League Of Extraordinary Oarsmen

Kerala’s iconic boat races are turning professional with the Champions Boat League.

- Siddharth Premkumar

Reverie comes easy on a full stomach under the palm fronds on the banks of a placid rivulet in Alleppey. Not on R.K. Pillai’s watch though. With piercing whistles and words, the ex-army man cuts through the noon lull, spurring his 100-strong crew into formation in the 67th edition of the Nehru Trophy Boat Race (NTBR)—the ‘Olympics of the backwaters’.

As if competing for club and kara (traditional land divisions in the countryside) in the marquee chundan vallam (snake boat) competition—which fields the largest line-up of massive 100-140-ft anjili ( jungle jack tree) boats—was not pressure enough, this year’s NTBR doubled as the inaugural race of Champions Boat League (CBL): a snake boat tourney modelled after Indian Premier League. The state government rolled it out to offset the drop in tourism during the monsoon months.

CBL features nine of the top boat clubs in 12 river races over a three-month period bookended by the NTBR on August 31 and the prestigious President’s Trophy Boat Race on November 23. It is touted as the country’s fourth-most lucrative sports league with prizes totalling Rs 5.9 crore. For the snake boat rowers, the majority of whom farm, fish or subsist on a daily wage, it is a lifeline. “Earlier, rowers used to get petty cash to show up for trials in the morning, eat food, row in the race in the evening, and go home. Often they would be cheated out of even these small amounts—this only added to their debts. Many still come purely for the love of the sport and pride,” says Lalu Marsalin, a brawny veteran. Once a thuzhachilkaran (oarsman), Marsalin is now a taalamkaar (rhythmkeeper) who urges the 100-plus rowers on a snake boat to paddle onwards with vanchipattu (boat songs akin to the ‘work music’ sung in the fields) and chants. Brawnier still are the