My visit to INS Chennai(D65)

On 31st July, 2019 I and my friends went to visit the 'Navy Exhibition' which was taking place in Ballard estate. It was conducted by the Indian navy. 

I was very excited to visit that place and see Indian warships. So me and my friends were about to meet at CSMT station. During those days, Mumbai was suffering from heavy rainfall and people were asked to avoid traveling. But still, we decided to go there. From CSMT station we started finding taxis also known as 'Kali Peelis' in Mumbai. Almost every taxi driver was denying to go to that place. We were wondering why are they not taking us there, then while waiting for almost 7-8 minutes, we finally found someone who took us to that place.

When we reached there, we saw a gate where there was written 'Ballard Estate'. Now I was totally confused about where to go because I couldn't see any ship. Then, we walked towards the gate and found a lot of crowds. As soon as we entered, there were artifacts of naval ships and submarines. After 15-30 minutes we came out of that place. Then started walking in the direction where there was more crowd. Actually, the main event was at the other place which was about 100m away from Ballard estate. While walking, we found a large queue. Honestly speaking, it was a very long queue, about 200 people were there in the queue. Me and my friends went and stood in the queue. After about 15-20 minutes, we entered the area where they checked our identity cards and then they gave us the ticket. We completed the security check and our smartphones were sealed in a bag.

As soon as we entered the area, my mind was blown. I was so overwhelmed by the experience. There were huge ships and the sea was looking elegant as always. Our ticket was of INS Chennai(D65). It is the third ship of the Kolkata-class stealth guided-missile destroyers of the Indian Navy. We just started walking. We had no clue about where to go, so we just started following others. Finally, we found a queue where people were waiting to enter the INS Chennai. The weather was quite breezy and squally. While waiting in the queue, there was a small girl behind me. She was having a conversation with her father about warships in a different language that I couldn't understand. My childish self wanted to know what they were talking about but in the end, I could only understand English words like 'ship', 'navy', 'helicopter', etc.

So after 15 minutes, we came close to the entrance. My jaw hit the floor when I saw the ship for the first time. There were navy officers, who made a group of 20 people and each group was allotted a guide. We were given a few instructions and were told to be with the group. Then finally, we entered the ship. Our group's guide name was Ankit. He told us about the ship. We were taken to different parts of the ship, he also told us about the length of the ship that was 163m. We also had a chance to see the land-attack missiles(BrahMos), anti-air missiles, and anti-submarine missiles. They also showed us many parts of the ship and told us not to touch any buttons. From INS Chennai, we also got a chance to see INS Mumbai and INS Virat. After about 45 minutes, we completed the entire tour of the ship. There was an area where snacks were also provided and we could buy souvenirs of INS Chennai and D65 separately. There was a man who was clicking pictures of everybody, actually cameras were not allowed. So there was a man from the navy who was taking pictures from DSLR. We requested him to take one for us. We posed for the picture and after some time we were told to leave.

This was one of the most memorable days of my life. The experience was overwhelming and I would suggest everyone to experience it at least once in life and get to know what the 'Defense Forces' are capable of.