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A few ways to improve your web experience

Hey guys this is a blog for ‘not very geeky’ people, who use internet only for checking mails and orkuting or googling, those who use their laptops mostly for listening to music and watching movies. I want to give a few tips to such guys for the improvement of their web surfing experience.

First of all guys forget your iexplorer. Ieplorer is, I think, the slowest, clumsiest and outdated browser of today. First choice can be Mozilla Firefox with its so many extensions and other features. My personal favorite is Flock browser which is designed on Firefox platform itself. The sidebars in Flock absolutely changed my web surfing habits, which were completely orthodox before Flock.

Secondly, download Google pack, which includes Google desktop, Google sidebar and a host of very useful software like picassa, free spyware, acrobat reader, Google earth etc. Google desktop search is, I think, the best feature. Once it indexes your hard disk this search becomes really fast and useful. Google sidebar gadgets are also very useful. Yahoo widgets can also be a good substitute for Google sidebar.

Thirdly, if you want to backup your important documents and files online use ‘windows office live’, which is a free service from Microsoft (yes free from Microsoft !). Windows office live is useful only if you have Microsoft office on your pc or laptop. If you are using any free office suite then you can use ‘Google docs’. Both these services are very useful if you want to share your documents with others or if you want the luxury of accessing your docs from any pc or laptop.

Another thing that can change your web experience completely is, have your personalized home page. ‘My Yahoo’ and ‘iGoogle’ are two good (branded) options. These personalized home pages on your browser are really useful if you don’t want hassles of opening many different web pages which you regularly open after connecting to internet. You can add modules (in My Yahoo) or widgets (in iGoogle) like different mail boxes, market quotes, different news reeds, and many more, so as soon as you connect to internet and open up your browser you will have a quick update of all your new mails, recent news, local weather, stock quotes etc on a single page.

Another thing that I would suggest you to keep yourself updated about the new and interesting things on web is ‘delicious’ . Be a regular visitor of delicious.com. You can also keep all your bookmarks and favorites online on delicious, which will in turn give you the luxury of accessing all your bookmarks from any other computer. A good substitute of delicious is magnolia.

Term insurance vs ULIPs: A reality check

Hey guys this is a very informative article that I found, and this changed my perception as well:

In recent days it has become fashionable to discourage investors from buying unit linked insurance plans, ULIPs.

The reason: High administrative, mortality and fixed annual charges. Instead, term insurance plans offer better insurance to the life covered, so goes the argument.

While each and every insurance product has its advantages and disadvantages compared to other such similar products, insurance buyers must understand their need for insurance before buying any insurance product.

The current article dwells on the advantages that a ULIP has over term insurance plan. Or rather, it tries to remove some misconceptions about ULIPs.

To understand this better, let us go through a conversation between two friends.

Conversation One

Friend one: I am thinking of buying an insurance plan to cover my life. Not sure whether to go in for a term plan or a ULIP.

Friend two: Don’t think twice. Go for a term insurance plan. They are the best way to cover a life

Friend one: But I have heard that in term plans no returns are available at the end of the plan period if I survive?

Friend Two: Yes. But why do you need returns from an insurance plan? You know my friend never mix investments with insurance. Keep them separate. You can always become rich by investing in mutual funds or equities. Take my word, go in for a term plan.

Friend One: You may be right. Hey, do you have any workings or illustrations, which I may go through before I decide on this?

Friend Two: Arrey yaar, why do you need workings? Don’t you read newspapers? Don’t you read the columns written by experts? All of them say that term plans are the best. If they are saying that term plans are good, they must be good. Anyways, who has the time to go through workings and all? I trust these free advices totally. I suggest you do the same too.

Friend One: But I don’t know anything about investing in mutual funds or equities. What do I do?

Friend Two: Don’t worry about that. There are financial planners who will plan everything for you. Just leave everything to them. They will help you out.

Conversation Two

Client: I need to plan my finances. Can you suggest something good to me?

Consultant: Of course we can do it. Do you have any idea as to what your needs are?

Client: Yes I have. I am the only earning member of the family. Plus, I also have a housing loan liability. I need protection for my life. I am looking at a life cover of at least Rs 50 Lakhs. I am also looking for a reasonable return on my investments.

Consultant: Our suggestion to you would be to go in for a term plan and invest the remaining in mutual funds and equities. This will ensure that you get protection and returns from investments.

• Why ULIP is not the best insurance product

Client: But my resources are limited, do you think it would be possible to take a term plan and invest at the same time?

Consultant: Of course it is possible. The premium for a term plan with a life cover of Rs 100,000 is only Rs 400. Don’t you think this is cheap?

Client: But I need a life cover of Rs 50 lakhs. Also I have heard of this new thing called ULIP. Why can’t we go in for that?

Consultant: Don’t worry. Term plans are really cheap. Like I said for Rs 1 lakh, the premium is only Rs 400. And never mix insurance with investments. Also understand that these ULIPs are very expensive. They deduct a huge amount of money from the premium you have paid toward their charges and agents’ commission. Only the balance is invested and the returns are no way comparable with that of mutual funds and equities.

Client: But Sir, in case of a term plan, if I survive, nothing is paid back to me. This means that I will lose all the money that I have paid over the years towards the premium. Don’t you think it is better to lose a part of the money in ULIPs than losing the entire money in a term plan?

Consultant: Who is the expert here? If we are saying that term plans are best suited for protection, it is final. If you wish to continue as our client, please follow our advice.

A real life example

One of our clients, let us call him Amit, wanted to take a life insurance cover. He had taken a home loan of Rs 45,00,000. He wanted a matching life cover to ensure that in the event anything happens to him, the maturity proceeds from the insurance could be used to repay the housing loan. He had two options before him.

Either buy a term plan or go in for a ULIP. We looked around for a number of options for a term plan. Given below are the quotes from various insurance companies for a life cover of Rs 45,00,000 for a person aged 32 years. The term of the cover is 25 years.

Life insurance company	Life cover (Rs)	Premium per annum (Rs)	Term (In years)
LIC of India	45,00,000	16,110	25
ICICI Prudential	45.00,000	15,496	25
Tata AIG Life	45,00,000	16,609	25
Om Kotak	45,00,000	16,482	25
Met Life	45,00,000	15,994	25
Max Newyork Life	45,00,000	15,795	25

The least cost premium, we found was Rs 15,496. This looked good. But he had to pay this premium for the next 25 years.The total premium payout would have been Rs 387,400. This was not acceptable to him. Not because he could not afford the money. But for an entirely different set of reasons.

• Get right your insurance priority

Being a software engineer, his work required him to travel most of the times. Plus he also felt that keeping track of premium payment for 25 years would be too tedious. He wanted to buy a plan, which gave him a life cover of Rs 45,00,000 with a shorter premium payment period.

He was suggested to consider a ULIP with the following features:

• Premium per year would be Rs 30,000
• Minimum premium payment term of 3 years. Can continue the premium payment if he wished at a later stage
• Maximum life-cover availability. In this case the life cover was Rs 45,00,000
• Investments in ULIP to be in Maximiser, an option where the investments are into equity products like mutual funds and hence potential for higher returns

He agreed and took up the plan in December 2004. The policy got issued on 20^th December 2004. He completed the mandatory premium payment for the first three years when he paid his last installment in December 2006.

Given below are the administration charges and the insurance charges deducted from the premium:

Year	Premium (Rs)	Administration charges (Rs)	Mortality charges (Rs)	Fixed annual charges (Rs)	Total charges (Rs)	Amount invested (Rs)
20-12-04	30,000	6,000	8,133	720	14,853	15,147
20-12-05	30,000	2,250	8,508	720	11,478	18,522
20-12-06	30,000	1,200	8,951	720	10,871	19,129
Total	90,000	9,450	25,592	2,160	37,202	52,798

The total of the administration charges, mortality charges and fund management charges for all the three years put together works out to Rs 37,202. If one were to take the term plan premium into consideration, the total premium outflow would have been Rs 15,496*3 = Rs 46,488.

Premium as per term plan = Rs 46,488

Charges as per ULIP = Rs 37,202

Effective savings = Rs 9,286

Now let us look at this from the investment angle too. If we have to understand whether the returns from the plan are reasonable, it is inevitable that we have to have a comparison. And so we compare the returns of this ULIP with two different mutual funds with two different objectives.

The following tables give a comparison of the same:

Option	Premium (Rs)	Total charges (Rs)	Investment (Rs)	Current value (Rs)
ULIP	90,000	37,202	52,798	75,225.25

These net asset value, NAVs, are for Reliance Growth Fund, a fund rated number one in the last five-year returns category and number four in the last three-year returns category by Value Research Online. The NAVs are available for cross checking in www.reliancemutual.com. The date of investment is taken as 20^th of December, on which date investment in ULIP was made.

Date of investment	Amount (Rs) A	Term premium (Rs) B	Balance (Rs) (A-B)	NAV (Rs)	Number of units	Current NAV (Rs)	Current value (Rs)
20-12-04	30,000	15,496	14,504	107.77	134.58	258.76	34,824.67
20-12-05	30,000	15,496	14,504	185.52	78.18	258.76	20,229.92
20-12-06	30,000	15,496	14,504	254.40	56.99	258.76	14,746.78
Total							69,801.37

For the sake of comparison an illustration of an equity linked saving scheme, ELSS, fund is also given here. The NAVs are for HDFC Tax Saver Fund, a fund rated 4^th in the five-year returns category and 2^nd in the three-year returns category. The NAVs are available for cross checking in www.hdfcfund.com.

Date of investment	Amount (Rs) A	Term premium (Rs) B	Balance (Rs) (A-B)	NAV (Rs)	Number of units	Current NAV (Rs)	Current Value (Rs)
20-12-04	30,000	15,496	14,504	37.69	384.82	128.71	49,530.18
20-12-05	30,000	15,496	14,504	111.83	129.70	128.71	16,693.69
20-12-06	30,000	15,496	14.504	144.16	100.61	128.71	12,949.51
Total							79,173.51

What does this tell us?

The comparisons are made between COMPARABLE products. The investments in ULIP were in the maximiser option. Maximiser option allows investments predominantly in equities. The investment objectives of Reliance Growth Fund & HDFC Tax Saver Fund are to invest predominantly in equities.

• Are you aware of these insurance terms?

The difference between the fund values is very much evident. In the ULIP, after deducting all the applicable charges towards insurance, administration and fund management, the balance is Rs 75,225. The same investment in Reliance Growth Fund stands at Rs 69,801 and in HDFC Tax Saver Fund stands at Rs 79,173.51. While HDFC Tax Saver Fund has generated a higher return of Rs 3,948, this advantage would be nullified in the future years when the entire sum of Rs 30,000 is available for investments. This is more clearly explained in the next point.

In ULIPs, the obligation towards the premium payment is completed after the first three years of premium payment is made. This means for Amit, this obligation was over when the payment was made in Dec 2006. He completed his three years of payment. From December 2007, the whole of Rs 30,000 is available towards investment in mutual funds or equities.

Had Amit opted for a term plan, the situation would have been totally different. He would have paid the term premium charges of Rs 15,496 for the next 22 years. Consequently, the amount available for investments in each of the next 22 years would have been Rs 14,504. It is elementary mathematics that Rs 30,000 invested over a period of 22 years will compound itself much higher than Rs 14,504.

There is a near unanimous opinion amongst people that charges deducted for ULIP schemes are very high. The table below illustrates the charges more clearly:

Year	Premium (Rs)	Administration Charges (Rs)	Fixed annual charges (Rs)	Total charges (Rs)
2004	30,000	6,000	720	6,720
2005	30,000	2,250	720	2,970
2006	30,000	1,200	720	1,920
2007 – 29	Nil		15,840	15,840
Total		9,450	18,000	27,450

Apart from the above-mentioned charges, ULIPs also charge fund management fees of 2.25 per cent per year. This has not been considered since mutual funds too levy almost the same charges. There might be a variation of 0.25 per cent to 0.5 per cent, but this is not very significant.

The table very clearly shows that the total charges levied in ULIP over a period of 25 years are Rs 27,450. If this were equated as an annual charge, per year charges would come to Rs 1,102.

Now let us look at another misconception. Advisors become RICH by selling ULIPs. Is this true?

Commission structure — ULIPs

Year	Premium (Rs)	Commission (Per cent)	Commission (Rs)
2004	30,000	12	3,600
2005	30,000	5	1,500
2006	30,000	2	600
Total			5,700

After three years of premium payment, the net commission earned by an advisor in this scenario is a fabulous sum of Rs 5,700!

Compare this with the term premium commissions earned.

Year	Premium (Rs)	Commission (Per cent)	Commission (Rs)
2004	15,496	25	3,874
2005-06	30,992	7.5	2,324
2007 � 28	3,40,912	5	17,045
Total	3,87,400	NA	26,243

After 25 years of term premium payment, the net commission earned by an advisor is Rs 26,243. Also understand this: In case of a term plan, the revenue stream for an advisor will continue for the full 25 years whereas in ULIPs, after three years in case a customer decides to stop the premium payment, the revenue stream also stops.

The one drawback of ULIP is that in case of death, either the sum assured or the fund value, whichever is HIGHER is paid and not both.

To illustrate, if something were to happen to Amit today, his family would get back Rs 45,00,000 only. Had he opted for the term plan, then his family could have liquidated the mutual fund holdings for Rs 69,801 and they would also have got Rs 45,00,000 from the insurance company. From a long-term perspective, this may not affect the wealth creation for Amit since from the fourth year onwards the allocation towards mutual funds/equities is higher.

ULIPs today stand at the same position mutual funds stood in 1993, when private sector mutual funds entered the market. Returns from the fixed income bearing securities like EPF, PPF, NSCs & NSS were high.

• PPF vs NSC: What’s the difference?

Even the rate of interest on bank deposits was around 15-16 per cent during those days. Added to this was the fact that UTI was completely under Government control and people trusted UTI far more than other mutual funds.

The same sets of arguments we are hearing today against ULIPs were made against the mutual funds then. But as time has shown from Rs 47,000 crores in 1993, mutual fund industry today is managing assets worth Rs 231,862 crores (data as per AMFI website). UTI no longer enjoys the privileges it had under government patronage.

Mutual fund companies like Reliance, Franklin Templeton, Pru ICICI, HDFC, Birla Sunlife etc have emerged as dominant forces in the Indian financial market. Insurance industry too has witnessed a number of changes. From a single insurer just a decade back, today the industry has several private life insurance companies. Customers today have wider choices depending on their requirements and ability to invest money.

One last point before I conclude this article

Several comments are made against the insurance companies and advisors in general. Please understand that different products are structured to suit different individual needs of the customers. If endowment products have worked well since the last 50 years, it is not only due to the mis-selling by advisors.

Give credit to the product also which has enabled thousands of families to save regularly over a period of time and given them returns when they needed it the most.

Similarly if ULIPs are working well now it indicates the success of the product in tapping the latent demand existing in the market.

At the end of the day if you are convinced, for good or bad, buy what you want. But do take care to properly analyse the products and their pros and cons.

Proud Mariners

Heres a compilation of a few articles that I found on internet written by different mariners.

WHY I AM PROUD TO BE A MARINER
Say the dreaded thing “The earth is round” and you will find the noose tightening around your neck. Do not go too far in the ocean because the sea boils at the equator and monsters eat the ships like biscuits. We are talking of the time when myths seemed truer than reality and the myths were fiercely and meticulously guarded by fanatics. But a few brave people looked the life differently and had the courage to lose the sight of the shore to find new horizons and they set their sails for the greatest adventure the mankind has ever undertaken. Magellan sailed round the globe and gave one of the earliest evidences of the spherical nature of the earth. Columbus, Amerigo, Captain Cook,vasco da gama riding on the wooden plank unfolded new horizons for mankind and mingled many civilizations giving the world a more cosmopolitan outlook. They corrected the world map and broke many myths in different parts of the world that holy cities are the center of the earth. They never let the fear of failure be an excuse of doing nothing and gave the most needed jerk to the civilization to move ahead. Without their contribution the Africans might still be following jungle rule and the whole North America and Australia have been longing for the first ray of civilization.

Now many say that as the technology has taken huge leaps forward so the element of unknown is being superseded by the matrix of computers’ cables, radars’ vision and the miracle called GPS. The business oriented marine industry is basically hiring a conglomerate of tool operators who heavily rely on artificial intelligence. Now there are no new lands to be discovered and the discovery portfolio has been transferred from marine fraternity to technological nerds. The sublime old days’ charm is being lost somewhere in the web of business obsession. Great are those are those intellectuals who share these thoughts in their A.C. chambers but ask their well being when the climates change hands, ask them if they have ever braved hot winds or spine chilling cold waves. But the mariners who cover several hundreds of miles in a day’s journey have to face abrupt climate and temperature change. They are the most flexible creatures that the mankind has ever seen in terms of adapting to any environment. Mariners rule the whole ocean right from the hot and moist equator to the freezing higher latitudes where the blend of ice and water is always eager to devour humanity and ships. They roam at places where even the weirdest creatures of Nature can’t survive. Send an Eskimo to Sahara and a Sahara resident to arctic. Will they survive even when given full facilities? There are so many bards to sing poetries for soldiers serving at freezing posts but has anyone taken the pain to praise the unsung heroes (mariners)as they face the same extreme conditions and that too on an element(water) which is not very familiar to humans. Even the slightest of mistake will take a mariner mighty close to the icy hands of death. And those who feel that technology has absorbed adventure from shipping line ask them how much humans know about the secrets and mysteries of oceans? A whole lot of bespectacled scientists have used all their brain and tried every technology that this planet has ever witnessed but are unable to solve the mystery of Bermuda triangle. Artificial intelligence’s intelligence ceases when it encounters the complexities of Nature. Every day is a new day out at sea; any day has never being anything like it before, never will be again. So each day sea teaches a mariner a new thing. Also qualities to become a good mariner come more from experience than knowledge.
But the fabric of society has its own different structure. It is a point where adrenaline and testerone loose there importance and money plus status take center stage, because money is the most egalitarian force in society and confers power on whoever hold it. Shipping belongs to that wider part of firmament where the pay scales which are gettable for mariners are only imaginable for others and no taxman lightens your purse. Even after the service at sea the mariners remain in high demand in the marine world. Many sailors after quitting the profession have started their own small scale industries and have made big profits. Many people coming from low income group now have many zeroes in their account. This is the only profession which guarantees its employee the metamorphism from lower or middle income class to upper middle class to higher class(only loyalty to the profession is required). That is why once you set for sail you will never fail.

Keeping aside the adventure and money factor, let’s talk about even more important things; health, inner self and life. I have seen people in Mumbai coughing out crores to get a couple of rooms to have a sight of sea and to get a feeling of proximity to Nature. Only a few lucky enough enjoy sea side villas and the rest population seems to be very very busy for nothing. Even if they pause for one minute sixty others overtake them and the rat race for money are forcing them to do things which only results in a few bucks but a thick pile of medical bills. People live in places like beehives where even the sun would find himself lucky if its rays would find access there, where ventilation and hygiene are terms worth only to be kept in dictionary. But a mariner in the midst of ocean and under the open sky breaths the purest air that this planet has to offer. He lives, plays, sings, thinks and works in the lap of Nature. Here the world ceases to be the scene of anyone’s personal prejudices and face the world as a free being admiring, asking and observing the beauty flaunted by the creator and thus we enter the world of tranquility and solitude. Those who think solitude is a curse to this profession better read the famous quote” best thinking has been done in solitude and the worst in turmoil”. Our inner self sprout and our imagination find wings in solitude. Solitude is the most precious thing that over 6 billion people long for it on one quarter of earth and only a handful enjoys it over three quarters of the world.
If I am saying it as the best profession then I wrong millions of others who are on the other side of my school of thought who prefer IITS, MBAS and other professions over it. On the contrary we find the news romanticizing IITS, MBAS and other professional streams flooding the media and the consciousness of common people. As far as I think the whole hype and framed glory about the other professions is a conspiracy of media. Living in an age of advertisement we are perpetually disillusioned. The perfect life is spread before us but it changes and withers by mere screwing with statistics. For example it is said about IITS that it has produced largest number of millionaires per captia pass-outs compared to any other undergraduate program. But when I looked at my own institute I found anyone spending 15-20 years of sea service achieve that milestone and even these who leave this profession join other profession which is financially rewarding too. Then the cadets passing out from premier merchant navy institutes must be much better off in terms of number of per captia millionaires. Another damned conspiracy Surfaces when the pay packages of IIMS go public. The eight figure whopping salary woos the whole generation but actually out of that pay package only half cash is being pocketed by the employee and the rest half contains performance bonus, conveyance and residential facilities. And in return they are made to work for 13-14 hours a day fixing their bottom on cushioned chairs. When the mariners enjoy the charm of Nature their cornea scans for data and when health and flamboyance flushes from the personality of a mariner, receding hairline and increasing waistline characterizes an entrepreneur. They have made a few successful persons the whole face of their industry.
Exploring the vast ocean with 20 odd men requires discipline, dedication to work and the most important integrity. Leadership qualities are endowed by the sea to the officers of merchant navy. Mariners are the movers and shakers of the world since they move hence the world move. Mariners handle a huge chunk of the world trade. Stagnation is a word which has no place in the life of a mariner. Paulo Coelho once said “In medieval period people wanted to become either sailors or shepherds because they are never glued to one place and with the place they leave the worries and complexities of life also”.

The pride of being a merchant navy officer’s wife……..

As a merchant navy officer’s wife I always love to bask in the glory of my husband. This profession has got enormous influence on me and my household. I owe a lot to this profession and with time I have fallen in love with this profession. You must be thinking why it is so….then here is my story…..

When I got married to a shippy, every body was of an apprehension that they are not good. They travel most of the time, they drink a lot, and they have got all sort of bad habits and their family life is always in rocks. I thought; let me see what is there in store for me.

He just came in my life and swept me off from my feet…foreign tours, flights, hotels, dollars, dresses, jewellery…just name it, it’s there at my disposal……Life was like a fairy tale . The life got filled with all sorts of positive thoughts……Yes money places a vital role in our lives and how vital that money could be, I first time felt in my life. The earning in dollar, every time you multiply to find its value in rupee …hmmmm….just awesome.

Then came the phase, when he joined first time, the ship after marriage. That feeling, that agony, I tasted first time in my life. When he went away I felt that nagging emotional pang. Waiting for days together for a letter to come, a little phone call looked so precious than anything in this world. Then came the phase where I need to join the ship all alone. This is called honeymoon retold. When I reached there I found out, what lies beneath this glamour. The amount of energy, the patience, the way they handle the day to day situations on board, left me awestruck. They are the talented lot who can do all sorts of physical work so also mental work and are capable of running the ship single handedly, without waiting for anybody, just left me spellbound. This fairy tale lives of these officers no more looked to me fanciful. I started leaning to value those hard earned money. We started saving for rainy days.

After a certain point, when he decided to take up the shore job, new avenues of this industry opened in front of me. I could see the multifaceted, multi-dimensional hues of this industry. Its potential really allured me. On board I used to see the work of charterers, the ship chandlers, manning of a ship and running a ship, but at as he took the shore job I could understand the entire thing from cadet training to handling of a ship, from multimodal transport to different surveys, getting a ship and correlated problems and I could more or less understand the way this vast industry is running. I started dreaming about many things.

When he started writing books on shipping I gained the knowledge on Chart work and Navigation, the ship stability and the cargo related fundamentals. When he explained me about the magnetism part I kept on wondering …. ….ship’s magnetic field, earth’s magnetic field then cargo’s magnetic field, the gyro, the magnetic compass…….. it was like huh……… and with so many variables one has to maintain it’s stability and reach the destination in time!…..This whole learning process and in spite of being a house wife I could possess a vision beyond my four walls is just because of this industry and my husband…..Now I hope, we can contribute a lot to this industry, which I adore so much…..

WHY I AM PROUD TO BE A MARINER

A MARINER!!!!!! The time we hear this word we flash back to era of 15^th century which belonged to the great sailors Vasco-de-Gama & Columbus. We grew up listening and reading about their courage and their discovery. In 17^th &18^th century French, British, Spaniards came to India crossing seven oceans. I always wondered how would they were able to fix themselves in open seas. My imagination of a ship narrowed down to steamer. A big break came in my life when I watched titanic. It was bigger & bigger than horizon of my dream. I was speechless. I wanted to be one of the men in uniform onboard ship. But these were adolescent fantasies. When question of drafting a career came, this dream began to materialize. Almighty showed me the way to prestigious maritime institute… T. S.CHANAKYA. Two years ago I could not think of being a man I am but over here has changed me. Now I feel this is the place I always belonged to.

Experts often define merchant navy as a very tough, strenuous and difficult career to choose. One has to be mentally and physically sound to pursue this career. I quite agree with it but it does panic a newcomer like me. Rather I would put it as a profession where you are heading towards uncertainty bulleting through the breast of ocean, asking you to deliver your best. I would rate it as the most adventurous thing that can happen to a man in his lifetime. Every rising sun confronts you with new challenges asking you to stand up to the occasion, exhausting you only to feel the smoothness of beer in the evening. Where else in this world you got to find this kind of chill?

Most important aspect of this profession is that you across people of different nationalities, race, culture, language – working for common goal. Interaction with such a varying spectrum always gives you a chance to learn something. Every day now and then you are exposed to a new country, a new lifestyle, a new food and a new culture — widening the boundaries of your personality to a new horizon, inculcating a new thought, a unique and matured approach to life to make you an International Citizen. I feel proud to firmly declare that few years from now I will be in-charge of a million dollar floating machine and precious lives of 20-30 people left in the open sea at the mercy of GOD and my team’s skill. These faith and exposure makes a man versatile and connoisseur and that’s why I m not taken by surprise when our faculty members talk of geography, history, different faiths and values, their merits and demerits only to make us a mariner by mind, body, heart and soul.

Another aspect I like is the work culture at ship. You always have some guidelines, standards and codes for a job. You can self judge your performance as per these codes, work on your shortcomings to become a better seaman than yesterday’s for a challenging tomorrow. I find it as the most organized and perfectly crafted sector.

No country is self sufficient. They rely on one another to meet their needs whether it is to fuel their industrial growth or to feed their population. Almost 90% of the world trade is done via sea-route. One can easily conclude that shipping is necessary to give impetus to pace of human growth. It links the interdependence of world. I am very proud to be part of this industry which affects everyone’s life in one way or other. Till recently this was a career of which every batch-mates of a merchant officer were envois of. Though this trend has lost its lust but it continues to hold highest success rate.

It is no doubt that a mariner has to be away from his home, family, his country. It does make them emotionally weak and a feel of insecurity. People get distracted from their assigned job. Off the late there has growing concern regarding the hectic and moribund schedule of mariners. They are now spending lesser time at ports than earlier. Monotonous lifestyle out at sea is taking their toll. But that’s where a tough man wakes up. We have to overcome these stresses to continue this age old profession. When going gets tough, MARINER gets going.

To sum up, ideas of facing new challenges, managing a team of qualified professionals, fantasies of operating modern sophisticated machines fascinates me. Very soon I will be joining the league of merchant officers, but this gestation period is always pumping me. I find my adrenaline rushing when I dream of being on panama in Lake Gatun with whole world below me. Whenever I think of what a man I will be a decade later, I see myself as

Mesmeric

Adaptable

Responsible

Illustrious

Noble

Emissary

Reliable

Glimpses of Life onboard
WHY I AM PROUD TO BE A MARINER

When I read the news about the essay exercise aiming to raise the awareness among younger generations about Merchant Navy as a life long career option, my mind went almost 20 years back thinking how I got into this field and today how I am feeling proud about this profession. At the same time I started wondering why the youngsters are reluctant in joining merchant navy. Then I immediately decided to share my experience with the younger generation to draw their attention towards this career.

I completed my mechanical engineering degree in 1985 from one of the prestigious college in Bangalore and started hunting for reasonably good job. Most of my friends, who were toppers in my college and who scored distinction marks, either went abroad for higher studies or joined IITs and IIMs or got jobs in multinational companies and public sector enterprises. With my score just first class I was struggling for a good job. Meanwhile I was getting job in different private companies for a small salary and I kept changing companies frequently which continued for about 2 years.

Then I got a job in one of the multinational company as a marketing engineer. Money and facilities vise company was good, but marketing job was not at all my field of choice. Thus job satisfaction for me was almost zero. Even my father who was a central government official was not happy with my job and used to express his unhappiness towards this. Then one day I saw an advertisement from WSM in a news paper inviting applications from graduate engineers for Trainee Engineer post. I did not waste my time in applying for that job and was interviewed at Bombay and was very happy to be one of the 7 candidates selected out of about 50 candidates. All my friends from my previous job where I worked ashore last were still insisting not to resign marketing job and they were all discouraging my joining merchant navy.

Finally I took my own decision and courage to resign shore job. Then I was asked by WSM to complete all the safety courses like Fire Fighting, Survival at Sea and First Aid at Sea etc. These courses were really interesting as it gave me some idea about shipping life. Till that date I had not even seen a ship nor imagined what the life would look like. After that I had to wait for about 3 months to get my assignment during which time life was really a big struggle as there was not much money in my hand, and staying in Bombay was really tough. One fine day finally I got my assignment and I was asked to join an oil tanker at USA. I was so thrilled that I can’t forget that particular day in my life. I flew in Cathay Pacific Airways via Dubai, Vienna, and Atlanta to New Orleans. Till that day I had not even flown in domestic airways even though my father was working in meteorological department in airport itself!

When I joined my first vessel I was really stunned to see such a huge ship with big engine room which you can say a floating industry. I met Captain and Chief Engineer and they explained me about the routines, rules and regulations briefly. I was really lucky enough to have a very good chief engineer who took so much pain in teaching me all aspects of engine room jobs, watch keeping etc. Life was not so easy in the beginning because it was altogether a different life. Everyday 10-12 hours of hard work was there. But being a mechanical engineer I was totally prepared for that. I had not imagined such a huge diesel engine in which 10 people can go inside engine and work together, the piston with rod of which is having a length of 3 story building.

Such a huge boiler I had not even seen in my dreams. The two boilers used for producing steam mainly for running turbine driven cargo pumps. Apart from that there was Exhaust gas boiler which produces steam with waste heat of main engine whenever main engine is running. These things really thrilled me. I used to get completely tired at the end of a day’s work. But when I started realizing the job satisfaction part, I realized myself Yes, this job has got 100% job satisfaction. Each and every machinery had its own design, function, and I had lots of things to learn.
Evening time after dinner C/E used to call me to his office and teach me some theoretical part of machineries like principle of Fresh Water Generator which is used to produce fresh water from sea water using waste heat from the main engine and Purifiers which had its own complex design in separating sludge, water and other impurities from the fuel oil and lubricating oil used for engine. There were 3 diesel engine driven generators for production of electric power. Every day we had different works. Some days working on generators, some days opening some coolers, some days overhauling some pumps, motors, compressors etc. So many jobs all well planned, spare parts kept ready. Life used to be very busy and tough.

But in the evening we all engineers and deck officers used to have dinner together with uniform and respective rank’s epaulette on their shoulders chatting, and then watching a movie or playing chess or table tennis. We even had a swimming pool which we used to use at the week ends. After these types of relaxations all the tiredness used to vanish and we used to go for our good night sleep. Next day we are ready for job again. Like engineers there are deck officers who navigate the vessel at sea and carryout cargo operation in ports. After a few days of sailing we reach port where we discharge the cargo which we carried from another country.

During port stay whoever is not on duty could go out to do shopping, sight seeing etc. Once we have seen the land for some time our vessel is back in action for sailing to another country to load another cargo. We are geared up and cheered up after that short stay in port for our next job schedule. While sailing we get very fresh pollution free air at sea. We also drink very pure water on board. Apart from working, the US dollar salary we earn at the end of the month is not small. As a Trainee Engineer I was getting a small stipend which was equivalent to my branch manager’s salary where I worked in my shore job!! When I came to know about C/E and Captain’s salary I decided to become C/E in my life as early as possible. Slowly I climbed the ladder achieving all the stages of 4th engineer, 3rd, 2nd and finally C/E. For all the exams I had to go to England as Indian Government was not permitting us to take exam in India as we had not completed any workshop training at that time. That was another blessing in disguise as I could fulfill my long term ambition of studying abroad. That gave me tremendous amount of confidence in my life. I passed my 2/E and C/E exams in distinction and gave my father some sort of relief about my performance. Similar to engineers deck officers have to undergo training from Cadet, then become 3rd officer, 2nd officer, Chief Officer and finally they take the command as Captains.
The job routines, types of machineries, entertainments etc on-board ship which I explained above is almost similar even today except there are modern machineries with more and more automation which has eased up our physical work to almost half. During my long sea career I got lots of opportunity to see the whole world. I have visited USA, Canada, Russia, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Arab countries, many of the African countries and also Pakistan. I have met different types of people and have even learnt Spanish language. Also I have worked with different nationality people like British, Pakistanis, Romanians, Filipinos, etc. Today after becoming C/E for more than 5 years if any one asks me whether I am proud to be a mariner, I will immediately say “Yes” with my chest proudly up. Reasons are plenty. In short I can brief them as follows.

First of all, in this job we have 100% Job satisfaction. Second thing the countries which I have visited so far are plenty. I have traveled all over the world, interacted with different nationality people, learnt about their culture which is not possible in any other jobs. This experience I have got while still working on board. I can ask my old college friends who were university toppers whether they had this opportunity in their life. Definitely their answer will be ‘No’. They might have visited some countries in their vacation spending their own money. Definitely not like mariners. The third reason for being proud to be a mariner is the Money. No other job except some software jobs at present day fetch you so much salary that too in foreign currency. In those days about 15 years back this job was the highest paid job. As a Seafarer I proudly admit that I have contributed to my country’s economy a little bit. At present day India is earning lot of foreign currency due to its economy boom. But during 1990 India was in big crisis and country was desperately in need of foreign currency. Today society looks at me with great respect. My friends and relatives appreciate me with dignity. After earning so much, we get a handsome vacation of 4 months which we devote completely to our family. Some people discourage sea life saying we work 4-6 months at sea leaving family away. I have seen with my own eyes 80% of the people working ashore hardly have time to spend with family.

They leave home early in the morning, work till late night and have meetings even on the week ends. They are also not different from us. In fact about 10 years back my wife’s uncle who is a General Manager in a multinational company who used to advice me a lot to quit sea life as early as possible, today the same person accepts my job as an unmatched with any other job in the world. We have well planned 4-6 months sea life and 4-5 months vacation with our family. With this well planned life, sea farer’s wife and children know how to be independent in their lives. That is another advantage which has blossomed without any one’s effort. Also we have facility to carry our family on board whenever we want. Our families have the exposure to sea life and thus they understand sea farer’s life better than any body.
Therefore while concluding my essay my sincere request to younger generation that sea life is an alternate job to any other job like software job, or multinational company jobs etc. At present day when technology is so much modern on the ships lots of educated people are coming to this field as engineers and navigating officers from institutes like IITs and IIMs. Also there are so many institutions giving pre-sea training so that youngsters are very well trained in the job before they actually start their career at sea.

Therefore I stress our youngsters not to waste any more time in joining the Merchant Navy and make their family and the country proud. With this I will welcome our younger generation to our beautiful sea life.

GREAT INDIAN CEOs OF PARLIAMENT

A friend has sent me a mail with the following text:

Salary & Govt. Concessions for a Member of Parliament (MP)

Monthly Salary : 12,000

Expense for Constitution per month : 10,000

Office expenditure per month : 14,000

Traveling concession (Rs. 8 per km) : 48,000 (For a visit to Delhi & return: 6000 km)

Daily BETA during parliament meets : 500

Charge for 1 class (A/C) in train : Free (For any number of times) (All over India)

Charge for Business Class in flights : Free for 40 trips / year (With wife or P.A.)

Rent for MP hostel at Delhi : Free

Electricity costs at home : Free up to 50,000 units

Local phone call charge : Free up to 1,70,000 calls.

TOTAL expense for a MP per year : 32,00,000

TOTAL expense for 5 years : 1,60,00,000

For 534 MPs, the expense for 5 years : 8,54,40,00,000 (nearly 855 cores)

And they are elected by THE PEOPLE OF INDIA, by the largest democratic process in the world, not intruded into the parliament on their own or by any qualification. This is how all our tax money is been swallowed and price hike on our regular commodities……. Think of the great democracy we have………….

MY VIEW:

AND THESE “HONORABLE” MPs DEMAND TO REDUCE THE SALARIES OF CEOs OF VARIOUS COMPANIES WHO, IN MY OPINION, ARE THE REAL NATION BUILDERS. I AM A FIRM BELIEVER THAT TODAY ITS NOT THE GOVERNMENT BUT THE VARIOUS INDIAN COMPANIES THAT ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE INDIA GROWTH STORY.

IT WAS THE PRIVATE COMPANIES THAT BROUGHT TELECOM REVOLUTION BY THEIR INNOVATIVE SERVICES AND STRATEGIES, IT WAS THE EFFORTS AND INNOVATIONS BY THE PRIVATE COMPANIES THAT BROUGHT THE BANKING REVOLUTION, IT IS THE PRIVATE SECTOR COMPANIES THAT HAS BROUGHT A TURN AROUND IN THE INDIAN JOB MARKET AFTER PATHETIC CONDITIONS TILL MID AND LATER 90s.

JUST AFTER INDEPENDENCE THE CENTRAL AND STATE GOVERNMENTS WERE FORMED WITH THE PROMISES OF PROVIDING ELECTRICITY, WATER, INFRASTRUCTURE, RESERVATION FOR JOBS AND EDUCATION AND ALSO BETTER MEDICAL FACILITIES, NOW TODAY WHATS THE SCENARIO, IT HAS NOT AT ALL CHANGED, EVEN BY A SMALL DEGREE. THE CONGRESS PARTY WHICH I THINK HAS RULED FOR MORE THAN FIFTY PERCENT OF INDEPENDENT INDIA’S AGE, IS STILL ASKING VOTES FOR SAME AGE OLD BASIC CITIZEN NEEDS, IT IS STILL SURVIVING ON THE AGE OLD POLL AGENDAS LIKE RESERVATION, ELECTRICITY, INFRASTRUCTURE ETC. THIS IS AGAIN PROVEN IN THE VERY NEW POLL CAMPAIGN “BHARAT NIRMAN”, WHICH GIVES CREDIT FOR TELECOM REVOLUTION ETC TO THE CURRENT GOVERNMENT.

I am a marine engineer, completed my marine engg degree from prestigious Marine Engineering and Research Institute, Kolkata. Whenever we, marine engineers try or even think to leave our jobs for higher studies or other (assumed to be better) prospects in this vast world, we are declared pariah by our own very senior alumni who are sitting either as faculty in our own college or as senior managers in some shipping companies. We are literally harassed by the college authorities, for asking the very basic rights like transcripts and recommendation letters from professors for higher studies. Is this harassment be regarded nothing but the normal modus operandi of a government office or is it something else?
When any other engineering graduate in any engineering field leaves his core field and joins another (mostly IT), no eyebrows are raised. Yes, I admit that when the foundation stone of DMET (presently MERI) was laid, the aim was to provide marine engineers to the country, but then the scenario was different, that time there were not many high paying job opportunities in the market and the marine industry or rather marine job industry was growing and there were not many specialized marine training institutes in the country.
Today the conditions are absolutely different, firstly the diploma course is changed to degree course. Why was the diploma course, which was an enough qualification to board a vessel as an engineer, changed to a degree course? The introduction of degree course equipped the cadets for other then marine career prospects.
Secondly, before the early nineties the procedure of admission was not very competitive, there used to be different quotas such as MP quota etc and only merit basis for admission by which cadets were taken in the college. Today, the criteria of admission is more sophisticated and competitive, IITJEE entrance exam is the basis of getting call in MERI Kolkata. Though only low ranked students in IITJEE exam come to MERI but still, even a lowly ranked candidate in the most competitive undergraduate admission exam of the country can be uncontroversially assumed to be highly aspiring, with aspirations and ability for higher studies.
Thirdly, today India, being one of the fastest growing economy of the world, is full of high paying jobs with rewarding career prospects.