Oct. 3: Merchant navy engineer Sumantra Nath Bhaduri had made elaborate plans for Durga Puja, little knowing that he would spend the festive period lonely and despondent aboard a cargo ship stranded on the Gulf of Oman for more than three months.

It was the first in nine years of marriage that he had been forced to stay away from his family during the festival. Cooped up in his cabin, his only connection with the festive mood in Calcutta was through pictures sent by wife Manjari on WhatsApp.

Sumantra, 40, was to dock in Calcutta on September 25, just in time to reach his Baruipur home and get into the festive groove with Manjari and their sons Rwitoban, 8, and Rwiddhiman, 4. Durga Puja is over but he still does not know whether he will be back home for the festivals to follow.

MT Maharshi Vamadeva, a 34,974-tonne vessel carrying LPG, had reached the Fujairah port on the Gulf of Oman on June 20 with a 25-member crew. The vessel has been stuck there since because Mumbai-based Varun Shipping Company, which owns it, allegedly has port dues pending since 2014.

Manjari had been hoping the impasse over the vessel being seized because of allegedly unpaid port dues would end last month. She had started buying new clothes for the family and to gift relatives when news arrived that Sumantra, who is the chief engineer of the ship, wouldn't be home for this Puja.

"He called and said there was no chance of him (and the rest of the crew) being released anytime soon. I immediately stopped the Puja shopping," Manjari said. "In this state of mind, we couldn't bring ourselves to put on new clothes and visit any pandal, although my husband insisted that we should."

"My husband is out in the seas for six months of the year. But he takes up assignments in such a way that he can be home from Puja and our younger son's birthday," Manjari said.

Metro had highlighted the plight of the crew on September 20 after being left to fend for themselves without water supply and adequate rations on board.

Sumantra said over phone that the crew was running out of money and some of them couldn't buy even basic provisions when a supply boat came along, The Indian embassy in Dubai has been "in touch" but the crew has yet to receive "concrete help", he alleged.

A fleet management company that is mediating in the payment dispute has deputed two representatives. "We have initiated a dialogue with the Directorate General of Shipping in India to take the discussion forward through appropriate channels in Dubai to help resolve the situation of the crew on board this vessel," Fleet Management India Pvt Ltd had said on September 22.

Varun Shipping Company has allegedly defaulted on payment for dry docking at Fujairah port to carry out periodic maintenance of the vessel.

Sumantra said it would always rankle that he was separated from his family this Durga Puja for no fault of his. The merchant navy engineer is a familiar face at his neighbourhood puja in Mallickpur that is organised by a local club. "He likes to be in the group that goes to fetch the idols each year. The organisers were enquiring when he would return," Manjari said.

Younger son Rwiddhiman celebrates his birthday next month and Manjari cannot think of a better gift for him than his father getting back home to put the candles on the cake.