BALAN MADHAVAN
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IMPORTANT RACES
PHOTO: INDIA PICTURE
• President’s Trophy Boat Race is held on Ashtamudi Lake in Kollam during Onam • Kallada Boat Race is held on the Kallada River, Kollam • Indira Gandhi Boat Race is held on the Ernakulam Lake during the Cochin Carnival in the last week of December • Champakulam Moolam Boat Race held on the River Pamba in Alappuzha marks the beginning of the boat race season in July • Aranmula Uthrattadi Vallamkali is the oldest river boat fiesta in the state held during Onam • Payippad Jalotsavam is a three-day carnival held on the Payippad Lake
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watery landscape into their daily lives, and into their festivals. The network of canals has necessitated the use of different kinds of boats — from kitchen boats to cargo boats and pleasure boats to the magnificent chundan or snake boat. Days before a major race, a carnival spirit grips the people of nearby towns and villages. The starting and finishing blocks are worked out and organisers work overtime to give the final touches to the decorations and set up temporary bamboo podiums at strategic corners. For the participants (both men and women) the preparations begin much earlier. Apart from the participants, there are the vanchipattu singers, who help the rowers to maintain the rhythm with their songs and beats. The boats can be over 50 metres long and accommodate over 100 people. The prow of the boat curves like the hood of a snake and hence the name, snake boat. Many cultural organisations put up floats and cultural presentations atop grandly decorated boats. While these add to the general merriment, all attention is riveted on the participating boats. By the time the qualifying events begin, the crowd has already worked itself to a frenzy. The cheering continues unabated with the winner of the snake boat race being greeted with a crescendo. n
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