to continue on with a conversation, we didn't need to. That smile was everything. I was thrilled. What a day!
17 March 2019
