A Mariner's life is not easy. It's a constant struggle whether you are at sea or ashore. And if one think's he can sit back on his laurels after retirement, then he's sadly mistaken.

We would have been in love with ourselves had we been as big as Owners of leading Shipping Companies. With such greatness they can afford to, not we. We Mariners are still ordinary fellows, laughs Vikram Gokhale.

Mr. Nanda takes a deep breath and says, "Today a Mariner can lose sleep everyday. Life is not easy anymore. It's a constant struggle whether you are at sea or ashore. And if one thinks he can sit back on his laurels after an age of 55, then he's sadly mistaken. Sailing as a Master or Chief Engineer or even working ashore as a Superintendent is still a daunting task. "Insecurity can keep you on the feet, and make you live only for the day." Hard to believe right? So, one must not look back especially if you are on a shore job at the various times when your sea career has gone up and down like a roller coaster ride. But each time you must try to bounce back. If unsuccessful in a shore job, go back to sea. It's never too late, and if tired of being out at sea away from your family, try a new innings ashore.

If, you are in a Government service ashore, maybe you are levelled with many tags. A lot of people may think you are self obsessed, and chair crazy, but follow your heart and do what you believe in. Says, Nanda nonchalantly - One must keep himself busy and not judge himself by anyone's yardsticks. He must continue to pursue the things ashore that drive him as an individual , similar to that when he was a Master or Chief Engineer in those good old days on the ship. We live in a sea world and both me and Gokhale are grateful to the support and encouragement given by the entire industry for authoring NG Series especially when a handful of people talked otherwise. It was a trial of fire from which it helped us to emerge stronger.

Gokhale analyses by saying, having knowledge is self awareness and not being able to use it is self obsession. We know that our books are popular and just happy basking in it is a waste of resources. One should be able to use his income and status for such purposes. One can sit and talk for hours about the time spent out at sea, or on investments made ashore which proved failures but apart from providing idle banter, what purpose does it serve? Instead why not worry about the future?

One must be punctual and disciplined at work. These are given things in any profession. Deliver the goods what the Shipowner's want. Nobody, must cheat you for the Moolah that you richly saved or earn for sheer professionalism and hardwork. In the Shipping Industry, there is a great respect and regard for each other - its value undisputed. For so many years, most of our work at sea was taken on word of mouth from our seniors. But now with the advent of planned procedures, its all on paper.

So, you must decide to operate as per the diktats of the procedures laid down. Close your eyes and you will get a better picture of yourself whether at sea or working ashore.