Everybody’s Boat

For the residents of Arpookkara, a quiet village on the outskirts of Kottayam town, Sunday will mark the culmination of a dream generations in the making—the day their own snake boat, built entirely through community funding, touches water for the first time.

Arpookkara Chundan, a 128-foot snake boat built to carry 83 oarsmen, five helmsmen and seven singers, will be ceremonially launched—a ritual known as neeraniyal—at the village on Sunday, before entering competitive waters at this year’s Nehru Trophy Boat Race and 11 other events through the season.

The boat’s significance, however, extends beyond the races it hopes to win. Unlike most snake boats, which are backed by wealthy patrons or established boat clubs, Arpookkara Chundan has been built by the village itself.

Around 550 families pooled resources to raise nearly Rs 65 lakh for its construction, buying shares priced from Rs 5,000 each. Many families invested in more than one share, making the project a collective effort that drew support from across the village.

A village of shareholders

Arpookkara lies adjacent to Aymanam, the village Arundhati Roy made famous as the setting of “The God of Small Things”— a stretch of Kottayam’s backwaters known, until now, more for literary tourism than boat-racing glory.

“It is a symbol of unity, community strength and the power of collective dreams,” said former minister V N Vasavan, chief patron of the Arpookkara Chundan Valla Samithi, the body that spearheaded the project.

According to samithi secretary Arun Mohan, the fundraising itself became a community movement. The samithi now hopes to expand the shareholder base to 1,000 families by next year, giving more residents a stake in the boat’s future.

Fr James Mullassery, who headed the committee overseeing construction, said the project drew people together across lines that might normally divide a village. “People from all religions and political parties held hands together to achieve this dream,” he said, adding that the boat has already gathered its own fan association.
For samithi president Biju Vettoor, the boat represents something the village had wanted for a long time. “Having our own snake boat has been a long-standing dream of the people of Arpookkara,” he says.

Built on the Meenachil’s banks

Construction began in Sept last year, on the banks of a tributary of Meenachil River flowing through the village—the traditional setting in which snake boats have been built in this part of Kerala for generations.

The man behind the build, Sabu Narayanan Achari, is no newcomer to the craft. A native of Edathua, he has built 10 snake boats over the years; for the Arpookkara Chundan, he sourced four anjili (Artocarpus hirsutus, commonly known as wild jack) trees from around Pala.
“The only difficulty is finding the right wood for construction,” Sabu said. “Compared to earlier times, machines have made the work easier.”

From village hands to competitive waters

In keeping with tradition, the shareholders themselves — the families who funded the boat — will row it during its maiden entry into the water on Sunday. Only after that symbolic first outing will the boat be handed over to Emmanuel Boat Club, which will campaign it through the season.

The club has ambitious plans: 12 races in all, including the marquee Nehru Trophy Boat Race. Competitive rowing, though, doesn’t come cheap. Vice-chairman Vinesh Kumar estimated the season’s total expenses, including training camps, at around Rs 80 lakh—a cost the samithi is still hoping a sponsor will help meet.

Sponsor or not, the Arpookkara Chundan has already achieved something rarer than a trophy: Turning a village’s shared ambition into 128 feet of anjili wood, ready to take to the water.

END OF ARTICLE