Maritime Union of India - Women's Wing

We - The Power!

The Maritime Union of India- History and work undertaken

The Maritime Union of India (MUI) represents the Merchant Navy Officers who are it’s members. It is affiliated to the International Transport Workers' Federation, London, U.K. that has to it's affiliation more than 600 transport workers' trade unions in over 135 countries and presents the interests of about 5 million workers around the world. MUI is also affiliated to the Hind Mazdoor Sabha, New Delhi, that has as it's members a very large section of workers from various industries in India. MUI is thus lawfully represented on Government and Semi Government Maritime Boards and Committees. It also liaisons with various social and welfare organizations.

Women  who made it possible - the first get together.

The Union supports, participates and organizes medical awareness and welfare camps. The main objective and aim is to work for better terms and conditions of employment of the member Merchant Navy Officers. The Union enters into periodic agreement with the national and international shipping companies. By virtue of such periodic agreements it is able to establish welfare funds for the Merchant Navy officers and their families. The Union has branches/liaison offices in Kolkata, Visakhapatnam, Chennai and Tuticorin. It is planning to open a few more liaison offices in major port cities of India. The Union staff is well experienced and is capable of handling as well as extending guidance in the matter of taxation, legal, financial and medical awareness.

The administration of the Union is being guided by the Executive Committee members who are elected periodically under the rules of the Indian Trade Union Act 1926. The Maritime Union of India has the support of eminent personalities and experts who are actively engaged in Legal, Medical, Maritime, Social, Welfare and Charitable activities. It publishes it's home journal the OCEANITE every quarter and it is distributed free of cost to the members and the Shipping fraternity. 

Together we inspire and empower!

MUI has an arrangement with United India Insurance Company Ltd to cover Merchant Navy Officers' Certificate of Competency to support legal cost at the time of court proceedings. It firmly supports Government and all Maritime Organizations for the Merchant Navy Officers employment prospects, welfare and solidarity. It is ever ready to work as a partner with the shipping fraternity for the welfare of the Merchant Navy Officers in all spheres of maritime concerns, their development and prosperity.

Now that there are women who have made great careers in the maritime industry it’s but natural that they too have a representation. I am a firm believer of gender equity; formulating a Women’s Wing is a step in this direction. I was a part of this historic moment. The MUI-WW was formally unveiled on 26^th January 2018. The day will be marked in golden letters just as it became the Republic Day of India in 1950.

The Unveiling of the Women's Wing, MUI-WW

No matter where you are in life, inspire and empower the women around you! Success is never reached alone, and wisdom as well as wealth is sweeter when shared. Were the words of Ms. Saleha Shaikh who is the head of the MUI-WW, the lady instrumental in turning the dream into a reality. 

With this beautiful thought, we set off on our maiden voyage, empowered with passion and purpose. After all happy and healthy families make happy seafarers. Happy seafarers make the fraternity strong! MUI General Secretary, Mr Amar Singh Thakur graced the occasion. He spoke about the history and purpose of setting up of MUI and the idea behind starting the Women Wing now. The historic moment was inaugurated with the lighting of the ceremonial lamp by the invited dignitaries along with Mr. Thakur and Ms. Shaikh. 

The ladies, wives of officers as well as lady seafarers were registered as members. The MUI-Women's Wing (WW) thus had it's first get-together at Mumbai. The event commenced with an empowering session by 'Take Charge Expert’ and author Ms.Gemini Dhar. It was a great platform for synergy, experience sharing, collaborating and networking. The ladies had a great time interacting with each other over high tea. Women's Wing head, Ms Saleha Zubair Shaikh revealed the details of the exciting activities planned for the upcoming events. A room full of women can do wonders if they join their hands and decide to support each other. That itself is so very powerful! It was a pleasure to have 3rd Engineer Ms. Jhilam Chatterjee at the first meet up. We look forward to have more of our women seafarers gracing future gatherings, now that the platform is created.

In session - Ms. Gemini Dhar

Coming together is the beginning, keeping together is progress but working together is success. We wish to climb the ladder of success together, empowering every woman and creating space for fair representation, experience sharing, ideating; above all making the maritime fraternity robust! It is rightly said, "You can, you should, and if you’re brave enough to start, you will!"

Sailor's life

Receiced a forwarded message on my whatsapp and I felt it being so true. Sharing it here with due credits to the author, poet or sailor. Salute to him for beautifully expressing his thoughts and sharing a page from his life, speaking not just for himself but the entire fraternity.  I know they are men of a few words and many can never express what they feel with words. They are the action speaks louder than words people. They'll do, you have to feel! It wasn't just like that the sailor's girl was called the queen. He'll treat you like one. As a sailor' s wife and a blogger I have covered many aspects of our lives from a woman's perspective. It's heartwarming to hear from the sailor in his own words. I say that every word is true and deserves it's weight in forget gold, may be platinum if any value could be attached to it. It's priceless to say the least!

An ode to the true Sailor

My life moves in a circular direction. I come back home to go away and go away to come back.

I have no address except for the name of the vessel yet my passport shows one. My home is elsewhere, where my heart belongs.

I am not like any other man but yet I am the most ordinary person at heart.

I cannot go through the daily mundane stuff of the ordinary man and yet the ordinary man cannot take the pain I go through.

He cannot live away from his home, love and life for months on end.

He cannot be the helpless son, lonely husband or the yearning father.

He will never know the frustration of staying awake for days and many times not getting rest at all, working round the clock.

There are no constant time zones we stick to.

The ordinary man will not know the lonely cabins I come to after work, where as he comes to a house full of people.

He gets to eat what his mother/wife cooks and gets to be hugged by his children daily.

I only see them growing in pictures, he gets to hear them and see them daily, whereas I have to be strong and do my duties.

My wife must be silently wiping her tears, braving the pain & consoling the kids that father will be home soon.

Her hands must be longing to hold mine, her heart must be longing to love me, her lips must be longing to tell all that happens during the day, her eyes longing to look into mine.

Whenever she looks at couples on the way to market, she must be turning her eyes away and consoling herself that just few more days.

I am an ordinary man away, doing my job. I tell everyone to understand that I need to be away.

I am not a Casanova, I go to the shore to step on land because I've not felt it beneath my soles for long.

I am a very lonely man.

The biggest fear that grips my heart is when my family needs me I may not be around.

I fight myself daily, I fight these surging thoughts, I tell myself-not now mate, duty calls.

I look forward to the day I meet my folks at home, pray for their safety and wellbeing and hope they are happy.

I only want them to know, while I stand tall at the bridge, that I love my family and I am proud of who I am and what I do.

The ordinary man I am inside, I shall always be.

But the man I am today, no ordinary man shall be..

My sailor's ways

After being married for 12 years, when I look back so many things unfold that once got me upset were actually his ways of sensitising and preparing me for our lives ahead. I have been like a princess for him from the day we were introduced for marriage, I say introduced as it was an arranged marriage.

He had seen my house and my room during our courtship days which were about 6 months.  In our culture the girl goes to her husband's house only after marriage. So I hadn't seen his. But when I went there our room was a replica of my own at my parent's house, but bigger and more luxurious as it was going to be for the two of us, with stars on the ceiling that lit bright in the night. I could look at them when he was away on work. He got his house renovated before our marriage and a lot of ideas were taken from mine so that I was comfortable and the place had an element of familiarity. I literally felt at home!

My first Karwachauth was during our courtship days. He was home then, my mom in law asked if I would like to follow the ritual which I immediately answered in the affirmative. He called again to tell me that it was never a compulsion, he thought I might not be the girl who'll fast with no food or water. I told him that I loved all the festivities connect with it moreover it was a celebration of our love, which was blossoming then, I'd fast for sure. It was evening almost 10 pm and he hadn't come to see me. I was so very upset visualising all the romance of the festival that our Bollywood films brought. I did the rituals with my mother. He could have come over and made it even bigger than DDLJ but he chose not to as I'd be alone the next Karwachauth.  He didn't want me to miss him thinking of how it was the first time. It did happen that he wasn't home the following year and I celebrate the festival with my mom in law. He called and hearing his voice mattered the most to me.

He has had his ways of making a girl who was cocooned and everything provided for, into a Sailor's Queen. When I go down the memory lane, just like today being the Karwachauth and he busy onboard into a long manoeuvring, I realise how smart he has been preparing me for things without ever dropping a hint. Some of those incidents caused misunderstandings or tiffs but he made sure that I learnt or discovered things on my own. The more I learn about him the deeper my love becomes.

Many sailor' s wives, fiancees and girlfriends follow my blogs and so many write back to me. I felt like sharing a few cherished moments from my life. A sailor has his way of doing things, just be with him with all your love and understanding, you'll be his forever queen!

Love is not looking at each other but looking in the same direction.

Happy Karwachauth, be blessed!

PS Mehendi pic courtesy Nisha Siddarth, a Sailor queen.

Only the sailors will know...

  "Lets go to our cabin" - I'd be surprised and wonder where that was,... but that was a long time ago, not anymore! Now I know that's our room, mine most of the times as hubby uses his cabin while onboard!

"Shift to the port"....or it could be to "the starboard"  some other time. These often used terms for directions that'd make me looking confused ever more. That's supposed to be the left  or the right side. For the people who can't figure out. I still can't get the hang of it myself. For a person who  has to look at the eating hand (right hand) to check the right or the left side; port and starboard are a bit too much ...Greek!

I recently discovered that there's a term that describes my condition and its called direction dyslexia. I wasn't too pleased with the discovery though. Can you imagine a Professor describing herself like that. Well the other day I happened to talk about it to some friends of course in the third person. Guess what? I  learnt that it wasn't me alone. There were others who faced very similar challenges! I call it a challenge as there have been instances when I am in an auto or a taxi and give direction to the driver. When he goes exactly in the opposite of where I mentioned, it gets tricky to tell him, " Oh am sorry I meant the other way." 

Let me not add bow and stern, for that matter not even  aft. Lets keep our directions to good old Left and Right. All those who get confused with even these, like me let them check with their (eating)hands. That's right (or left if you are a left handed person). 

The Captain or the Master is often referred to as the 'Buddha', not as in Lord but buddha that's old in Hindi. I am certain that the maritime world knows what Buddha is! I discovered this term even before hubby told me. Soon after our marriage, when I went back to work a colleague who happened to be a Chief Engineer's wife called me a Buddhi... I was wondering why and she explained that my hubby was a Buddha in waiting; hubby was sailing as Chief Mate that time though he had cleared his Masters written as well as orals. Next contract he did become the Buddha! On a lighter note it also shows the great camaraderie between the Deck and the Engine sides. 

Similarly there are the Bada Saab, that's  the Chief engineer, Second Saab is the second engineer, Teen Saab and Chaar Saab for third and fourth engineers respectively. Also Cookie for the Chief Cook , AB for the Able Seamen,  Bosun, Batti Saab for the electrical officer and so on. There are different ranks but each having a nickname too! Guess what?  All of them are Indian in origin. Look at how our marine brothers have been globetrotters and globe influencers! Isn't that really powerful? The British might have been credited with creating the modern maritime but we Indians have given what matters the most- the nicknames! Whats in a name they say.... there's definitely a lot than one can imagine. 

Everything you buy worth thousands will only be so many dollars for your sailor! I often laugh at that I 'd think it to be so expensive if something costed 7 or 8 thousand rupees but for hubby it would only be 100 something Dollars. Perception is different you see!
Leaving  aside perception,  there are also certain qualities that set the sailors apart. Lets look at some of them.

The conservationist - Save water! for that matter save everything possible, all resources are to be judiciously used. I can't even keep the tap on while doing dishes, if hubby is around he'll come and turn it off anyway. No food will be thrown ever and absolutely no wastage of anything. Lets not talk about money here, money is just a couple of dollars and they work so hard to earn them, hence the family deserves indulgence! So they don't save that commodity.

No littering around - Swatch Bharat Abhiyan came into practice now in our country, and government has levied a tax too but we have been living with it ever since. So much so that my kids put chocolate wrappers in their pockets and bring them home if they can't find a dustbin around. 

Safety First -  Whatever is attempted has to be done with utmost safety in mind. If there is a doubt that means 'doubt exists' and something needs to be done about it! This applies every single time.

Know it all - He is the electrician, plumber, tailor, cook, driver, accountant, housekeeper, doctor so on and so forth. When he is around there'll never be a need to call anyone as the sailor knows all these jobs, you see he is a jack of all trades. I call mine a Neem Hakim as he has a solution for everything. Your problems will be expressed later but his solution will be laid on the table first.

Spendthrift - They are big spenders.They work so hard and are away from their families for long periods of time so that they can give their dear ones the very best. They rarely spend on themselves though. Its always for their near and dear ones. That gives them true happiness. What else will you call selfless?

Too trusting - They trust every telecaller and ever banker who calls them. These NRIs are called to look at great investment ideas and schemes that'd be too good in the long run. They generally oblige, trusting everything that's told to them. They don't understand numbers much when it comes to adding zeros behind the notes though. Our Rupee hasn't been strong in a long time that could be the reason why the investments don't look too big ever.

World language - They would have worked with so many nationalities that they could speak quite a few languages. Generally grammar may go for a toss as they are so used to not using proper English or proper sentences for that matter.  Just for the ease of making things understandable to all. So that all can comprehend whats spoken. Imagine Italian, Russian, Filipino, Bangladeshi, Indian, Ukrainian,  Chinese or Thai all working as one team. The language needs to be global, ...truly! 

Ship as the home - When they are on work, the ship is home for the next 4-5 months. So every time you speak the general topic will be concerning weather, port, loading, discharging, crew change, dry dock, port state, vetting, pre- vetting etc. But they'll love to hear everything from you, all the happening around you, even the daily chores.

Routine -  Everything is clockwork, the watches, time for meals, sleep or wake up time. No one follows routine like a sailor does.

Understanding Timezones - The Shippies are just too good when it comes to understanding the weather, time zones, tides across the globe and also identifying the stars and constellations.

Expressive- They are quite the non expressive kinds. For that matter most men are but the sailors score a century here. Thanks to having "all boys" work teams. I guess they just learn to not express and its for others especially the spouse to understand. Their actions will speak for them, they don't ever depend on words. So if you don't hear," Baby I love you" or "I've been missing you". Its absolutely normal. They mean all of these that's why they call you using satphones. Over the period of time you begin to love this particular quality of his.

The beverage love - They love their drinks whatever spirit or alcohol they prefer. Its a luxury when they are on land Most shipping companies don't allow consumption of alcohol while onboard as certain countries have laws against them.

Cosmetics-  They understand the importance of beautification and cosmetics. The big lady they live with is extremely demanding. They do the regular cleansing and painting work to keep her in top shape and  with all aesthetics in place. Guess the sailor expects his own lady love to be the best! He surely knows the maintenance part. 

Ladies man- The sailors are quite popular with the ladies from time immemorial. Women have always loved to hear the stories of the seas and their adventures. Not to mention they getting jealous of the mermaids, believed to be every sailor's fantasy and imagination. 

Eye for detail - It is said that women have great eye for detail, I wish to add that the sailors are equally good if not better. They take in details of every little thing. It 'd be a surprise though when they wouldn't notice what you wear but will know that the eyeliner on the left eye was thicker than the right one. They are that precise!

Love these lines by Joseph Conrad, A British marine,

"Nowhere else than upon the sea do the days, weeks and months fall away quicker into the past. They seem to be left astern as easily as the light air-bubbles in the swirls of the ship’s wake, and vanish into a great silence in which your ship moves on with a sort of magical effect. They pass away, the days, the weeks, the months. Nothing but a gale can disturb the orderly life of the ship; and the spell of unshaken monotony that seems to have fallen upon the very voices of her men is broken only by the near prospect of a Landfall". 

That makes me love and value my sailor!