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Kettuvallam Cruise in
Kerala Backwater
It’s
common to hear a kettuvallam called a “rice boat.” In fact, many of
those you’ll see
in the Kerala backwater are working boats hauling copra and
other commodities.
The genesis of
kettuvallams such as are pictured here, so I heard, is that
one elder boatman had three daughters reaching marriageable age at
about
the same time. He was pressed for cash. Then the idea came to him that
hauling passengers might be more profitable than hauling goods. He
suggested the idea to the people at Tourindia’s
office in Thiruvananthapuram — the name which replaced the
city’s more easily pronounceable old one, Trivandrum. They liked it and
the backwater cruise was born.
Kettuvallams such as
this one are outfitted with a head and berth, as well as side panels
that open to make an awning. The experience of drifting lazily along —
that is, lazily from the passenger’s point of
view; the boatmen put a lot of umph into the poling — has to be one
of
the world’s most enjoyable travel experiences. In the quiet
of the placid backwater, while the sky makes its quick tropical
transition from blue to copper to red, it’s easy to forget that
you’re not far from a launch site for India’s
budding space program.
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Kettuvallam
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Kettuvallams are moored, waiting to take passengers on backwater
cruises.