Pongalo Pongal!

The steward and I discussed making Pongal the whole of last week, only to find out we do not have pacharisi (raw rice) on board. The Basmati rice apparently won’t work as well as pacharisi, according to the experts (read mother and mother-in-law) back at home. So we gave up on the idea.

I wore a saree today and everybody finally seemed to acknowledge a woman’s presence in the ship. It was also the last of the gifts from my sister-in-law for the wedding. I finally feel married and settled now.

Tomorrow is the captain’s birthday. So in celebration of that and Pongal, we had a barbeque party today. Barbeque party for Pongal, howzzat?? 

We vegetarians were stuck with nothing to eat as usual, except for paneer(cottage cheese), capsicum and jagged potatoes, but the conversations made up for the lack of food. The Sri Lankan Bhatti saab(electrical engineer) and I had serious discussions about LTTE and the prevalent situation in Sri Lanka. The chief engineer was talking about the “history of Shahrukh Khan” to whoever listened. Some people were busy barbequing food for themselves and the others. A few just lounged with a drink in hand enjoying the breeze. When the booze got into their heads, everyone started dancing to item numbers.

I’m starting to think that these parties in the ship follow a pattern. Or maybe it’s true for all parties involving just a bunch of young to middle-aged men.

PS: We have almost reached the coast of Ivory Coast. Yay!