A popular saying in Hindi goes, "Khoda pahar, nikla chooha"- make the huge effort of digging a whole mountain only to find something totally insignificant, a rat! This story is a reverse of that.
In January 1985, when I was commanding the frigate Trishul, the annual 'Pulling Regatta' took place. This is a prestigious event in which all ships of the Fleet vie with each other to win the 'Cock' trophy which, as the name implies, is in the shape of a lifesize rooster. The competition consists of a number of races in a 27 foot boat called 'whaler', which is rowed (pulled) by different teams of a ship such as Seamen, Technical Sailors, Senior Sailors, Officers, and Best Whaler. The overall winning ship is awarded the Cock, proudly hoists it on the main mast and is named 'Cock Ship of the Fleet', signifying excellent team work, exemplary camaraderie and high morale among all on board. It is also considered as a sign of the ship's Captain's leadership qualities and popularity. For example, Admiral Ronnie Pereira's ships always won the Cock during his various commands. Naval folks are familiar with what happened when he was commanding the cruiser Delhi. In the second last race, his team put in a super effort and won by a big margin only to discover that the ship's 'best whaler' crew had mistakenly taken part in the race meant for 'senior sailors'. They were promptly disqualified and completely exhausted for the next race which was actually theirs- 'best whaler'. So Ronnie jumped into the boat himself and cajoled the crew to participate in the race inspiring them to win it. Delhi won the Cock despite getting no points in the race before.
Competing against bigger ships like Vikrant and Mysore and newer destroyers and frigates, old Trishul which had joined the Western Fleet after a long docking period for its 'modernisation', was nowhere in anyone's reckoning for winning the Cock. Quietly working their way up, her boats did well and to everyone's surprise, ended as runner-up after giving a close run to Taragiri, the eventual winner. Admiral Russi Ghandhi, then Chairman, Shipping Corporation of India, who was the Chief Guest, announced a free trip to Singapore on M.V. Chidambaram for the the Captain of Taragiri and his wife. Captain NK Sawhney, Managing Director, Mazagaon Docks, with whom I had developed a good equation while we were jointly getting the ship ready in the docks, was also watching the event. He came up to me and said how happy he was that Trishul had done so well and bowled me over by declaring free tickets for me and my wife on Chidambaram to Singapore.
This was an unexpected surprise and Akhila, who was also present there, and I were thrilled. We came home and announced it to our children with Akhila insisting that we would pay for Ruchir and Shumita who must accompany us.
None of us had passports so, to set the ball rolling, we applied for them. We then initiated inquiries about Chidambaram's sailing schedule to match the dates with our cruise which would have to be in the School summer vacations.
We were waiting eagerly for things to progress when we got the shocking news that a fire had broken out on Chidambaram and the ship was rendered out of commission. This was a huge disappointment to all of us but we were helpless and resigned to our fate. My thoughts went back to the palmist who in my childhood had predicted no foreign visits for me and wondered whether he had some substance in his predictions.
Shortly after, I received a letter from Naval Headquarters appointing me as Defence Adviser, High Commission of India, Singapore. That meant three years in Singapore for the family.
Lost a rat, found a mountain!
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