Life, as it goes.

It dawned to rains. Living in Mumbai for three years, I have seen the various possible type of rain. The pleasant drizzle that inspires poetry, the continuous rythmic clatter of fat raindrops or the violent vicious drops that slash the skin and give you reminders of that day in July, all rain for me is mainly good. Monsoon has been and still remains to be even after July 26th, my favourite season but rain in the highseas definately does not stand in my likings list.

My cabin was on the 9th deck, firstly because of the rains the sun had decided to take it easy so I got up late and then as I stepped onto the balcony the wind thrust me back inside and a rush of raindrops startled me. I looked over into the water and I could not see beyond hundred meters. The greenish blue water tumbling and folding over itself looked omnious. The ship was moving slower than yesterday but waves crashed against it and as if in protest let out a roar as the ship mercilessly cut through them. Lightening flashed above and made the eyesight play tricks. All in all it was scary but still resolutely I made my to the 13th deck for the morning walk.

The deck was open to air but because of the rain they had put up roofs over the walking track, another reason for the roofs was to avoid the collection of water. It was difficult to walk because of the wind and I had to grab the hand railing to keep from slipping so after some futile attempts, I stuck to the treadmill.

That morning we were to reach Phuket, Thailand and after a while as if by miracle, the rain stopped. The sun scattered its diamonds once again. R and I downed breakfast quickly and boarded the last ferry for the island. V and S did not turn up at the decided time and brilliant as we are, we did not know their cabin number either so we ended up going alone to Phuket.

It was a little more organised in terms of foreign currency than Malaysia. The ferry in Phuket lands just near the beach so we just had to walk a couple of minutes to reach the beach. For a while we walked and then went for a swim. The water was amazing, just one problem, it was horribly salty. I know that I will be told that sea water is always salty but the degree of salinity here was too high, I had to spit it out so many times.

We spent the entire morning in the sea, took a jet ski ride for an atrociously expensive 1000 bahts, close to 1200 bucks in indian rupees. R forbid me to do the calculation which was good because the jetski ride was amazing. The vehicle is a simple motor with an accelerator, no brakes, clutch or gear just zooms into the sea. We went out far out into the sea and passed our ship which was berthed in the high seas. I was riding pillion and R was driving. It was a real thrill.

After that we relaxed and ate our ghar ka khana, the khakhras, sev and toast that we had taken with us. The beach also had a street shopping mall from which after a lot of deliberation and discussion we bought handful of gifts for family. Both of us dislike shopping so did not spend too much time or money on it.

It was very hot and a lot of people with various skin colours were lounging around the beach in altering degrees of undress. I caught R sneaking a look on sunbathing firang women and took his picture as proof for future reference to his ogling. It was quite amazing how they can shed their clothes in public. I would never be able to attempt something like that even if I had an hour glass figure.

By late afternoon, we were left with only 5 bahts and determined to use them. R said we would not get anything for five bahts but I managed to find a packet of mint chocolates in that amount and we came away from Phuket to the ship with empty pockets.

The ship had organised a Gala cocktail and dinner party which was to be attended by the captain and his crew. It was very interesting to meet the men who held the reins of the mammoth machine. They were mainly Europeans. Both the Captain and his co-captain were Swedes with tanned, weathered faces of outdoor men. Tall and muscular, much older than R but easily able to punch the lights out of him if they wanted to. They suited the ship and reflected its pride.

The Gala dinner followed the cocktail. By mistake they gave us two vegetarian meals whereas R wanted the non-veg one so he was a bit bugged because the food was quite bland. Also, the dinner was a bit boring because we had expected that it to be much more grand and there would be dancing after the dinner, live music etc. Instead it was just a formal dinner with a course system. The only saving grace was a little show by the food and galley team who did a small jig for us.

After the dinner we did some more roaming in the ship. This time visiting the casino on board. By then we had met with many Indians. Couples on honeymoon as well as big khandaans. Majority of the Indians were Marwadis from small cities like Indore, Meerut, Ranchi etc. During the gala cocktail the captain said that the total number of passengers were more than 2000, and considering that the cruise started from Singapore, there should be a lot of Orientals but instead wherever we went we met only Indians. Once we entered the casino we realised where the Oriental friends were. Spread across backjack, roulette and slot machines were numerous people, with the exception of a couple of Caucasians and Indias, everyone was Oriental.

"So thats what these people are doing." R commented, "Trying to recover the cruise cost here."

Fools I would say because I firmly believes that the house always wins. The next stop was the Karoke pub where a lissome figure of a woman was singing a beautiful English song about love and separation. R looked at her with admiration while I was amazed at the exaggeration of her actions. Her voice was a little too shrill, walk a wee bit bouncy and movements more effiminate than usual.

"Aadmi hai. Ladka hai, shart maar." I told R.
"What? Noooo...." R looked me incredulous.
"Bol kitne ki, if I win you get me a chocolate sundae everyday for the rest of the trip." I said.
"And if I will I get to drink myself unconcious tomorrow night." he countered.
"Chal thik hai, bet."

Now the bet was struck but the main question was, how to find out whether she was a he or a real she? For the next half hour there was no way we could either approach her/ him or ask anyone. We began to wonder whether we should chuck the bet but then we decided to wait for a day to see if you will be able to find out somehow.

Our last stop was the disco where people were dancing in couples. It was a competition. R had some cocktail and I relaxed with hot chocolate. The music chaged from Mambo to salsa to rock to disco and couples changed styles and actions to the music. It was really amazing to see elderly people go for it and dance like never before. Neither of us know all these dances so we just watched for sometime. I was feeling drowsy after the hot chocolate so I went for a walk while R sat at the bar. The night was dark and the wind thick with humidity. Far out in the sea here and there specks of light showed ships travelling to their destinations. The contrast between what went on inside, the lights and noise and what was outside, the darkness and peace was so stark, it was difficult to decide which was the real one, the world inside or the one outside.

The sun shines doubly in the sea as the water reflects and breaks the sheets of gold into infinite diamonds. Thats what the sunrise looked like in the sea. Sadly, R is the one to sleep till late, of course he had a good reason to. He had done his bit to reduce the ship's supply of alcohol the previous night and it would take till 9-10 in the morning to remove the after effects of the indulgence.

I went for a walk around the ship. It was humungous. With 13 decks, the height is easily as much as a building with 11 floors. The 13th deck had a walking trail where many people were taking morning walks. It was close to eight in the morning and smell of freshly brewed coffee came from one of the restaurants on that deck.

The gym was unoccupied and I thought of trying the treadmill. I have never exercised on it so I went to check it out. It was the best thing I did. The gym was on the twelveth deck with one side of glass windows which looked out to the sea. The treadmills faced the windows. It was so cool to walk on the treadmill with the entire ocean spread in front of you.

After lunch we reached the first port of call, Penang in Malaysia. We got to land through a ferry boat and stepped out on the pier to an interesting sight. From afar it looked like a street vendor who had parked his wares in a stall, on a closer look, his wares were something we had never seen before in such a setting. Spread out in front of him, in numerous little boxes, neatly tagged were notes and coins of not less than 10 different currencies. Above him hung the latest buying and selling rate written by sketchpen on chart paper. The only thing that made him different from a street vendor was that he was conducting his business silently instead of the regular bellowing, "Le lo bhai khilone le lo."

R hesitated but the Star Cruise personnel said that it was ok to get money exchanged there, so we took some local currency and proceeded to take a taxi. Behind me I saw a fair girl with red and white bangles, the sign of a brand new bride speaking in Hindi with a man presumably her brand new groom. I approached them,

"We could share a taxi if you like. One taxi for the day costs 160, instead of spending 320 we can spend 160 and ride together." I said smiling in Hindi.
"Makes sense." The girl said, "Kya kehte ho?" she asked her husband.
"Koi gal nahi." the guy said. Revealing himself as the happy-go-lucky Punjabi. Don't know why but I have a thing with these Punjus, har jagah mil jaate hai.

Thus we met and made friends with V and S, a newly married couple from Delhi who were with us on the cruise and spent the day with them in Penang.

It was a charming little seaside town with big malls and a beach which is a rare combination of sea and mountains. It also has some Buddhist temples, one of them being the Sleeping Buddha. Alone, we would have been bored I think but with V and S it was fun. S was aghast when I told her that R and I were not yet married but recovered from the shock soon enough and admitted that she envied our guts.

We were to get back to the ship by seven in the evening. We spent some time at the temples, some in the malls and then stayed at the beach chatting till sundown. I didn't want to go into the sea because it wasn't that clean so we just relaxed and talked. A drunk man tried to sell us jet ski and para sailing rides. R and V had to literally corner him and bully him to leave. I was a little afraid that some of his cronies might interfere and turn it into a brawl but interestingly nothing happened. A massage lady later told me that the man did this everyday and nobody really bothered about him.

There was one thing that bothered me though, money. We just couldn't spend thinking that everything cost so much more here than in India. I was constantly doing the math in my head. We were not going to splurge because we did not have that kind of money but still, we were supposed to have fun and that cost money, so why could I not spend? Then R gave an profound explanation to this, "Pri, free fun is better than paid fun, what other reason do people have to get married?" I slapped him on the shoulder, V guffawed and S blushed.

Back at the ship, R, V and S went for a swim while I sat near the pool reading. At dinner we ate like we had been stranded in an uninhabitated island for months and then roamed around the ship. By midnight we were tired and with a promise to meet up with V and S again the next day turned in. I sat in my balcony for a long time watching the water my mind in wonder at nature's power - the sea on which I was a miniscule, irrelevant speck versus man's power - the ship which conquered the sea and turned me into the one to challenge it too.

This was the big day. I had some important meetings in the morning R also had some work at his office and was busy till lunch so R and his colleague dropped me off near the area where the offices were located and I was on my own. Singapore has one main business district. It is located on the banks of the only river of Singapore.

By 1:30 we had to reach a place called the Harbour Front to board the Super Star Virgo cruise. This was the highlight of our holiday so I was very excited. By 1:00 I was done with the meetings and rushed back to the apartment so collect the bags because R was still busy, we had talked, he was to meet me at the Harbour Front. I reached the Harbour Front in time and stood in the line for check-in into the ship but R hadn't got there. I was beginning to worry. Behind me the crowd started thinning as people moved into the ship. Then my turn came at the counter, I let a large family of Marwadis go instead.

After some time of waiting and letting others pass, I was alarmed to notice that the counters were beginning to close. Still there was no sight of R. I looked around for a payphone, there was one in the corner. Risking the possibility of having to restart in a new line, I pushed the trolley to the payphone. It was free for local calls so I called his office, no one picked up.

I was bordering on panic. Suddenly a voice blared out from somewhere.

"Calling for Mr. Desai and Ms. Mehta to please check-in immediately."
"Shit. Where the hell is this man?" I mumbled and pushed back to the check-in counter. Panic had given way to anger. "I don't give a damn, he can stay here, I am going to enjoy my holiday."

"Ms. Mehta?" The girl at the counter asked. "Are you checking in alone?"
"Yes." I said, still on the lookout for R's figure hurrying through the crowd.
"You have been booked together with Mr. Desai." she said.
"I know."
"Is he not coming?" her voice was incredulous.
"I have no freaking idea dear." I said in a sweet, sarcastic voice.
"You have two single cabins, can I cancel his?" she asked.
"No, wait for him but check me in"
"Ok, please give me your passport and confirmation please." She did some stamping and checking for a couple of minutes. "Here you go. Please proceed to board the ship immediately."

I pushed the trolley towards the boarding line which consisted of only a couple of people, still looking behind my back. The speakers blared, "Calling for Mr. Desai, please proceed to check-in immediately." The sound faded slowly as I walked at the snails pace, avoiding the travellator. Still waiting. At next counter they asked for my passport and replaced it with an access card to the cabin.

"Ms. Mehta, welcome. There is a message for you. Your companion is sorry for the delay. He has just reached the check-in counter and requested you to wait if ..." The man at the counter paused, there was a twinkle of humour in his eye. "If you still want to marry him." He completed with a chuckle.

I did not know how to react. I was furious enough to push the trolley and run into the ship without waiting for him but his very simple and matter-of-fact request made me smile and, wait. It took only a few seconds for R to appear, running for his dear life on the travellator.

"Sorry." He spoke between breaths.
"Whatever it is tell me later, lets go."

He took the trolley from me and we trotted towards the boarding gate. The staff of the cruise seemed to know the problem, they were laughing at us. We stepped into the ship, our baggage in hand and the gate closed behind us. We were the last to board the ship.

The rest of the day went in asserting my anger and demanding compensation. That was really fun. The fool had forgotten his passport and ticket confirmation at a client's office where he had gone for the meeting. The office was closed after the meeting because it was a Sunday. He had to return to their office from half-way to Harbout Front, get them to reopen it and retrieve his passport and documents. He had tried to call me but there was no way I was reachable except by calling the cruise offlice which was constantly engaged. I had happily declined to get international roaming inspite of his insistance to avoid the extra expenses. He gave me a "I-told-you-so" a couple of time to aussage his own guilt.

After this initial shocker, things went smooth. The ship was awesome. Our cabins had small balconies. It was a tremendous kick to step out into the balcony and face the endlessness of the sea. We had three days of this bliss and I wanted to make the most of it so I forgave him and went back to having fun.