As the ship slices through the clear ocean waters and approaches the port, the captain's voice crackles over the public address system, asking all members of the crew to take anchor stations. It's the voice of a woman issuing the orders. That's a novelty, not just for the officers and crew of MT Suvarna Swarajya, but for the Indian merchant navy, which was instituted in 1917. For, MC Radhika Menon is the first Indian woman to command a merchant ship as a captain. "Being a woman in command of a ship is just like being a woman heading any other organisation. If you have proved your capability and know your job, I don't think the gender quite matters," says Menon, now seven months into her first command aboard the Shipping Corporation of India tanker.

While she might have eased into her responsibilities as the master of a ship without a fuss, shipping professionals still do a double take at a woman at the helm. "Whenever we are nearing a port, and the port officer asks for the name of the master, you can hear the sudden silence after the port authorities hear the name Radhika. Invariably, it has to be repeated to confirm that we have not made a mistake," says the 43-year-old. Some have even mistaken her for a man with a womanly voice over the VHF, a radio frequency ships use to communicate with each other.

Menon sailed into the untested waters of a shipping career early. "I always knew that I was not cut out for the regular 9-to-5 job. I wanted to do something different," she says. Soon after her Class XII examinations in 1991, she joined the Shipping Corporation of India as a trainee radio officer. The job entailed looking after the ship's communication systems. Since most radio officers also tended to double as pursers, she also handled the menu and provisions. "Even back then, I was the first woman radio officer in the country," she says. She gradually ascended the hierarchy by clearing exams for the posts of second mate and chief mate, and did the sea time required to appear for the master's certificate which she cleared in 2010. Last year, she took charge of MT Suvarna Swarajya, on which she had sailed twice earlier.

... contd.

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