Recently, we went on a trip to Tuticorin. And my dad’s classmate from tenth grade (Roshan Uncle) is now in the ship industry. So when we went to Tuticorin, my dad asked him whether we could go on a boat, or at least see the port. So on the day we reached Tuticorin, my father messaged him, and he said yes. So then, the next day we were going to a port.
The next day, first Roshan Uncle asked us for lunch, if we were free. And since we were only in the resort and we had nothing else to do, we said okay. We went to a nearby restaurant, he told us a little bit more about the ship industry, and his other businesses that he has, and he told us that we had to get a pass to go inside the port. The security near the port had gotten tighter recently.
At first, his agent said that it would not be possible for us to get the pass, but then after a while, we were able to get the pass. And at around 5:30, his driver came to pick us up. On the way, Roshan Uncle came and he drove us to the port. I was surprised we were going to the port, because I still was not sure if they would let us through. But luckily, when we went there, they let us through. First of all, he just showed us nearby, like there were these other big cargo ships called barges that would take big rocks to the Maldives, because naturally, Maldives does not have big rocks, and they would need them for some of their big projects and infrastructure. And what seemed like such a small tug boat, is what would take that all the way to the Maldives. They were really high powered, yet they seemed so small.
Then we got the chance to get on an actual boat.
It was docked, and we were not going to be able to ride on it while it was moving of course, but it was still exciting. The scary part though, was getting on the boat itself, because to get on you need to go on a ladder that was a little unsteady, and below for a short distance was the sea, so it was scary for sure. But after we got on I felt better. We were able to get inside and see the control room of the boat. It was pretty cool, and I was even able to hold the helm of the boat, it was locked obviously. And at that moment I felt like Capt. Jerry. 😉
After that we took turns taking some photos, and talking, I also got to see where the crew sleep, and also where they cook. After that we took turns and I again, scared, got off the boat. After getting on the ground I had a huge relief. Then, I took some photos of the sunset.
It was very fun going on the boat, after that, we went to the shipyard. The shipyard was where Roshan Uncle was building one of his ships, which I was excited about again. First, we saw a barge that was on the ground. When you saw the barge on the sea the height did not seem too big, but on the ground, it was extremely big. We took a walk around the shipyard, and he explained to us all about the ship he was building, that we also saw. He had to gather lots of big trees for his boats. And he has to go to auctions for them.
After that, we went to Roshan Uncle’s house. By the time we went there, it would have been 7 or 7:30. We spent a long time there talking, it was fun there, Aunty gave us some homemade snacks and a juice, all of them were great. I especially loved the sharbat. And the ambience in the house was great. We talked about business, travel, and homeschooling. We spent a really long time with them, and at around 9:30, we left and Roshan Uncle came to drop us off at the resort!
Thank you Roshan Uncle and Aunty for such a great time!
That’s all for this post! See you all next time!
