I do not consciously think too much of all this though. One simply IS. It is fully part of who I am.

As a child, what did you envision doing when growing up?
I had never thought of the Navy, but it was all meant to be. My father would tell me that I should become a doctor. But he died very young, when I was only seventeen years' old. I was the oldest of eight brothers. There was no more question of me studying medicine for five years. I had to work.

One day, as I was studying in Bombay, staying with my uncle, I left home then realized I had a few extra minutes so I went back. I glanced at the papers and suddenly my eyes focused on a small ad regarding "dates for applications for permanent commission in the Indian Royal Navy". This was 1947. Normally, it would not have interested me, since my dream was to fly airplanes and I would have liked to join the Air Force. But one line intrigued me: "parents of successful candidates must be prepared to pay 116 pounds for holiday expense". This meant training in the UK, which was my dream. So I wrote down the address and a postcard before taking the bus, came to Delhi, and had only one afternoon to fill all the papers and send them. It all flowed perfectly and I managed to do it all. I sailed through the exams and was then called to Dehradun for interviews. Being the elder brother, and with all my experience in the boy scouts, it was easy for me to act as a leader, take charge and so on, which is what they were looking for. So I succeeded at those interviews and joined the Navy.
That is how it all started. It was all determined. So to me, it is preordained that I would live as I do and do my little bit to serve as I have been trying.

... contd.