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.