Too much is always expected of too few overworked souls onboard’. It is well known that Mariners make very valuable contribution to the world economy and their job is also very tough. It is hoped that serving Mariners will not be made a scapegoat when the ISPS Code is put into force from 1 st July 2004. Experience over years have shown that too much is always expected of too few overworked souls onboard. They need to be sympathised with and given […]
It’s a matter of common knowledge, that entrance to the Merchant Navy, was once considered a great and highly respected education institution. T.S.Dufferin became T.S.Rajendra, now T.S.Chanakya is the latest Avtaar; Directorate of Marine Engineering Training Mumbai/Calcutta has now become MERI Mumbai/Calcutta. However, these hallowed institutions have suddenly lost the respect they commanded. This is because entry standards have been levelled down, due to the ‘quota’ system, by the heavy hand of the Authorities. They are trying to ‘micro-manage’ every function of […]
As the deadly pneumonia-like virus known as SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) continues to spread through Asia, government officials are taking drastic steps to keep the illness out of their countries and isolate the afflicted to halt more infections. The World Health Organization (WHO) issued a travel advisory, telling travelers to avoid going to Hong Kong because of the number of cases, which have claimed lives in the territory. SARS has been blamed for about a 100 deaths worldwide, with more than 3,000 people […]
Our Lady of Good Health, popularly called “Our Lady of Vailankanni” is in the small town of Vailankanni inhabitated by about 5,000 residents located on the shores of the Bay of Bengal. 150 miles south of Chennai in Tamil Nadu, 5 miles south of the town Nagapattinam. Our Lady chose this place to dispense her healing miracles to mankind. A strong oral tradition attests to Our Lady’s apparitions at Vailankanni. The tradition is built around the following three significant events: Sometime during […]
In the good old days, every student had a legacy to live-upto. It was unimaginable, that a Mariner’s son would be anything but a Mariner ! People took pride in saying that several generations were in the same line. Employers would give preference to an employee’s son, other factors being equal. There was a lot of loyalty and a feeling of commitment to good values Today, things are different. Modern day youth thinks differently. Not many have the least interest in ‘living-upto’ […]
NEW DELHI: The government will be asking the private shipping companies to provide slots on board for training to maritime institutes. Now this facility is being offered by the state-owned Shipping Corporation of India (SCI) only. This was decided at a recent high-level meeting. Sources said that the shipping ministry asked director general of shipping to convene a meeting of the Indian ship owners to persuade them to give training slots in the general interest of maritime training in India The ministry […]
The German poet, Goethe, gave us a message : ‘Connect, always Connect’. In our context, this message is more relevant now, than ever before. The only reason we are still preferred, over other nationalities, is because of our superior quality of work. However, this will only remain good, if we can work effectively together, as a team, to achieve much more, than we could ever do alone. A Brazilian proverb puts the idea more succinctly: ‘When I dream alone, it remains just […]
Minicoy is situated at 8o17′ north latitude and 73o04 east longitude and is a prominent island in the Lakshadweep archipelago of India. It is unique in many respects. Locally known as Maliku, this majestic island has an area of 4.4 sq km. It is the second largest island in the Union Territory of Lakshadweep with a length of about 11 km and a maximum width about 2 km. The islet to its south-west is called Viringili. Another sandbank called Raggang, not far […]
