My first visit on board a ship.

S

omewhere in October 1971 I was invited by a friend to join him to go on board a ship berthed in Colombo harbour. I was delighted at the invitation. But I explained to him my problem. He said that he would obtain permission from my mother. He came with his brother, who happened to be the third officer on that ship. My mother allowed me to go on board the ship with them. It was great. As the Third Officer, he was living in luxury. As it was in the evening we declined dinner. Therefore we were served with a hot cup of soup brought in by a steward. I went around the ship and it was out of this world. The name of the ship was "Lanka Rani", Sri Lanka's  very first cargo ship.

M.V. "Lanka Rani"

Following the visits to the "Lanka Rani", I developed a liking towards seafaring.

One day when my father was at home, I just mentioned my idea to him. His immediate response was "don’t talk nonsense". As he was a person of few words, it took another month or so to find out why he said that. I once called the friend who was an officer on the "Lanka Rani" to visit home when my father was there. He obliged. Both brothers came and had lunch with us. It was extremely difficult to convince my parents. They went on saying that I being the eldest in the family, they just cannot even think of sending me to sea, considering the dangers and other activities involved in seafaring.