Navigating in the rivers having heavy traffic is a navigator’s nightmare, but because of the increased trade volumes, it has become worse over the years and China is the world leader in trade today. Being an Engineer, I haven’t experienced such anxety but have had my share of them in the Engine Rooms.

在交通繁忙的河流中航行是航海家的噩梦，但由于贸易量的增加，近年来的情况变得更糟，而中国是当今世界贸易的领头羊。作为一名工程师，我没有经历过这样的焦虑，但在机舱里我还是有所体验。

The ships in Yangtze, ferrying up and down the river follow navigation traffic regulations but thousands of boats don’t carry any navigational aids on them, their operators though are seasoned sailors. On many such boats you can see the little children playing, the dogs running up and down their lengths. You can see, a man, the husband steering atop a high point in the accommodation quarter with a tattered canvas flap over it, that serves as the bridge and you see a woman, the wife, single-handedly managing the jobs of ten trained seamen, washing the decks, after cast off from a small jetty after loading a cargo for another destination.

长江上的船只在河上来来往往的穿行着，它们遵循着水上交通规则，但成千上万的船并没有配备任何导航设备，他们的操作人员都是经验丰富的水手。在许多这样的船只上，你能看到孩子们和狗在船头船尾来回嬉戏奔跑。你能看到一个男人，也是个丈夫在盖着破烂帆布的休息舱顶部驾驶船只，这个休息舱也被当做一座桥，你能看到一个女人,也是个妻子，独力完成十个训练有素的水手的工作，她在往船上装好运往别处的货物后解开绑在小码头上的缆绳，然后又开始冲洗甲板。

The man on board is the Navigator and the Engineer and the woman is the crew. You can see some wilting plants in some decaying canisters and some valiantly bringing out flowers in others as if depicting the very truth of human exstence in harsh environment. This is the small world of them all and this is all what they have known to be the world. For them the suicide bombing for establishing a uniform religious belief or rejecting the entry of a nation to NSG on technical grounds or thousands of such issues the world is fighting for, make no sense at all. In the narrow cramped quarters, they live, grow and they die.

船上的男人是领航员和工程师，船上的女人是船员。你可以在一些腐烂的小罐里看到一些枯萎的植物，有的人勇敢地把花放在别人身上，就像在严酷的环境中描绘人类生存的真相。这是他们所有人的小世界，也是他们所知道的世界。对他们来说，为建立统一的宗教信仰而进行的自杀式炸弹袭击，或者因为技术理由拒绝一个国家进入核供应国组织，或者是国家之间为了成千上万个的这样的事情争斗无休，都毫无意义。在狭窄拥挤的宿舍里，他们生活着、成长着、死亡着。

Among hundreds of boats teeming the river, there are special RoRo ( Roll on, Roll off)  type of small ferries crossing the river for transferring the people and cargo from one shore to another. These boats have special platform in the centre where the vehicles can be parked. The vehicles that need to cross from one shore to another, are driven in and parked on the flat deck on board. The ferry crosses the over to the other shore and the vehicles are driven away. Although there are many bridges crossing the mighty Yangtze but still these ferries are much in service because they save the circuitous journey that the vehicles might need to undertake if they go over the bridges.

在数以百计的船只中，有一种特殊的滚装船类的小渡船，将人们和货物从岸的这边运到岸的另一边。这些船的中间有专门的平台，可以停放车辆。需要去往对岸的车辆被开上甲板停放。渡船抵达对岸，车辆再被开走。虽然长江上有许多跨江大桥，但这些渡轮仍在提供服务，它们为车辆省下了来往于跨江大桥的路程。

印度网友与Navneet的互动：

Geeta Kashyap /  / 9 months ago

Very interesting! Images speak for themselves.

太有意思了！这些情景太鲜活了。

Prasad Ganti /  / 9 months ago

Navneet saheb, great piece of info from your experiences !

先生，这是您经历中的很有趣的片段。

Ushasuryamani /  / 9 months ago

Gosh Navneet

All this is - life at sea - is exciting a, adventurous and dangeous!! That ferry capizing was terrible.

Great photographs here.

Enjoyed reading the blog !Thankyou

所有的这些-海上的生活-太吸引人了，太冒险也太危险了！！失事的渡轮太可怕了。

照片也很棒。

读您的博客很享受，谢谢。

Suchisree/ Sree Kumar /  / 9 months ago

Dear Navneeth,

Your blog is not read but seen visually . Thank you very much for the vivid sea life in words.

Regards,

Suchisree.

尊敬的Navneeth先生，

您的博客不单能看到文字，还能看到画面。非常感谢您将生动的海上生活写成文字。

祝好