From Mumbai into the wider world

Connected to sky and sea

Dimple had to wait a bit longer before taking her first voyage. Twice it happened that scheduled voyages were cancelled at short notice. “And then the ‘Quebec Express’ owned by Hapag-Lloyd suddenly came around the corner – which was fantastic!” Dimple says. She was immediately overawed by her first time on board, adding: “I’m more of a spiritual person rather than religious in the conventional sense. Being on the ship, connected to the sky and the sea – it simply felt good.” At least as fulfilling on the almost nine-month voyage was putting into practice what she had learned in her online courses. “The navigation, the sounding of the tanks, maintenance work, standing watch, but also the loading work in port, the paperwork and much more – we were allowed to be there and get involved everywhere,” Dimple proudly notes. She has sailed several times on the route from Southampton, to Antwerp, to Hamburg, then over to Montreal and back. “That’s four ports in just under 28 days, so there’s still time to study,” the upbeat woman says.

Dimple knows what she wants and confidently says: “To be an officer or captain on the bridge one day – I’d be giving my all for that!” And the adventurous Indian can also imagine living somewhere other than Mumbai, explaining: “I can’t judge Hamburg, as I’ve only been to the seamen’s club there. But I’ve been to Montreal several times. What a cool city with cosmopolitan people! On the whole, Canada is so much more relaxed than our loud and colourful India, where everyone is crowded together – but, unfortunately, it’s also very expensive. To live there, I’d have to earn more. But that may still happen one day,” she adds with a grin. At the same time, Dimple loves her homeland. “Nowhere in the world do people celebrate so many and such beautiful festivals as in India, which everyone should experience once,” she says. “Whether it’s ‘Holi’, the festival of colours; our annual festival ‘Navratri’, with its mixture of prayers, sumptuous feasts and big dances; or ‘Diwali’, the festival of lights, where we Hindus celebrate the triumph of light over darkness – nobody celebrates as exuberantly as we do!”

A dog named Kiki and ready for the next voyage

When asked if she got homesick while on her first voyage, Dimple takes a moment to think before smiling and saying: “Sure, I missed my brothers and my dad – but the absolutely worst part was being away from Kiki!” Kiki is her Indian Spitz, which she posts pictures of on Instagram every once in a while. “She’s been with me since she was 20 days old. And when I signed-on in 2022, my biggest worry was that she wouldn’t recognise me when I came back.” Their first months together, which happened during the lockdown, must have done the trick. “Kiki recognised me right away and was insanely happy,” Dimple says. “She hasn’t left my side since then and wants to go with me everywhere. And I get in trouble if I don’t pay enough attention to her!”
Dimple is still on holiday, so she is meeting up with friends and helping out around the house. But she’s already looking forward to her next voyage. The fact that Kiki doesn’t forget her makes it a bit easier to say goodbye. “Things will get going again at the end of March, but we’ll have a week of oral and written exams before that!” Which ship? “No idea, as anything’s possible,” she says.

Suvendu Mohanty, Deputy Managing Director Anglo-Eastern (Germany) GmbH, is proud of her:

"Seafaring has historically been a male profession. Over the course of my 42-year shipping career, it has remained largely male dominated and it is high time that we change this like other industries have done in order to embrace the full range of talents available, regardless of gender.

There have been concerted efforts from various regulatory bodies, such as the IMO, ICS and others, to help the shipping industry move forward by advocating gender diversity and supporting women who choose this profession. Slowly but surely, we have seen steady progress in the number of women joining the profession and advancing through the ranks, and though that number is not large, it certainly indicates a positive trend.

At Anglo-Eastern, we have long supported female cadets at our maritime academy and women seafarers in our managed fleet, and have been recognised by the Indian government as one of the nation’s largest employers of women in shipping.

We have implemented various measures and initiatives for the welfare of our female seafarers, helping them to overcome the social, cultural and practical obstacles that might hinder their professional growth and development."