Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Yesterday, I got into a Vallam and traveled from Malakkara to Aranmula and back. It was wonderful.
Since I’m a newbie at everything from wearing a mundu (dhothi) properly to holding the nayambu (oar), it was a pretty interesting experience at first. You have to madakikutthu the mundu (fold the mundu over so that it looks like a knee-length skirt) so that you can sit comfortably in it and after a few tries, I managed to do that. [aside: I’m pretty sure true-blood Malayalis would wince at this point. My only advice: please don’t read on]. The vallam itself is about twenty to thirty metres long and seems to weigh a ton, but it’s constructed so well that just a finger-touch can move it on the water (trust me, I tried it). When about forty people get onto it, it remains amazingly steady and sure, although the getting in (and out) is an experience that’ll rival a roller coaster.
There are planks that go cross-wise the breadth and parallel to it from the edges so that you don’t usually step into the wet bottom of the boat. You sit at the very edge locking your legs back and across and it’s probably the closest I’ve come to the water without getting wet. It was also interesting learning how to row properly. The nayambu is a thick wooden oar with a longer handle. There’s a circular piece at the top that you’re supposed to grip with one hand, the other holding the top of the flaring edge firmly. And then you row. Easier said than done of course :-). After splashing my fellow boatmates about a thousand times, I managed to get the hang of it. A chetan sitting behind me (who bore much of the brunt of my attack on water) commented on the return-trip that for a newbie I did it very well indeed [this made my day :-)].
What distinguishes the Aranmula Vallam from its variations across Kerala (and the world) is the Vallapattu (boat-song). Resonating exactly with the rhythm of the oars, it’s a beautiful counterpoint to the entire experience: if the song moves faster, you instinctively row faster, and it’s so constructed (and sung) so that there are periods of relative inactivity and bursts of speed. It’s uber-wonderful.
The most common verse is this:
Thithithara thithithey thithey theke they they tho[..]om
The ‘th’ is a sound which is not in english: a cross between the t in ‘them’ and ‘tarrif’, also notice the alliteration. The [..] stands for a longer -o-, lengthening with an increase in exuberance.
It took around forty-five minutes to travel upriver and about ten minutes less to travel down. Not exactly fast (takes about ten minutes by car). I’ll estimate the top speeds to be around 25kmph, although this was not a race. I’m pretty sure though that more than the rowing, it’s the people who stand at the very behind of the boat (at an increased height) and who steer it - esp. the person who holds the odanayambu - who holds the key to a victory in a race. The rowers pretty much row as they please and unlike canoeing, it’s a game more of enthusiasm still rather than skill. I expect someone enterprising will change this soon: just off the top of my head, introducing pacing techniques and regular practice will increase the average speed of a boat considerably. Of course, then, it’ll cease to be fun and be serious sport, which is not the idea.
Me? I had a lot of fun.
Tags: kerala • shuttered eye • vallamkali
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Monday, August 27, 2007
Also see all the photos at Flickr, provides a really nice glimpse of the Onam world.
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Monday, February 28, 2005
We gave Vivek a surprise on Saturday, and he gave us a treat on Sunday.
Tags: shuttered eye
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Monday, February 28, 2005
Vaibhav and Gauri… yeah, I’m an uncle! 
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Friday, November 26, 2004
Today was Karthika; we had lots of candles to burn this time round. I felt like taking some pictures.
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Saturday, September 25, 2004
Today was my birthday… and these very special people made me very happy 
Thank you!
Tags: chaff • shuttered eye
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Monday, August 2, 2004
Six pictures to show you what I have been up to these past few days - instant gratification, and all that.
This is just a preview, some way to access my entire digicam database and more than a few writeups on my experiences will follow. This was an interesting trip, to say the least, and there are more than a few things to say. Let’s see… when I do get the inclination, I’ll write a few treatises titled, “Different Types of Enjoyment”, “Convenient Morals” and of course, “Kerala, Perverts’ Own Country”. Till we meet again…
Tags: chaff • shuttered eye
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Saturday, May 22, 2004
Rejoice! Shuttered Eye is back. My dad managed to repair my non-functioning camera and I’ve started taking pictures again. A few will grace these pages soon.
The above picture is of my house-cat. Her name is ‘Poocha’ - and admittedly that’s quite unimaginative (for all you non-malayalees out there, a cat in English would be a poocha in malayalam) but my mom, brother and I spent too long a time thinking up a name for her and by the time we came up with one, what we called her in the meantime (vis a vis, poocha) had stuck. She had two children early in her life (she’s four years old now) - Blackie and Snowy, and regrettably both have left us for greener pastures =). Poocha is now neutered at my mother’s insistence, but she lives a comfortable life and is the laziest cat that you’ll ever see, sleeping almost always and perking up only at the sound (or the smell) of food.
She is also incredibly cute =)
Tags: shuttered eye
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Thursday, October 30, 2003
Shuttered eye has to (regretably) close for a while. My camera refuses to work and there’s no other way I can take pictures right now.
I’m so very sad.
Tags: shuttered eye
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Saturday, October 18, 2003
Continuing my plug of my favorite band from these parts, don’t forget to watch Rosebowl today at 9:00pm. I’m sure you’ll find them great.
Edit: They are great!
Edit (2): It’s Rubbur band.. =)
Tags: shuttered eye
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Saturday, October 11, 2003
Ione serves me. Well, I might add. Uselessly too, since I’m not running anything on my server right now. It downloads pretty well though - Shareaza attends
to all my P2P needs, and Wackget is a very good download accelerator (based on the Unix wget, which could be the best download manager of all time) serves the
rest of my web download needs. So Ione is a download beast. For now.
Tags: shuttered eye
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Tuesday, September 16, 2003
Yes she is And I’m an improving photographer.
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Tuesday, September 16, 2003
Holy. And that word conjures up something effervescently multicolor. But that isn’t exactly what marriage brings to my
mind nowadays. (Actually, it wasn’t ever like that, but for the divine purpose of this post, it will be conveniently forgotten.)
I had the pleasure and pain of being a party to an arranged marriage recently. My opinions on this, as my opinions on many topics
are, were until recently very obtuse - I’m obstinate about love and I’m practical about money. But “to marry a person whom you’ve never
even met and to spend the rest of the life with her is crazy!” (Kudos to Vivek, who puts it across very bluntly and effectively.)
Will I ever succumb to the evil that is an arranged marriage? I would like to say NO NO NO outright, but I won’t. Some years ago,
a friend and I had a talk with DP about this. She was of course arguing for something simply because she could, but practicality cannot
always stand firm in the stead of idealistic youth, and so as a parting shot, she lashed out at my friend and told him that she was sure
he’ll land himself in an arranged marriage, and to add insult to injury - that he will engage in something that I’d like to call money grabbing.
To my surprise, and to DP’s, he didn’t deny it outright. Idealistic youth does die in front of practicality.
So does mine, though it should die much harder. Unless of course…
Tags: shuttered eye
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