The mariners

It was one fine morning in 1998.

My uncle Niharendu was going through the newspaper while sipping on a cup of tea in the morning. Suddenly, he stopped on an advertisement welcoming admission application from the interested undergraduates.

Somalia is a dangerous coast to cross with pirates teeming the sea. Amidst dark clouds, cold blooded killer pirates sometimes show up on their ship. Shimul Krishna Das is given responsibility to watch out for them through the binocular. I captured this picture when the ship was crossing the danger zone of Somalia coast.

He threw me the offer, "Why do you not try this?"

Who could predict that Samiul would break his leg? He must have dreamt he would continue his job until his contract is finished. But God smiled behind. When I captured this picture, emergency medical team came to take him off for treatment in South Korea.

Because my uncle knows well that I have always been an adventurous fella. And from then on, he pushed me into a world of fantasy for a few days.

In my imagination, the adventurous profession of a mariner is always drawn with the imagery of an international man who has access to almost every country in the world. I read many such books and watched numerous movies wherefrom I came to know the mariners travel all over the world which no other professionals can do.

Preserved food is available in the ship’s cold storage. But it is a matter of fortune to get fresh seasonal fruits on board. But when some floating markets with fresh food arrive towards the ship, it brings unexpected joy for the mariners. I took this picture in Indonesia when some small boats with some seasonal fruits come beside the ship and an interested buyer from the ship bargains to purchase the fruits from them.

To me, the calling of the profession was like a daydream come true. I must go there!

This is the picture of Eid festival at mid ocean. Festivity in the sailing life supersedes the barrier of religion or designation. Hindu Junior Shimul embraces Muslim Chief Officer Jashim Uddin.

There are two groups of marine study: nautical and engineering. The engineering people have less scope to enjoy voyages as they have to pass most of the time inside ships.

I took the admission test. They selected a hundred from all over the country. I was one of them. The journey started.

Mariners are seen processing a sacrificial goat on Eid Day.

In 2006, I started my sea life as a trainee on a Japanese ship named MT Eastern Darma. It was a chemical tanker. The journey has extended for 14 years and still I am on it.

Cleaning the tank is always risky on a oil tanker and an experienced mariner, Sirajul, know it well as he steps down the 16-metre tank. I took this picture when Sirajul was wiping the pump stack at the bottom of tank.

By this time, the earth became 14 years older. And I put my footsteps on the soil of a good number of significant cities. I got married in the year 2009. I got a family. My two beautiful children got their mariner father.

In this struggling sea life, sometimes joy comes as a blessing. When our ship was at the Arabian sea at 45 degree temperature, most of the people of the ship were exhausted in the scorching heat. Suddenly a fresh water pipeline was broken and sprinkle of water sprayed out on the deck. Two Junior Officers Abdul Malek and Sabit Ahamed were taking shower and dancing before repairing the pipeline.

I love them blindly even though I could not stay with my wife during the pregnancy and the delivery of my sweet little daughters. Yea, I was in the stormy part of the Atlantic Ocean that night.

The mariners are seen playing cricket on the dock of the ship

And that is the biggest challenge of sea life. That separation and solitude with solid responsibility of the ship with whimsical uncertainty of the nature of vast oceans, the three-fourths of the earth. We do not have any idea of that life. We cannot see that morbid life or only see those off-duty pictures where the mariner is rambling around the anchored land in holiday cheers.

Imam Hossain, 28, is a very strong and energetic seaman of my ship. When I took this picture, he was washing the inside of a tank. When he was busy with his job, his wife was pregnant. He should have been beside her. But the call of duty gives no chance to think of that. With that frustration, he can only manage time to talk to her, weaving the dream around their coming child during short breaks.

The real life of a mariner in sea is like a secret world. I saw untold stories of that hidden world. Water everywhere…

Think of a 6,000 square metre ship floating in the vast ocean of 12,00,000 square kilometres. The marine life has been one of the ancient and daring professions in the history of mankind contributing to civilisation.

Mariners are cleaning the dock.

I always dreamed to be a photographer but my fortune pushed me into the marine life. But I never gave up my hope to be a photographer and I started photography in my ship. I started capturing the story of mariners. Now I would like to complete my project with some new documentation of the mariner's family life.