Rendezvous with a Nakhoda
It’s Beypore.
I’ve learnt that this place once flourished with maritime trade. Well it’s
always been my dream to travel on one of the old dhows. If not at least I wanted
to meet the Nakhoda of the dhow, yes, that’s the captain or sometimes the owner
too. At last it was in early March that my dream became a reality. And after a
year of longing, I finally got to see a sailing dhow.
The name of
the dhow was printed along its side. It read MSV-Jamaliya. I learned that
Captain Pookoya was commanding the dhow. It stood anchored at the Beypore port.
As I watched, vegetables and blocks of granites were being loaded. Well I
thought why not just give it a try. So with high hopes I approached Captain
Pookoya. At first, he did not seem too pleased to see a punk from the city
approaching him. But all that changed when I uttered Asalamualaikum’. He was
quite happy to respond. So I got into the dhow and shared with him my interest
in Machua, yes the dhows. He was quite an honest man who readily answered all my
questions and also shared his experience.
I learnt that
he was from Lakshadweep. Yes it’s an ancient base on the sea trade route between
the East and the West. The Arabs used the trading post at Lakshadweep to avoid
conflicts with Portuguese who had control of ports along the mainland. Even
today, only the sailing vessels connect the islands with the mainland of Cochin
and Calicut.
Pookoya says
that people in Lakshadweep live along the sea, with sea and for sea. It was easy
to see that he was a man who was proud of his heritage as a sailor. He invited
me aboard his dhow. On the deck, I saw four men having food. They were Haji
Ibrahaim, Haji Mohamed Koya, Hajee Moindeen and Abdul Salaam. All of them were a
part of the Jamaliya crew.
The Jamaliya
is quite an old Dhow (more than 34 years old). It is a small dhow when compared
to normal Machua dhows; its tonnage is just around 150 tonnes. She has a crew of
nine with two people on a small tug boat accompanying her. The Jamaliya turned
into a MSV (Mechanized Sailing vessel) five years ago when it was mechanised.
The Jamaliya usually sails between Lakshadweep, Managalore, Beypore, Tuticorin
and sometimes Gujarat. The ports of Gujarat, Tuticorin and Managalore use the
dhows for cargo carriage even today. Pookoya says that he frequented Dubai
several times a year until Jamaliya was mechanised. After mechanisation, Pookoya
got busy in the Indian waters.
Life on board the dhow was hard. The crew slept on deck in virtually all weather
and discipline was severe.But Muslim prayer times were strictly adhered to.
Pookoya
and his crew come from the Agatti island of Lakshadweep. I learnt that using
just a sail, the trip between Beypore and Lakshadweep can take 12 to 18 days in
average weather conditions. As the Jamaliya is mechanised it takes only 31 hours
to reach Agatti. During my talk I also learnt that MSV Jamaliya brought coconuts
and spices from Lakshadweep and in return they were carrying granite blocks
vegetables,
kerosene etc.
