COC

That awkward heading means Certificate Of Competency. In a layman’s language it is simply a license – a license to sail as a fourth and a third engineer in the ship. You have to get it by giving 10 exams or rather crossing big 10 hurdles. Each one more difficult than making 10 girls love you. Well so it implies that it was too different than getting a four wheeler driving license. It took just one and a half year for me to cross all this shit and finally I applied and got my COC in hand. But the process was long enough and too boring to discuss. The boring stuff got added due to the involvement of the ‘too busy in doing nothing’ kind of the Govt. employees. I cracked all the 6 written in one shot and just like the rabbit slept thinking there is a lot of time till the tortoise comes, I had gained a lot of over confidence which led my life to an important learning. I got my orals like a small child takes his unwanted daily food. One oral got cleared in the first month then another after two months and finally a wash out after another 2 months. That final shock came as an emergency alarm when I found the next date for my rest 2 orals were after four months and I had nothing to do.

However one day you pass and you have to. So I passed one day and that day I believe my enemies had also prayed for me. The day I passed reminded me of the movie ‘THE PURSUIT OF HAPPYNESS’.

It has been around 7 months I have submitted my documents and COC details to my company. But when bad things happen they happen together. Like all the unwanted guests are invited on the same day. The market condition is too bad to imagine. At least I did not pass out this year from my college because the junior engineers are not even getting job and the fourth engineers are told to join as senior 5th. The only thing that itches me is that sometimes your parents think you are the sole responsible guy for the market and you should have born some time before.
Life had played a filthy joke with me. I don’t know why I had suffered so long and what wrong deeds I had. I had a tremendous last 1.5 yrs in which I had lost and lost and struggled like the tiny ant in a glass of water. I don’t know how long this suffering would continue. Sometimes I feel that God had blindfolded himself and can’t see my sufferings.

It had been around 7 months that I am sitting idle in my home and helplessly trying to go aboard ship. First of all the last 3 exams gave me so much trouble which I had never thought of after clearing 7 exams in one shot including all my written papers. After clearing all exams and getting my COC , I have waited a contract period in my home which is unbelievable.

YOU REALLY NEVER KNOW WHAT IS IN STORE FOR YOU.