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The houseboats in Kerala, south India, are huge, slow-moving, exotic barges used for leisure trips. They are a reworked model of Kettuvallams (in the Malayalam language, Kettu means "tied with ropes", and vallam means "boat"), which, in earlier times, were used to carry rice and spices from Kuttanad to the Kochi port. Kerala houseboats were considered a convenient means of transportation.
The popularity of Kettuvalloms has returned in the function as major tourist attractions. Many find the Kettuvallom an ideal means of exploring the beauty of the Kerala backwaters.
Such a houseboat is about 60 to 70 feet (about 18 to 21 meters) long and about 15 feet (about 5 m) wide at the middle. The hull is made of wooden planks that are held together by ropes of coconut fiber; the usual wood is 'Anjili'. The roof is made of bamboo poles and palm leaves. The exterior of the boat is painted with protective coats of cashew nut oil.
Kettuvallom is a kind of house boat in Kerala, India. Kettuvallom literally means "bundle" or "package" boat (Kettu means tied with ropes, and vallam means boat - Malayalam language).
A house boat is about 60 to 70 feet in length and has a width of around 15 feet in the middle. The boat is made of wooden planks joined and stiched together using coconut fiber ropes. Usually the wood used will be 'Anjili', The roof covering is made of bamboo poles and palm leaves. The outside of the boat is painted using cashew nut oil, which acts as a protective coating.
During the time when road and rail transportation was expensive or unavailable, traders used this as a form of main transportation in the inland waterways.
The boats had enough facilities for cooking and sleeping for the boatmen. Sometimes boatmen's families also accompanied them. These boatmen were also famous for the folk songs they sang while rowing the boat and for their style of cooking which they developed for the conditions inside the boat.
The first houseboats to appear on Vembanad Lake were former rice-barges.
Vallam Kali (or Vallamkali) iterally means boat game (race) in Malayalam. |
