Kerala   

The countdown begins

ALAPPUZHA: With just one more day left for the big event, the town is wearing a festive look.

On Thursday, the last day of trials for the regatta, the Punnamada Lake reverberated with last minute orders from coaches for the practicing oarsmen before the snake-boats were hauled ashore for the final repair works and traditional ceremonies.

The nine-member women’s team from Dubai, the oarsmen of the Alappuzha Town Boat Club on the Vellamkulangara Chundan, and Kainakary village’s warriors on the Cheruthana Chundan were busy practising. “Only the glint of the Nehru Trophy should be there in your eyes,” one coach yelled at his boys near the starting point of the race.

In the town, as enthusiasts swayed and clapped to the rhymes and rhythms of the ‘Vanchipatu’ at the contest organised on the Municipal Grounds, the people of Alappuzha were also busy playing host to foreign tourists who had landed in the town over the past one week, many of whom had clubbed Saturday’s Nehru Trophy Boat Race with their holiday packages.

Johannes, a 35-year-old German teacher, was checking out miniatures of snake-boats at a store near the KSRTC bus-stand. “I heard from my friends about this race and also read about it in magazines. That is why I included Alappuzha in my trip,” said Mr. Johannes, in town with his friends for three days.

Amidst all this, there were a few tones of unease as well. Shaji Cheraman, a veteran radio commentator who is scheduled to report the event live for All India Radio for the seventh year in succession, says the shifting of the commentary box from the Nehru Pavilion to the middle of the crowd on the shore will rob radio listeners of an audible narrative.

“The din of the crowd is going to drown our voices, and we do not have any soundproof boxes to sit,” he points out. For the Punnamada Lake, Friday will be a day of silence before the flashbulbs start blazing.

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