Assalamualaikum, and welcome back to Orange Shots.
The human body is a very strange thing,
It does the strangest things.
No two people's bodies react to the environment around them the same way.
Let's take heights for example.
Some are okay with heights,
but there are also some that aren't only afraid, they start having vertigo.
Sometimes they even throw up.
Another example: winding roads.
If your car is being driven through some windy, twisty roads with undulations.
Some even lead up to mountains.
Some will enjoy the view,
while others will feel sick with every turn the car takes.
Some may even start throwing up.
Now, let us take smells for example.
Everyone reacts differently to different smells.
If I like a certain smell, you're obviously going to feel different about it.
If a certain smell does not irritate me,
it may irritate you.
Some people's bodies react so strongly to
certain smells that they start throwing up.
So it all boils down to human chemistry, right?
The same problem can happen on ships.
Not everyone's body is bound to react the same to external stimuli.
When the sea is a bit rough,
when it pitches and rolls,
heaves, sways, and yaws,
some people react normally to such circumstances.
Others, however, may start getting dizzy,
may start throwing up.
Such people can't eat until the ship they're on stops rolling, pitching, and yawing.
This can go on for days.
And definitely, this can lead to dehydration too.
This situation I'm telling you about, this phenomenon felt by many,
is known as seasickness.
You all have asked me plenty of times about this,
and I want to tell you about it in detail.
When a ship is smooth sailing,
i.e., when it's not rolling, pitching, or yawing, etc.,
people feel alright.
Everybody feels happy, everybody feels well,
no problems to be dealt with,
Everyone's doing their routinely work on the ship,
everyone's enjoying their evening.
The problem begins when the ship starts rolling, pitching,
heaving, swaying, and yawing.
This happens when the sea is rough.
When we're faced with tropical cyclones, rough seas, and low pressure in general.
You're bound to come across such events if your life revolves around sailing.
This is a routinely matter for us.
Not every type of rough sea can be avoided, or has to be.
Tropical storms, cyclones, and such, are different.
We stay away from such things.
But if there's a tropical storm in our nearest vicinity,
no doubt, we're going to experience the after effects.
Once the after-effects of such storms reach us,
the ship we're sailing pitches, heaves, sways, yaws, and rolls.
When a ship is under stress,
the ship's crew is bound to be under stress as well.
Think about it, you're in a room,
in a worst-case scenario, rolls 30 degrees to the left and right.
All your loose items
we don't keep loose items on a ship, however.
Everything, whether it's a room, a store, a galley, anywhere, is properly secured.
But despite that, if a ship rolls excessively
a lot of times, sofas are completely flipped over despite being stuck to the ground.
That's obviously a very difficult situation; for the ship itself,
and the crew especially, the crew goes through a lot.
It doesn't happen to everybody,
but I've always noticed that 60-80 percent of the people on board
are bound to be seasick.
Another thing I'd like to tell you is that
when we talk about seasickness, I've seen three types of people.
The first type never feels seasick.
I'm an example of this, Alhamdulillah,
I've never felt seasick.
When we went on our very first voyage,
we'd left the Karachi Port to go to Singapore.
The weather was rough, our ship kept rolling.
It was a pretty small ship. Her name was Makran,
the company was the Pakistan National Shipping Corporation.
When we got out, we were being made fun of by our seniors.
They said that once we left the Karachi Port,
the rough sea would cause the ship to roll, pitch, yaw,
most of us would go weak in the knees,
start vomiting, and all that stuff.
And the funny thing is, as soon as the ship began sailing
it did start rolling, and it was uncomfortable as well.
This type of situation isn't ever safe either.
Doors could open and close
even though we keep them secure.
But to my surprise, Alhamdulillah, I didn't feel anything.
However, some seniors were going through it,
but not everyone was feeling seasick.
2-4 other people besides me also didn't feel sick.
But the rest of the ship was feeling seasick.
The second type feels very seasick at the start of their career.
They often feel like they aren't cut out for this profession,
considering they have to spend days and nights like this.
They can't sleep at night due to seasickness, their heads spinning,
throwing up.
Then it's the same during the day, vomiting, head spinning,
they can't eat, they can't work.
They can't concentrate.
They even consider leaving this career.
But slowly, they get used to all it this,
their seasickness spells get mellower,
then at one point,
they don't feel as seasick anymore, except for when the ship rolls heavily.
Their days get better, and they slowly settle down.
Now, coming to the third type of people.
The third type, throughout all of their career, feels seasick.
They can't sleep at night, they barely make it through the day,
they can't concentrate on their work at all.
Just imagine that; your head constantly spinning,
you always feel like you're going to throw up.
You often throw up too.
My head's going to spin, I'll throw up, I won't be able to take care of my room.
I won't be able to look after my things, I won't be able to work."
But they survive.
In the end, there's only 1 percent that doesn't get used to being seasick.
I mean, picture this.
I know thousands of people in the merchant navy.
But I remember only one person leaving because of the rolling pitching
and seasickness.
According to him, he couldn't bear it.
He couldn't bear to spend 24 hours like that.
He was the only guy to leave the merchant navy.
Other than him, no one really left.
They got used to it.
Let me tell you that those who feel seasick
the type of people affected by the rolling and pitching;
life really does get hard for them.
I've seen people make mistakes when seasick;
the type of mistakes I wouldn't normally expect them to make.
They simply can't concentrate.
They can't think straight.
They can't tell what they're doing at the time.
I think 70-75 percent of their senses are preoccupied with the fear of vomiting
and getting dizzy. And they do get dizzy.
They always have to sit down or lie down.
Life gets terrible for them during the days the ship rolls, pitches, heaves, and yaws.
A few days ago, I received an email from a concerned father.
His son had sent him WhatsApp messages about how the ship he was on was rolling.
Telling him he was feeling seasick. That he wouldn't be able to survive this.
He was deciding to leave the merchant navy.
To join another profession.
That wasn't my first time hearing such comments.
These comments are pretty standard for anyone with seasickness.
This is their regular thought process.
And as soon as they settle down and the weather gets better,
they come back to their senses.
Then they realize what good of a profession they're in.
And that they shouldn't waste all their hard work.
at least all the work they did for the past two years,
and the money their parents spent on them.
That's when they get back on track.
But as soon as the waters get rough again, that same thought process repeats itself.
This is exactly what I told the concerned father.
I told him that up till now, I've only seen one person leave because of the rolling,
because of seasickness.
Other than that, no one left the merchant navy because of seasickness.
Also, seasickness isn't a life-threatening disease.
Seasickness won't kill you. That's not going to happen.
A lot of people are waitlisted in the merchant navy,
he should avail this opportunity and build his career.
But out of all the reasons to leave the merchant navy,
this isn't one of them.
In my opinion, no one should leave the merchant navy because of seasickness.
If it's getting worse, take meds. They're always available on the ship.
Take them before every meal and, in sha ALLAH,
you won't throw up. You need all that energy after all.
You have to eat. You have to drink, too,
because vomiting causes dehydration.
There are different ways to avoid it, and you should
do everything in your power
to avoid seasickness as much as possible.
And by avoidance, I mean taking your meds,
eating spicy food.
"Teekha" as they say in Hindi.
Add lemons. Green tea.
So many things can be done but this shouldn't be the reason
behind leaving the merchant navy.
On the flip side, I sympathize with everyone
who feels this condition because I've
seen them suffer, with my own eyes.
I really feel for them.
But they have to make peace with it.
That's the only solution.
If you want to know how we handle medical emergencies onboard,
the video about that is linked here.
If you want to hear about ghost stories onboard,
my video about that is here.
Until my next video, take good care of yourselves.
remember me in your prayers.
With tons of love to my Orange Shots family,
and to-be Orange Shots family.
This is me Zahid Nisar.
You're watching Orange Shots.
And until my next video,
ALLAH Hafiz.