What do you do when the best of hydraulic cranes fail to lift a wreck?
Call the Mappila Khalasis, ofcourse! Where state-of-the-art machines
fail, the 37 men Khalasi teams of Kozhikode in northern Kerala, work
wonders with little more than a wooden pole fashioned into a `dower'
or winch, leveraged by hawsers and pulleys. The Mappila Khalasis,
originally employed in launching the more than 400 tonne Arab Dhows
built at the Beypore docks, now specialise in hauling heavy wrecks.
The Mappila Khalasis have helped to construct many heavy projects
like the Idukki Dam, the bridges at Feroke, Vadakkumbadu and Kallai,
the Mahanadi bridge in Orissa and the Manganese factory at Goa. But
with the decline in Dhow construction at Beypore, the younger generation
of Khalasis are forced to seek other avenues of livelihood.
The Beypore port has always been an exclusive outlet for timber from
Kerala. Teak from the Kerala forests was the choice of many seafaring
people, especially the Arabs, for ship building. A ship building industry
gradually developed around Beypore, especially for the construction
of Arab trading 'Dhows' and 'Urus'. Beypore teak even went into the
making of Lord Nelson's fleet at Trafalgar. The practice continued
till the First World War, after which steel ships and boats took over.
However, recent times have seen a revival of the building of wooden
cabin cruisers and pleasure boats, mainly for export. The video clip
shows the last great 'Uru' of the millennium which is ready for launch
at the Beypore port.
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