Under a partly cloudy sky, preparations were in full swing on the canal banks of Kumarakom in the final days of July. A group of 15 onlookers gathered under the shade of a large tree, their eyes locked on the black beast that was the Nadubhagom Chundan (snakeboat). Its long, sleek body gleamed with power; the towering 15-ft stern dared anyone to question its dominance. The Kumarakom Town Boat Club (KTBC) had poured weeks of sweat and sacrifice to arrive at this moment, preparing for the ultimate showdown—the Nehru Trophy Boat Race (NTBR).
At 3 p.m., the calm shattered. A rush of vloggers and reel-makers swarmed the scene, snapping selfies, their lenses fixed on the 120-metre-long boat behind them. Then, like a knife through the buzz, a sharp whistle pierced the air. The show was about to begin.
The canal bank exploded with action. Onlookers poured in from the market and hospital as the whistle grew louder, signalling the arrival of the KTBC rowers. These men were built for battle — broad shoulders and abs carved like stone. They stormed the banks, lining up in two perfect rows as their intense warm-up drills kicked into overdrive. Sweat dripped, muscles flexed; every movement screamed determination.
Then, with one final whistle the drills stopped, and Monappan Ashan, a stocky man in his 60s with a presence that demanded respect, handed them their weapons — wooden paddles. After a brief, silent prayer, the rowers took their places on the boat. “Swamiye Saranamayyappa!” Ashan roared. Oars shot into the air in perfect unison before slicing the water with raw power. The boat surged forward, propelled by the strength of its crew, as the crowd erupted in wild cheers. This wasn’t just a practice run—it was a battle cry, a promise of victory.
Landslides scupper dreams
But dreams can crash as quickly as they rise. On August 1, just days after the devastating landslides struck Wayanad, the State government pulled the plug on the 70th edition of the NTBR, scheduled to be held on Punnamada Lake in Alappuzha on August 10, and cancelled the entire Champions Boat League (CBL) for good measure. For the KTBC and dozens of other clubs, it was a punch to the gut. Weeks of gruelling preparation, endless expenses, and hope were washed away in an instant.
In Kerala, snakeboat racing is more than a sport—it’s an identity, a tradition soaked in pride. But it’s also a costly affair. For clubs like the KTBC, every season means navigating treacherous financial waters. A single snakeboat can cost up to ₹75 lakh. Race participation demands tight coordination among boat owners, captains, and the club, with contributions ranging from ₹10 to ₹40 lakh.
Rowers hired by the Kumarakom Town Boat Club at their accommodation units. | Photo Credit: VISHNU PRATHAP
“All it takes is one season down the drain, and this postponement, it’s the final nail in the coffin,” says K. Mithun, president of the KTBC. The club had sunk ₹58 lakh into training and preparation, but with the NTBR now in limbo, the numbers simply don’t add up. The financial strain is suffocating.
A drain on resources
Running the camp alone cost a whopping ₹1.75 lakh a day. While some of it was covered by sponsorships and donations, the majority came from the club’s already stretched pockets. Even its strategy of recruiting wealthy NRIs like team captain Suneesh Nandikannanthara from Australia crumbled with the postponement. Recovery seems like a distant hope. A chunk of the funds needed for a season’s race comes from the captains.
Matter of survival for many
For clubs such as the KTBC, the NTBR is more than just an event—it is survival. The short racing season is their lifeline, helping offset the sky-high costs of training camps, which could hit ₹55 lakh. Teams of 85 rowers, including 25 highly paid professionals from the Army or the Uttar Pradesh Police, do not come cheap. And now, with the race off the table, the future looks bleak.
The postponement has hit everyone hard, but for the rowers, it is devastating. The blood, sweat, and tears they poured into their training will never see the waters of Punnamada Lake. The dreams of victory, the deafening roar of the crowd, all gone. What remains is the bitter taste of uncertainty.
“The team has been finalised, and the rowers had found their rhythm,” says Pradeep, the KTBC coach. Pradeep, originally from Alappuzha and a professional rowing trainer at the Artillery Water Sports Association in Hyderabad, had taken a month-long leave to lead the training camp and oversee the race trials. To strengthen the team, he brought with him 18 players from the Indian Army, all on leave for the season, to join the KTBC.
The history of snakeboat racing stretches back hundreds of years, steeped in legend and tradition. It is believed that these majestic vessels were first employed in fierce battles by kings in and around Alappuzha, long before they dazzled spectators as part of the thrilling sporting spectacle. Today, when it comes to boat races in the State, the NTBR holds a place of pride.
Jawaharlal Nehru and NTBR history
The NTBR’s history is intertwined with the 1952 visit of India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, along with his daughter Indira Gandhi and grandson Rajiv Gandhi, to Alappuzha. An exhibition race was conducted in his honour on Vembanad Lake. Enthralled by the event, an excited Nehru hopped onto Nadubhagom Chundan, the winning snakeboat, which then ferried him and others to the Alappuzha boat jetty.
Upon returning to New Delhi, Nehru gifted a silver trophy, a replica of a snakeboat, with the inscription, “To the winners of the boat race which is a unique feature of community life in Travancore Cochin.” The trophy was initially named the Prime Minister’s Trophy but later came to be known as Nehru Trophy. For this year’s race, as many as 74 boats, including 19 snakeboats, had registered under nine categories before the postponement was announced.
Nowadays, an eerie silence has settled over the banks of Punnamada Lake (part of Vembanad Lake). Just a few weeks ago, the place was filled with ecstatic cheers and thunderous shouts of joy as boat race buffs gathered in large numbers to witness their favourite clubs and snakeboats, powered by oarsmen, darting over the water in preparation for the regatta.
Preparations go waste
In 2023, the Pallathuruthy Boat Club (PBC) from Alappuzha, also known as Tropical Titans, rowing Veeyapuram Chundan, achieved remarkable success by winning both the Nehru Trophy and the CBL title. Despite facing financial challenges, the club eagerly began preparations to defend the titles they won last season. Just as they completed more than a month’s training, the government postponed the NTBR and cancelled the CBL.
Unlike some other clubs, the PBC continued their training even after the postponement, anticipating that the government and the Nehru Trophy Boat Race Society will soon announce a revised date. However, as the authorities delayed the announcement of the new schedule, the club was eventually forced to discontinue its training camp on August 13.
Majority of budget spent
“We commenced training for the NTBR and the CBL by the end of June on a budget of ₹1.25 crore. By the time we decided to suspend training, which was attended by 135 people, mostly oarsmen, the club had already spent ₹80 lakh. Now, if the government announces a new date for the NTBR, we will have to spend significant amounts again to rebuild the team. It is going to be a Herculean task to find the money,” says Suneer A., secretary, Pallathuruthy Boat Club.
While participating in the NTBR is a matter of pride, the decision to cancel the CBL is a serious setback for those boat clubs and valla samities (boat owners) who were aiming to compete in the event and recoup some of the money spent. “The club winning the NTBR is entitled to receive around ₹6 lakh. However, teams participating in the CBL will earn significantly more in bonuses and prize money. The government should reconsider its decision on the CBL. Not conducting the CBL will be disastrous for clubs like ours that have spent huge amounts on building a team to compete in the event,” adds Suneer.
Banking on CBL cash prize
The CBL 2023 offered a cash prize of ₹5.9 crore cumulatively. It was in 2019 that the Kerala Tourism department kickstarted the CBL, infusing fresh excitement into the storied tradition of snakeboat racing and significantly boosting the State’s tourism industry. The league, organised on the lines of Indian Premier League cricket, has been held every year since then, except in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In previous seasons, nine teams competed in races across 12 venues — six in Alappuzha district, two each in Kollam and Ernakulam, and one each in Thrissur and Kottayam districts — starting with the NTBR.
Long before the decision not to conduct the CBL this year, the event’s future had fallen into uncertainty. In the 2024-25 State Budget, ₹9.96 crore was set apart for the event, which is less compared to previous years. In the 2023-24 and 2022-23 Budgets, the government had allocated ₹12 crore and ₹15 crore respectively for the event. Further, the boat clubs that competed in last year’s CBL found themselves in a financial predicament due to delays in receiving the full bonus and prize money.
Recently, the government disbursed the outstanding bonus of ₹3 lakh for each race to the nine clubs, as well as the prize money of ₹5 lakh, ₹3 lakh, and ₹1 lakh to the top three finishers of each match. Nevertheless, the title winner, who is supposed to receive ₹25 lakh, along with the runner-up (₹15 lakh) and third-place finisher (₹10 lakh) are yet to receive their payments.
No rethink on cards
A Tourism department official, meanwhile, says the decision on the CBL has been made considering the human tragedy of enormous scale and a rethink is not on the cards at present.
A joint meeting of the Snakeboat Owners Association, Kerala Boat Club Association, and the Kerala Race Boat Owners Association held in Alappuzha earlier this week urged the government to conduct the NTBR in September and reconsider its decision to cancel the CBL. As August is increasingly prone to inclement weather, the meeting proposed rescheduling the NTBR from the second Saturday of August to the second Saturday of September from next year.
“We stood in solidarity with the government’s decision to postpone the NTBR in view of the Wayanad tragedy. Now the government should announce a new schedule for the event. We will soon meet with Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. If the government is averse to our demands, we will conduct a parallel boat race on Punnamada Lake in October,” says a member of a boat club who attended the meeting.
Published - August 22, 2024 08:36 pm IST
