The morning cool breeze laden with tranquil blue smoothened the nerves. The muscles relaxed. Silence, which is not the absence sound, enriched the soul. But dawn didn’t anticipate the frenzy of the day. 

For a month, these men practiced. Race day morning: Boot up carbs with fish and rice. Please Gods at the village temple. Chant the slogan. Sing the team song. All on board, say no to seat belts. The Chundan Vallam (Snake Boat). Powered by 100 men as one mind. It is one sinuous moving machine. 

The Town Boat Club Kumarakom Vallam is on the way to the race. The sponsorship from the local patron gets the team 60L a year for upkeep. The Vallam itself costs over 50L. 

The team’s carpenter repiared the boat the last month, shining it with egg yokes, fish oil and coconut oil. Now, all oars lead to the start up parade. 

The Nehru cup always evokes nationalism as it was the Pandit who instituted the cup in ’56. In a sequence unimaginable these days, he jumped from his parade boat onto a Chundan Vallam and into the hearts of the people.

There are 7 different category of races – including the Thekkanody – woman’s race. The minimum expense of participation of the Men’s Snake Boat team is ~21L, just for the Nehru Club. The money is spent in training, transportation and the maintenance of the teams.

Absolute synchronisation of 100 rowers, 8 singers and 4 rear oars men will keep the boat in balance. Write off the day if just a few men mis-oar. The boat topples over and it takes hours to get the boat back in shape. 

A mad frenzy takes over. Drummers speed up the heart rate. Mega speaker boats blast Mollywood. Pompoms Pompom. The thick smell of fried fish fills up like fog. Men loosen their limbs and lungies. And toddy flows like the river. It is carnival time. 

Shortage of good oarsmen in Kerala bothers Joseph here. He says the strong guys go off to the “Gelf” to fuel the construction industry.The fishermen have become weak due to motor boats. 3 out of 8 teams have oarsmen from Assam and Meghalaya – leading to epic debates across the society. 

The race is over a 1.38km distance and the record timing is 4m 38sec. Over 80K supporters crowd all along the course 4 hours before the race start. With the legs tied with black cloth to the boat, the front rowers create the maximum thrust and are focused on maintaining the balance.

The top speed is about 13kmph – compared to the Oxford-Cambridge boat race speed of ~23kmph.

Pompoms, rythmic drumming, team songs – the directors of the race stand in the middle and set up the rythm of the boat, progressively increasing the pace of the rowing. The oars strike in tandem and move the boat at incredible speed.

The most experienced oarsmen are reserved for the Adanayampu – the rudder oar. The rear of the boat resembles a 20 feet snake with its hood raised – the four oarsmen set the direction of the boat with their 12 feet oars.

The Syrian Christians came to Kerala @3AD, the snake boats with them. For long it was a weapon of mass destruction. A silent and rapid means of transporting a 100 warriors in the dead of the night.

The day long heats are done. The Top team in every heat gets to the finals of the Nehru Cup boat race. The crowd hysteria reaches a cresendo. The boats are nose to nose near the half way mark!

And then with a surge of noise, will power, muscle power and technique, the Vembanad Kumarakom Race Club takes a lead…

and consolidates its position.

All India Radio declared the club as the winner! A lot of cheers. A few reluctant tears. More toddy. Later the club will face a huge controversy as they deployed ~10 Assamese/Meghalayan rowers. The winning team takes home around Rs. 11L – a fraction of the money they spent in getting in here.

Just as the winners were declared, a mad scramble ensued to navigate the way back home. Well before the prize ceremony. Just like people emptying the movie theatre before the credits. The celebration however, will continue in the villages late into the night.

And the broad backwaters didnt take long to descend into a meaningful silence. 100 Oars. 1 boat. 1 mind. Visit the annual snake boat race in Kerala.