I had my first voyage on S.S.Rajula in 1962, when I was about five years old. We were going to India from Singapore for a vacation. I was very young then and cannot remember much about the voyage now. I do remember watching the other ships on the sea. They were steamships. I noticed the bigger ships had two or three funnels and as a child, I used to draw pictures of ships with funnels. S.S.Rajula had only one funnel. A man would go around ringing a bell to announce that it was meal time. We would then head for the dining room. We had western food. It was an eight day voyage from Singapore to Madras (now Chennai). On reaching Madras, I noticed some Tamil women on board, getting ready to disembark. They had big earrings that stretched their ears. Passengers were accommodated in different classes. The higher classes had cabins. We returned to Singapore after the vacation on the same ship. A man on board sold us a toy musical string instrument. He demonstrated its use by playing some music. After he left, when we tried it we could not produce any music. On March 14, 1972 we again traveled from Singapore to India on the S.S.Rajula. I was fifteen then and my parents had decided to settle in India, so this was my final voyage on this ship. As the ship pulled away from Singapore, I watched the receding skyline and felt sad. There was a TV in the lounge and I saw a cartoon “Felix the cat” for a short time, since the image was getting blurred as the ship moved away from land. When the ship reached Penang, many westerners came on board. They were mostly hippies. Singapore’s strict laws made it difficult for them, but Malaysia was more tolerant. They were headed to India for drugs and a cheap life. A man was holding a roll of toilet paper, one end of which he gave to a woman. The woman held the end of the toilet paper and the man holding the roll, unrolled it as he got down from the ship. He was staying back at Penang. As the ship started pulling away from Penang, the toilet paper tore into two pieces. Both of them rolled up the pieces they held unto. It was their idea of a farewell. There was a 20 year old Australian going to India to study yoga. He had met with an accident and was using the insurance money he got to pay his way.
On some nights movies were screened. I saw a Hindi movie and “Cat Ballou” which had Lee Marvin and Jane Fonda.The captain visited each cabin and talked to the passengers. He asked us whether we were enjoying our voyage.When we reached Nagapattinam in the early morning we could see many small fishing boats in the sunrise. It was a beautiful sight. Soon we reached Madras and disembarked.
S.S.Rajula was sold in 1973 and scrapped in 1974.
I received the following photos from Martin Cotsford ex 3/O SS Rajula.
