THOSE WERE THE DAYS, MY FRIEND.

Most of you must have heard the 60's classic song “Those were the days, my friend" Mary Hopkin. Those were the days, my friend, We thought they'd never end, We'd sing and dance forever and a day, We'd live the life we chose...

- Capt. Robert Vaz

At some point in your career, you must have heard your seniors talking about life at sea, say from the 1970s to the 1990s and how they cherished those good times. They were never put under severe stress by managers, vetting/PSC inspections, criminalization of seafarers, restriction on shore leave, or stringent regulations in some instances that could even land us in prison; no Whatsapp or Mobile, just telex Sat-C. Undoubtedly, the sailors in those days had their challenges but were happy-go-lucky and portrayed to the world that seafarers are a chilled bunch of men. Some of us must have witnessed when our seniors got a bit irritated with juniors, or generally, they would moan about how they were made to dance to the tune of managers and how, these days, some of them felt like puppets, remotely controlled by managers they could be heard saying: those were the days, “ Boats were made of wood and men were made of steel” but now it's different.

Surely, both eras had their own set of challenges. In this article, I want to focus on mentoring; I still remember when I joined as a cadet in the late 80s, most of my seniors would share and help. They had their unique way of teaching; many used a couple of swear words, etc, but at the end of the day, many of my friends and I learnt from our seniors. These sailors were dedicated, experienced and happy to share knowledge. None of them attended any Train the Trainer programs or got any special certification to be recognised as trainers.