User:Chief Mate Varma/sandbox

= Chief Mate Varma = Ivan Mikhailovich Varma (born April 28) is 37 year old Russian, working as a Chief Mate in the merchant navy. He joined as a cadet when he was 17, moving through the officer ranks to reach Chief Mate at the age of 33. He has spent the last decade working largely on the Pacific routes and has worked with Captain Moore on numerous routes. The two know each other well and Varma was one of the witnesses at the wedding of Moore to Isabel Tan.

Early life
He grew up in the port city of Vladivostok. His father, Mikhail Varma, worked as a port operative. His mother Galina (née Vetrova) worked at the checkout of the local Lenta supermarket for 24 years. He has a 33 year old sister called Natasha who works at a Toyota car dealership in the city. She is married and has two young children.

Varma was average academically but excelled at ice hockey. As a teenager he was overlooked for regional selection due to his small stature despite his school coach arguing he was the most technically gifted player he had ever trained. He still avidly supports Admiral Vladivostok, the local ice hockey team.

For a period in his teens Varma and a group of friends would cause minor vandalism around the city. One of their favourite things to do was throw stones to break the windows of large government buildings. Once, when they were caught by the police one night, Varma claimed it wasn’t him and watched as his friends took the rap and received a caution.

His father died from throat cancer in 2017 at the age of 64. His mother has dementia and in 2019 Varma took power of attorney and, against his sister’s wishes, sold the family home of 36 years and moved his mother into a smaller and cheaper home in the north of the city.

Career
Varma is regarded as a consistent performer and good company man. He was second mate on a ship that encountered pirates in the Indian Ocean. He fired warning shots which deterred them and was commended by the shipping company. A rigging accident three years ago (a deck cable snapped and severed his Achilles’ Heel) has left him with a limp on cold mornings. He continues to pursue a claim against the port authority where the containers were loaded.

Personal life
In 2012 he married Ivanna, daughter of a wealthy Russian oil executive. They have no children and in 2014 he secretly had a vasectomy. They have a large house in Vladivostok and a small apartment in Nice.

He has shares in shipping company SVG.