Kochi to Nehru Trophy Boat Race (Alleppey)

• Alleppey

TRIP OVERVIEW

Book your taxi to attend Nehru Trophy Boat Race scheduled. Pre-booking your taxi ensures you a hassle-free ride at best and guaranteed fares from Kochi to boat race venue at Alleppey and back to Kochi.

HIGHLIGHTS

• All-inclusive fare to-and-fro fares — no surge or last-minute surprises.
• Enjoy a comfortable ride in Sedan (up to 4 pax), Innova (up to 7 pax) or Tempo Traveller (up to 19 pax).
• Pick-up from Kochi (Cochin) Airport, Ernakulam Railway Station or any point in Kochi.
• Drop at Alleppey or in Kochi city limits.
• Professionally trained chauffeur to drive you from Kochi to the venue and back to Kochi.

All-in return fares starting @ ₹2,499/- (includes toll, parking, and driver allowance).

Options: Sedan (Indigo, Swift DZire, Etios), SUV (Innova, Crysta), Coach (Tempo Traveller).

Pre-book your taxi for a hassle-free ride through WhatsApp. Contact us now.

DETAILED OVERVIEW

Alappuzha, a small town 80 kilometres from Cochin, but this city is famous all over the world. You might think what the matter here is. Yes, we have brought you today, in a similar celebration whose fame is in the whole world. The reason for this is the Nehru Trophy boat race held (2 PM to 6 PM) in the second Saturday of August every year.

This race is a unique race. In which many snake boats take part every year. Snake boats come from nearby villages to participate in this race. The entire city has been preparing for the race many days before.

This race is held in Punmamada Lake in Alappuzha. There is also an interesting story behind how this race was named Nehru Trophy Boat Race. It happened in 1952 that Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru was on a visit to Kerala and he was travelling from boat to Alhappuzu. Local people here were very excited about the visit of Pandit Nehru. Some locals were also running with their snake boat in the welcome of Pandit Nehru. Youth filled with the energy running these boats raced and thus the race started. Pandit Nehru was so influenced by the healthy performance of local people and competition that they showed, on reaching back to Delhi he made a trophy of a boat with silver and dedicated this race. Since then, this race has started. 

HISTORY OF SNAKE BOAT RACE

However, if the pages of history are reversed, 400 years ago, there is evidence of snake boat race in the kings of Travancore. An enthusiastic king ardently created the boat for these races. The length of these boats was 128 feet. Various types of prescriptions were used to strengthen the boat and to endure any type of attack. Even the king used to resort to his detectives for the boat espionage being built by the rival kings. From that period till now, competition in these boat race of Kerala is seen at its peak.

All-in return fares starting @ ₹2,499/- (includes toll, parking, and driver allowance).

Options: Sedan (Indigo, Swift DZire, Etios), SUV (Innova, Crysta), Coach (Tempo Traveller).

Pre-book your taxi for a hassle-free ride through WhatsApp. Contact us now.

THE SNAKE BOATS ARE SPECIAL

Every boat in the Nehru Trophy boat race represents a village. This boat has 100 to 140 skilled sailors. In these sailors, all the communities of Hindu, Christian, Muslim and other communities participate together with each other. This beautiful example of communal harmony is not seen anywhere else.

In order to understand this trek for a length of 1400 meters, experienced sailors pre-practice so that in any case the race can be won.

If we believe the people of Alappuzha, then this race is one of the oldest water sports in India.

This game is mutual cooperation and team spirit. While the sailors with strong arms cultivate the boat with a paddle in one line, the singers who sit among them sings boat songs to increase their enthusiasm. There are two drummers with these, they play the drum with big energy and fill their sailors.

Every boat has a team leader, with huge experience. He constantly keeps on instructing the sailors by whistling. It is worth watching.

The Nehru Trophy Boat Race is a way of celebrating the rural communities living in nearby villages. Every group gathered here represents someone or some village. The village also comes along to cheer your village boat. And with the help of a racing track made in Lake, they sit and cheer for their boat.

People make snake boats using the best quality wood. The 128-to-140 fit-long snake boat is packed with plenty of fish oil so that it runs smoothly on the water.

Today people prepare for this race all through the year. Because this boat race is in the time of monsoon, therefore water is also very large. To run this boat it is important to have a strong body athlete.

Competition is so tough that people perform practice sessions three to four months prior, and these sessions are also video graphed, then closely, reviewed so that the techniques can be improved and flaws can be removed.

All-in return fares starting @ ₹2,499/- (includes toll, parking, and driver allowance).

Options: Sedan (Indigo, Swift DZire, Etios), SUV (Innova, Crysta), Coach (Tempo Traveller).

Pre-book your taxi for a hassle-free ride through WhatsApp. Contact us now.

Before the race, the boat, called sandalwood, is evacuated from the water 2-3 days in advance. And it is dried. Through which the boat is light on the day of the race and can easily swim on the water.

The boat is worshipped on the main race day and after the application of conquest of Arad Dev, the boat is introduced into the water.

There are also women’s boats here. Women in the white sari with a narrow border of traditional Kerala participate in the boat race with equal enthusiasm for men.

PHOTOGRAPHY TIPS:

It is difficult to break the click of action shots of the Nehru Trophy boat race, which requires little planning. Here you can find good pictures with a zoom lens. So take a zoom lens above 300mm.

• Keep shutter speed 1/1000 to freeze the action.
• If you want to take a front view of the race, it can be taken from the shots and points for which you have to take a ticket in advance. Take a little while to get an entry here and get to the right place.
• Try that you reach Alappuzha two days ago so that the pictures of Practice Session can be found.

All-in return fares starting @ ₹2,499/- (includes toll, parking, and driver allowance).

Options: Sedan (Indigo, Swift DZire, Etios), SUV (Innova, Crysta), Coach (Tempo Traveller).

Pre-book your taxi for a hassle-free ride through WhatsApp. Contact us now.

Additional information