Sailors make a big thing about ‘Crossing the Line’.

An initiation ceremony is held aboard on the day the vessel is to cross the Equator. They said they were even going to show us first-timers the line in the sea which marks the earth’s Equator. Ha ha.

I being one of the first-timers crossing the equator onboard a ship joined in the celebratory mood. They broke eggs on our heads, painted our faces, and made us jump in to the ship’s pool. I was ordered by ‘King Neptune’ to run a few rounds on deck, then swallow a horrible mixture of orange juice and eggs, all poured together in a big drum from which everyone happily guzzled the foul mix.

Later certificates of having been through this initiation ceremony were issued to us so we wouldn’t have to suffer this ignominy again. But it was so much fun I wouldn’t have minded a repeat experience.

Life at sea is one tough call, as any wife and family who has sailed will tell you. Glassy seas with frolicking dolphins can within hours turn in to churning waters and gigantic waves. Nature’s beauty and her fury all woven together in what our spouses so casually refer to as their ‘Sea Time’.

But it’s a wonderful calling, and I wouldn’t want my husband Capt Prabhat Nigam to have ever exchanged it with any other walk of life.

Marex Media