KERALA'S SNAKE BOAT LIKELY TO MAKE WAVES ON THE THAMES RIVER

A snake boat in a river in Kerala. Tourism promotion authorities are trying to send a snake boat for the Olympics pageant trial on the Thames in London.

Thiruvananthapuram, India - Kerala's famed snake boats attract thousands to the annual boat race in the Punnamada backwaters. One of the over 100-feet-long (33.3 metres) boats may take to the waters of the Thames River as part of a trial run of the inaugural ceremony of the 2012 London Olympics.
The huge boat, which is unique to Kerala, along with around 120 oarsmen would be showcased on June 9 at an event to be attended by the British queen.

• The proposal to include the snake boat in the ceremony along with boats from other parts of the world was mooted by Keraleeyam, a cultural organisation that has members in the state and across the globe, including Britain, said state Sports Minister M. Vijayakumar.
• "It would be a trial run with important dignitaries like the British queen witnessing the event. They approached us and we decided to do our bit. We have been told by those coordinating the event in London that the first round of sanctions have come from the British government," Vijayakumar said. But there are some stumbling blocks like the logistics involved in shipping the boat and the oarsmen apart from the required funds.
• "The state government has in principle decided to lend its support and the sports, industry and tourism ministries have decided to bear a portion of the cost. We have sent a letter to the union tourism minister to help us in this endeavour. They have the resources and we have requested that the event be included under the Incredible India [tourism] campaign. We are now waiting to hear from them," Vijayakumar said.
• Organisers working towards the event here say it would cost more than Rs5 million (Dh413,320) to ship the snake boat from here to London. "A snake boat now costs more than Rs3 million and since it would cost close to Rs5 million to transport it, we have decided that we will gift this snake boat to Britain after the trial run is over," the sports minister added.

Source: Gulfnews