birth of nehru trophy.pdf
TRANSCRIPT
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