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| Coastal Kerala state of India.medium.com |
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| Beypore, Kerala traditional handcrafted boat. .gulftoday.ae |
Above image: Centuries old Beypore Uru ((Malayalam) or Dhow wooden boat fully handcrafted - is a symbol of Arab-kerala maritime ties...................................
In the dusty yellowish pages of Maritime history of India with special reference to theMalabar coastal area, many fascinating facts, stories and lives of certain seafarers either lie hidden to be fully explored or unheard of for reasons of their poor impact on the modern world. Any piece of history is to be studied as best as can be so that one can connect the dots and highlight the ethos and culture of that place . In the state of Kerala, only recently cultural awareness is gaining currency about the Dhow people or seafarers. Often called ''Manchukkars,'' They played no less role than the sea-explorers in the area of bygone sea transportation . Necessity made them become experts in many aspects of seafaring and their duties are not confined to off and on loading of cargos at various ports.
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| Forgotten deckhands of Malabar., Kerala. mpositive.in/ |
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| Coastal Kerala with groves, etc pload.wikimedia.org |
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| Silk road and spice trade, ancient world. pload.wikimedia.org |
The Beypore Dhows, the main form of sea transport along the spice routes of Malabar and Arabia for centuries were run by experienced sailors. This post is about the Dhow men - the accompanying deck hands and cooks who also had to load and offload cargo in different destinations crisscrossing the Arabian sea or along the destinations on the North west coast of India.
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| loveatfirstadventure.com |
The following are the captivating facts about the Dhow men of the Malabar region, Kerala:
01. The maritime history of the Malabar covers many pieces of informations on the olden ship movements, celebrated sailors, seafarers, etc. Centuries of seafaring trades and talented carpenters involved in ship building have imparted a unique and distinct culture to this region.
02. The maritime history of this region is incomplete without the association of deck hands and cooks. But their history and tumultuous lives through centuries remain either unheard of or retold then and there for unknown reasons.
03. This big vacucam in their vital role in the Malabar maritime history is primarily unfortunate and is due to lack of documented information on the Manchukkars. The deckhands and cooks (pandari) never recorded their daily activities on the ship, their long voyages, down to earth experiences on the high seas, etc. Their risky tempestuous career ended several decades ago with the advent of modern sea transportation.
04. Their agonizing and painful sea journeys on the Urus were brought to light by one S.P. Sunil. a photographer and a history buff who personally and painstakingly met with elderly, retired deck hands and heard their encyclopedic seafaring adventure. He captured the faces of 34 deckhands - supposedly unsung heros and in April 2019 he displayed the rare photos at URU Art Harbour in Kochi. His intention was to create an awareness about the Manchukkar and their hidden poignant life stories. Their rugged, sun-tanned skin and myriads of wrinkles on the skin may be due to aging, but they are accentuated by their long tense journeys through the unpredictable sea and exposure to scorching Sun.
05. Financially down and living in abject poverty, the Dhow men of Malabar have never lost their pride in their chosen profession and sense of nostalgia despite their age above 60. Primarily confined to coastal places from Ponnani to Kasaragod. some of them vividly recollect their past adventures at high seas as if they had happened recently. Their notable trait is their self-contentment which is quite amazing and has spiritual and philosophical overstones.
06. Taking rest or nap was a tough one while sailing and right from the dawn to dusk, they were at work with minimum ration of food and potable water.
07. Their preoccupation with possible nature's fury was just overwhelming. Being experienced through years of sea travel, predicting looming harsh weather conditions on high seas was not new to them and the sailors were dependent on them to prepare the ship to face the cyclone, etc.
08. The deck hands were good at changing the masts, etc to stabilize the swaying ship when facing heavy gales, clearing sea water accumulated on the deck from the pounding high waves and checking the condition of the hull during this testing time.
09. Facing risk while the ship was inching toward the destination at night without modern technology, they relied on the stars, frothing sea and changing wave patterns, color of the sky, etc to predict the approaching danger.
10. Their other assigned task on the ship was to unload the cargo on the shores of the Middle Eastern countries and prepare the ship for the return journey.
11. The cargo to be unloaded aboard included - teak wood, bamboo, textiles, spices, tapioca, salt, fertilizers, terracotta tiles, etc. Some times, they had to safely smuggle humans who wanted to work in the gulf countries.
12. Equally challenging and nerve-wrecking is their return journey home - again they would face the same unpredictable gale and high waves. The most dreaded time is the SW Monsoon period beginning in June. As much as they could, they would avoid sailing during the monsoon period.
13. With no modern gadgets to predict thunderstorms or cyclones, for their treacherous journey on the wooden boat - Urus, they had to depend on the edit of god for safety.
14. Upon returning home they would rather relax with their kids and family members rather than jotting down their unsafe and precarious sea journey during their heart-throbbing tempestuous period. After a few days' time they would get ready for another life-threatening odyssey, relying on the constellations to fix localities and marking the time of night
15. In the absence of the minutes of their seafaring journey, no details are available on the professional history of Dhow men whose contribution should have been well written or documented in the pages of maritime growth and history of the Coastal Malabar.
16. Their tales of adventure and struggle when facing Shipwrecks, pirate attacks, sudden high tidal waves or storms are quite heart-rending and they would tell you how courageously they had played hide and seek with death in the midst of saving the cargo from damages.
17. Once out into the ocean, their safety being at stake, their families take refuge in the mercy of god and intense prayers for their safe return.
18. These people had to divide their professional life between total exploitation and insinuation on one side and survival in facing nature's fury on the other.
19. Beginning their life journey on Urus with uncertainty and unpredictable bleak future, being teen agers, they had faced disgusting sexual exploitation in their early period.
20. Once grown up, they would continue their profession until they reached middle age. At that stage, the money-minded employers, being inhuman and unscrupulous, considered them misfit to continue their profession. Reason: failing health and age wilted by the heat and long exposure to the merciless sun.
21. Hence, their retirement after long dedicated services had resulted in zilch. With no financial gain, their retired life was writ with disappointment, pangs of pain and cheating.
22. These deck hands with well-built body and stamina never got into this risky lonely profession out of inspiration or long cherished passion for adventure. If you take many of the surviving families, the elders would say that it was their childhood poverty, pain and hunger with sunken stomach made the men - Manchukkoran join the crewmen on the boat.
23. On the sides, they, over a period of time, learned the art of climbing the tallest masts and perching atop would change sails in accordance with wind direction. A wrong move or slip on the poles means nasty accidents or even death - all in the midst of heavy gales.
24. Many of the deckhands and cooks were illiterate and had to depend on somebody to read the letters they received from their families. .
25. Along the Northern part of the west coast of India most of the destinations lie between Mangalore to Bombay. Believe it or not, weather playing truant, sometimes making a trip on a dhow from Beypore to Bombay along the west coast might take weeks (due to bad weather) instead of four days under normal weather.
26. At some localities like Mumbai. for unloading they had to wait more than a week for their turn and it was mainly due to high and low tide situation; key factor is the level of the tidal water.
27. The deckhands faced all kinds of ordeals one can ever think of. The most strenuous one was frequent tempests, quick changing of sails on high masts above - 50 ft in midnight in the midst of violently rolling ship. Apart, they had to brook bouts of starvation.
28. According to Sunil, an inquisitive person, much of the tales of these Dhow men surfaced through the old men's strange songs, recalling their rough ordeals of the past. Steeped in pathos the unique songs shirred the poignant memories of their line of work and covered the gist of everything associated with mental anguish of fear and expectation of ghastly pain.
29. The change of seasons also affected the sailors and the hhow men while sailing across the sea. For example when the winter season sets in, they will get mouth ulcer due to cold wind.
30. Yet another problem being faced by the sail boats was the growth of patches of barnacles. The deck hands after unloading the goods, would appy a mixture of oil, lime and ghee to the boat’s keel to prevent barnacles. The crux of the matter is with no options open, this work had to be done standing in a slush of mud and human excrement giving out nasty smell and reek of urine.
https://krsunil.com/manchukkar-the-seafarers-of-malabar/
https://www.thehindu.com/society/meet-the-forgotten-dhow-men-of-malabar/article26820920.ece
 of Malabar,'' Kerala and native ships Urus - 32 engrossing facts){kind=link}