Keralas snake boat competition, a major draw for tourists in Monsoon

What perhaps started as a small, local boat competition among villagers of Keralas Alleppey District, has today become a mega tourist attraction for people from around the country and world, visiting the state during monsoon. The huge presence of domestic and foreign tourists besides locals during the 55th Nehru Trophy Boat Race held here on Saturday highlighted this fact.

By Juhan Samuel

Alleppy (Kerala), Aug.12 : What perhaps started as a small, local boat competition among villagers of Kerala's Alleppey District, has today become a mega tourist attraction for people from around the country and world, visiting the state during monsoon. The huge presence of domestic and foreign tourists besides locals during the 55th Nehru Trophy Boat Race held here on Saturday highlighted this fact.

The world famous snake boat competition gave a thrilling time to the tourists and villagers who travelled long distances to be a part of the annual sports event here.This year, the Nehru Trophy Boat Race was inaugurated by Chief Justice of India K.G.Balakrishnan at the Punnamada Lake in Kerala's Alleppey District.

The major attraction of the boat race was the competition of snake boats or, Chundans Valloms, measuring over 100 feet in length and rowed by over 120 oarsmen.

They were called snake boats by the former colonial rulers, who based the name on a native boat found in Norway.

The competition began with the snake boats lined up to perform a mass drill, following the signal of a whistle, raising rowing sticks and shouting in chorus.

There were about 55 boats of small and giant size, including 18 snake boats.

The snake boats and the smaller varieties of Kerala race boats like the Churulan, Veppu and Oadi move in a formation down the 1.4 km stretch of the lake as the sturdy villagers sang the Vanchipattu or, boat songs.

The winner team Paipadd Chundan of the Kumarakom Town Boat Club, covered the 1.4 kilometre stretch in a record time of 5 minutes and three seconds. It was led by Kunjumon as captain.

The popularity of the event has been steadily increasing with passage of time. Today, the event is famous all over the world. Many of them especially visit the country to join be a part of the gala event and share locals' enthusiasm on the banks of lake.

The presence of foreigner tourists was higher than the previous years. The tourists were thrilled to watch the boat racing event and being a part of huge gathering full of so many villagers.

The history of the Nehru Trophy Boat Race is associated with the visit of the first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru to Alappuzha in 1952.

It is said, thrilled and excited on the performance of the oarsmen, Nehru had jumped out of the security cordon into the boat, as his daughter Indira Gandhi and grandsons Rajiv and Sanjay, looked on anxiously.

On his return to Delhi, Nehru donated a Silver Trophy, which is a replica of a snake boat placed on a wooden abacus with his signature.

Later, the district administration converted the event into an annual competition. The winner gets the Prime Minister's Trophy besides other prizes.

Held on the second Saturday of August every year, Nehru Boat Race is the most colourful and vibrant sports event in Kerala. On the day of this fiercely fought boat race, the tranquil lake front is transformed into a sea of humanity with an estimated two lakh people.

ANI