Walked two kilometres from home to Thazhathangadi, where this boat race happens every year during onam. Our Meenachil river looked very serene. On the road, parallel to the banks of the river, walked towards the finishing point. Both the banks were occupied fully and there was not an inch space left. Anyhow, I managed to stand near to the finish line. I was infact standing on the trunk of a banana tree. We call it Vazhappindi. Actually this banana tree is not a tree; it is a plant. Here comes an old story on this topic in my mind; don't worry, am not going to tell you that this time!
I was well balancing in that pose not to fall into the river. There was too much of mud also.
Soon started the excitement. It was nice to watch the snake boats compete with around 100 guys on each boat. I could see a lot of foreigners coming there watching the even from their boats. There were a lot local people coming there on small boats; we call it kothumbu vallam. They parked those boats near to the banks.
There was tight competition in the preliminary round for no-snake boats. It was difficult for me to judge who won the race, even though I stood very near to the finish line. And there soon started issues on who won it. People over there split into two groups supporting those teams.
There I witnessed a lot of things for the first time in my life.
1) One Helicopter flying over the river where the race was happening. Heard that it cost 4200 Rs for 15 mins of flying over the city. Imagine watching the boat race from the copter. The snake boat itself looked like a millipede from the top.(Courtesy: Ginness Pakru, the smallest hero acted in a movie).
2) One snake boat falling upside down with the rowers falling in water.
3) Two snake boats colliding at the finishing point in the Final. They collided just after touching the finish line. This too was very difficult to judge who won the cup.
It took a lot of replays for the chief judge to decide who the winner was. The snake boat Sree Ganesh who won the prestigious Alappuzha Nehru trophy boat race won here too. What a race! Both teams did their best to touch the line first and one of the boats lost balance and collided.
I postponed my Trivandrum journey to the next day since I watched the entire race and knew I would miss the Venad Express. I went back home walking with lots of memories. While walking back, I heard the announcement, Sree Ganesh chundan won the Cup. Thank you all.
I was well balancing in that pose not to fall into the river. There was too much of mud also.
Soon started the excitement. It was nice to watch the snake boats compete with around 100 guys on each boat. I could see a lot of foreigners coming there watching the even from their boats. There were a lot local people coming there on small boats; we call it kothumbu vallam. They parked those boats near to the banks.
There was tight competition in the preliminary round for no-snake boats. It was difficult for me to judge who won the race, even though I stood very near to the finish line. And there soon started issues on who won it. People over there split into two groups supporting those teams.
There I witnessed a lot of things for the first time in my life.
1) One Helicopter flying over the river where the race was happening. Heard that it cost 4200 Rs for 15 mins of flying over the city. Imagine watching the boat race from the copter. The snake boat itself looked like a millipede from the top.(Courtesy: Ginness Pakru, the smallest hero acted in a movie).
2) One snake boat falling upside down with the rowers falling in water.
3) Two snake boats colliding at the finishing point in the Final. They collided just after touching the finish line. This too was very difficult to judge who won the cup.
It took a lot of replays for the chief judge to decide who the winner was. The snake boat Sree Ganesh who won the prestigious Alappuzha Nehru trophy boat race won here too. What a race! Both teams did their best to touch the line first and one of the boats lost balance and collided.
I postponed my Trivandrum journey to the next day since I watched the entire race and knew I would miss the Venad Express. I went back home walking with lots of memories. While walking back, I heard the announcement, Sree Ganesh chundan won the Cup. Thank you all.
