The Hindu : Kerala News : It is boat-race season now, but clubs in Kuttanad are in deep waters

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Jul 19, 2004

Kerala

Kerala

It is boat-race season now, but clubs in Kuttanad are in deep waters

Snake boat, the masthead of State's world-renowned tourism. The tourism industry is yet to realise the potential of this lovely sport, thanks to official apathy.

ALAPPUZHA, JULY 18. The tranquil backwaters of ``God's Own Country'' are yet again ablaze, attracting tourists from world over, as another season of boat races has set in.

But seldom noticed is the fact that the majestic `chundans' (snake boats), a masthead of Kerala's world-renowned tourism and unparallel attraction of the land, are becoming hard to maintain.

With the Government's apathy, the travel and tourism industry is yet to realise the huge potential of this lovely sport.

However, cutting across caste and creed, the villages of Kuttanad (lower areas of the district surrounded by backwaters) are up in unison to cheer their teams. They debate for hours on the composition of teams and indulge in betting from every nook and corner of the district.

Thankfully, the snake boats can still pep up the spirits of these crisis-hit people, no matter how precious little the official machinery does in selling outside one of the hottest `tourism commodities of Kerala.'

``The local folks are neck-deep in debts and unable to gather money for their snake boats unlike in the past. The Government help is still meagre,'' long-time regular oarsman Sebastian Velacheril of the Kavalam Boat Club laments.

The expenses for maintenance and practice for a season will be at least Rs.3 lakhs to Rs.4 lakhs, which the locals are supposed to mop up, he points out. Though boats were mostly owned by individuals in olden times, the villages bore the expenses. ``Training and food for 15 days for nearly 150 men is the main expenditure,'' he said.

``Now some leading oarsmen are hired by outside clubs and the poor guys, owing to the temptation of money, leave their native clubs. But this brings in some kind of professionalism too, though the love to own snake boats declines among the masses gradually,'' Sivan Pillai, who competed for different clubs, says.

Still lakhs of people occupy every inch of the banks of the Punnamada Lake of Alappuzha to witness the race for the coveted Nehru Trophy. The declaration of the event as a sport, so that more financial assistance could be sanctioned and corporate sponsorship drawn, would do a lot in stemming the rot, many feel.

With the Champakulam Moolam boat race, the season has got off to a fine start. Amid a large number of races, the Nehru Trophy stands as the top crowd-puller. The Aranmula Uthrittadi race, Payippad Jalolsavam and the Rajiv Gandhi boat race at Pulinkunnu are the other main attractions of the season, marked with harvests and Onam. Other boat races such as Neerettupuram, Kumarakom, Karuvatta, Kavanattinkara, Kumarakom-Arpookara Vanitha Jalamela, Kottayam, Mahatma at Mannar, Thazhathangadi in Kottayam, Kottapuram, Kodungallur and Kumaranasan Smaraka Jalolsavam at Pallana also continue to be major attractions. After the season, the Indira Gandhi Boat Race is held on the Ernakulam Lake during the Cochin Carnival in the last week of December.

There are at present 19 snake boats and all of them take part in the famous Nehru Trophy, falling on the second Saturday in August, along with about 35 other boats of different sizes. Depending on the fame of the race, every event will have at least some of the snake boats, billed as `kings on the waters.'

Kavalam, Karichal, Pulinkunnu, Jawahar Thayankari, Kallooparamban, Vellamkulangara, Nadubhagam, St George, Parthasarathi, Payippadu and Ambedkar are the leaders of the pack in snake boats. The United Boat Club of Kainakary, which has a glorious record in the Nehru Trophy, Pallathuruthy Boat Club, the Village Boat Club of Kainakary, Kavalam Boat Club, the Friends Boat Club of Venattukad, Kumarakom Boat Club, Pulinkunnu Boat Club and Navajeevan Boat Club remain hot favourites with the fans.

Boat race is stated to be the sport event having the highest number of members in a single team. Usually, a snake boat is manned by four helmsmen, 25 singers and 100-125 oarsmen, who row in unison to the fast rhythm of `vanchipattu'.

A snake boat, built at around Rs.8 lakhs, needs to be maintained well for the races. But the Government gives an assistance of only Rs.6,600 a year. Rest of the money is garnered from the village the snake boats are named after.

``This time, we are hiking the participation money by 10 per cent.

A snake boat which comes in the final will get Rs.55,000,'' the Nehru Trophy Boat Race Society convener, G. Raju, says.

The society, which organises the event, got only Rs.3 lakhs from the Government in 2002 and last year the expenses were above Rs.42 lakhs. ``The rest is gathered from sponsorships,'' Mr. Vasudevan, an official of the society, says adding that this time, they have asked for Rs.15 lakhs as grant.

The winner of the event becomes richer by Rs.one lakh while the runner up gets Rs.20,000 as cash prize. ``It is not the money that guides us, but the thrill of the event that brings us here,'' a spokesman of the Snake Boat Association says.

Owing to paucity of funds, many of the boat clubs come without trials to the event and this takes away the attraction of the competition attached to it earlier. Most of the prominent clubs, exclusively for the races, end up bankrupt after a season.

According to the present laws, no boat can get a sponsor on its own to foot the expenses. The flag and official sponsorship are decided upon by the organisers who collect the money from sponsors.

``If any boat club wants to have sponsorship directly, it has to submit the participation fee up to Rs.2 lakhs for the Nehru Trophy. That never happens,'' Mr. Vasudevan says on the possibility of corporates coming in to back up a snake boat.

Unfortunately, even the corporate giants are little concerned about these spectacular events watched by millions across the world.

``Sponsor a team throughout the year like in other sports, and the corporate groups can use these snake boats for their ventures related to tourism also. Like in the houseboats, which have fast turned into a big business, the rides in these snake boats can also be new options for tourist groups,'' Stanly Punnapra, a professional photographer, says.

This time, the organisers have constructed a separate gallery exclusively for tourists, the officials say.

It is also heartening that the tourism season of Kerala is now being extended to nine months up to August, instead of the six-month period. — UNI

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Kerala