7/27/2019 Birth of Nehru Trophy.pdf

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/birth-of-nehru-trophypdf 1/6

 

A TSDT publication

Revised on Nov 30, 2015  August 2, 2013 

7/27/2019 Birth of Nehru Trophy.pdf

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/birth-of-nehru-trophypdf 2/6

  2

Birth of Nehru Trophy

On august 15, 2013 it will be India’s !th  independen"e

day# $part fro% that, for &erala'state people, they

"elebrate a boat ra"e# This year boat ra"e, whi"h is also

"alled a (N$&)'BO$T *$+), is supposed to be on the

10th of $ugust 2013#

Below is the photograph of first Nehru Trophy award

gien to 

(ri -ooppallil &uttiya"hen, ./oseph +herian $lappuha in 152 thatwas "ondu"ted in -unna%ada'4ae, $lappuha'6istri"t, &erala'(tate, IN6I$#

7/27/2019 Birth of Nehru Trophy.pdf

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/birth-of-nehru-trophypdf 3/6

  3

The first prie of 152 boat ra"e went to 7N$68’B9$:$;< boat# I hae not

seen any photograph of it# -robably it %ust hae got ruined oer the long years of ti%e#

The birth of Nehru'trophy was %ere a""idental# 6uring Nehru’s state isit

to 7Traan"ore'+o"hin'(tate< of that ti%e, .4ong before the for%ation of

&erala'(tate, -andit /awahar 4al Nehru happened to trael fro% &ottaya%

to $lappuha through waterways# $t that ti%e the lo"al people organied a

boat ra"e in honor of Nehru# The oer=oyed -ri%e %inister offered an eer'

rolling trophy, whi"h is being "ontinued as Nehru Trophy thenafter#

On /uly 01, 1> Traan"ore'(tate and +o"hin'(tate =oined together and

"reated Traan"ore'+o"hin'(tate#

Only in Noe%ber 01, 15 &erala'(tate was for%ed under the 7(tate

*eorganiation $"t<

I do not hae %u"h infor%ation about the ?irst Nehru Trophy boat ra"e or

the ba"ground of Napoleon boat -ooppally had# @hen this eent too pla"e

I was only 1> years old and I a% unable to re%e%ber eery details of it#$fter the eent, there was a heated dis"ussion at -ooppally ho%e about

loosing the ?irst'-rie# (o%e sabotage did tae pla"e and -ooppally fa%ily

%e%bers were ery furious about it#

-ooppally &uttiya"hen was a good agri"ulturist pri%arily and a business%an

als# 9e was a great diplo%at and politi"al %anipulator# ;ost of the ;-s ;4$s

and %inisters of his period were his "onstant isitors# -ooppally’s

inheritan"es were hundreds of a"res of paddy field, a huge ri"e'%ill,

produ"ing boiled ri"e large's"ale "o"oanut oil eAtra"ting oil'%ill and a silent

%oie theatre when no one else had at that ti%e# Though there was no

ele"tri"ity at that ti%e when they started the theater, it was run with a

generator# They started running a silent %oie theatre# I re%e%ber of

%eeting an old %an who was %aing ba"ground noises at the theatre for the

silent %oies, whi"h had no sound syste%# -ooppally also had shri%p freeing

plant and shri%p eAporting and "oir'%at eAporting#

7/27/2019 Birth of Nehru Trophy.pdf

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/birth-of-nehru-trophypdf 4/6

  4

-ooppally was the biggest "ontributor of the (t# Tho%as OrthodoA (yrian

+hur"h, near ahi"hery Bridge $lappua# /oseph +herian .&uttiya"hen wasthe only person buried in +hur"h +e%etery in the past# 6ue to a"ute

shortage of spa"e, the "e%etery was not open to eeryone, when he was

buried there#

I do not now why -ooppally too the interest in Boat ra"e# They are

originally fro% &uttanad# +ountry boats and "anoes were part and par"el of

their eeryday life# Before the %otorboats "a%e in to use, "ountry boats

were the only %eans of transportation they had# -ooppally also had a priate

%otorboat for their personal use# @ithin a short period of ti%e after theboat'ra"e'i"tory, &uttiya"hen re"eied 7))*$'+9$N:$4$ and $6I<,

fro% &O+9I ' *$/$ for a su""essful and re%arable 7business%anship<#

7))*$'+9$N:$4$< is a bra"elet and 7$6I< is an orna%ented waling

sti" ' ery rarely gien in honor to re%arable persons by &O+9I' *$/$#

4ater, when &uttiya"hen died, his youngest son ;oni"hen too oer the

interest in boat ra"e# By 2013 he %ust be around C>'C5 years of age#

$""ording to so%e re"ords Napoleon won ra"es, se"ond in 152, D then firstin 15!, 15C, 15, and in 11#

By 1!3 Napoleon was sold to 7$44$;’&84$N:$*$<#

7$44$;’&84$N:$*$< sold it to 7(*))’:$N)(9 :*O8-<

7(*)) :$N)(9 :*O8-< sold it to 7&)($$’ :*O8-<

$fter 11 so%e "arpenter adised ;oni"hen to in"rease the length of the

boat by few feet to a""o%%odate %ore rowers to in"rease the speed# But

for so%e unnown reason or bad lu" they did not get the benefit they

eApe"ted#

I a% not sure, any superstitious belief or any other %afia operation was

behind -ooppally boat, whi"h haunted their belief that their boat %ay not

win again# But they were not opti%isti" about its future su""ess for sure#

;oni"hen hi%self told %e on"e, things are not woring out well een after

huge spending for the %aintenan"e of the boat#

7/27/2019 Birth of Nehru Trophy.pdf

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/birth-of-nehru-trophypdf 5/6

  5

In Ee%alayalee#"o%’ website they published an elaborate history of Napoleon'

alla%, httpFGGwww#e%alayalee#"o%Gartha?ull#phpHnewsId5!!5 @ritten by &urian -a%paady, whi"h you %ay please refer, if you are

interested#

To present this type of a boat for the ra"e it will "ost %ore than

3’000’000G' Indian rupees .%aintenan"e "ost# To %ae one of these ind of

a boat it should "ost %ore than 000’000 Indian rupees#

8sually a ra"e boat of this ind, "arries 0' 120 rowers or %ore and a length

of %ore than 120 feet, %ade of wood# The original photograph of firstNehru Trophy is in bla" and white and the one shown in this is the %odified

"opy of photo -ooppallil &uttiya"hen had in his ho%e in $lappuha#

I hae been away fro% %y ho%e for too %any years and do not hae %u"h

"onta"t at present with -ooppally fa%ily %e%bers# &uttiya"hen is one of the

older brothers of %y %other# I had few of the old photographs and this is

one of the leftoers# ;any photographs got lost in transit in %y "ontinued

"hange of %y residen"es#

It is ery diffi"ult for %e to "olle"t any details at present be"ause %ost of

the seniors hae faded away and the youngsters %ay hae ery little

nowledge besides I a% far away fro% %y ho%e#

7/27/2019 Birth of Nehru Trophy.pdf

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/birth-of-nehru-trophypdf 6/6

  6

$boe is the i%age of a typi"al ra"ing boat and not of Napoleon#

They had a plan to present this Napoleon in Tha%es rier of 4ondon# -eople

say $"huthanandan :oern%ent did not hae any interest, so it got busted#

The details of whi"h is eAplained in following website#

Technical Specifications of the boat Napoleon/ Vellamkulamgara asshown in following website> keraleeyam.in <

http://www.keraleeyam.in/html/news_2010-2.html 

Length – !" feet

#i$th – " feet

#eight ! to % tons

Tail en$ height – &" to &% feet

'eneral height – less than %

$uthorF : / T

A TSDT publication

gee(aytee)gmail.com

$ugust 2, 2013 

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Shree 'aneshan *hun$an+ of the St ran!is "oat #l$%& 'arippa( won the 61st  NehruTrophy ,oat -ace &" on ) *$+$st & hel( in unnama$a Lake in 0lappu1ha+ 2erala3State. 

,eise(: oem%er 30& 2015